Changes

:Airfares, when adjusted for inflation, have fallen 25 percent since 1991, and ... are 22 percent lower than they would have been had regulation continued. Since passenger deregulation in 1978, airline prices have fallen 44.9 percent in real terms according to the Air Transport Association. ...  [W]hen figures are adjusted for changes in quality and amenities, '''passengers save $19.4 billion dollars per year from airline deregulation. These savings have been passed on to 80 percent of passengers accounting for 85 percent of passenger miles'''.  

:Airfares, when adjusted for inflation, have fallen 25 percent since 1991, and ... are 22 percent lower than they would have been had regulation continued. Since passenger deregulation in 1978, airline prices have fallen 44.9 percent in real terms according to the Air Transport Association. ...  [W]hen figures are adjusted for changes in quality and amenities, '''passengers save $19.4 billion dollars per year from airline deregulation. These savings have been passed on to 80 percent of passengers accounting for 85 percent of passenger miles'''.  

As the above example illustrates, the free market lowers costs for the poor.  Wal-Mart is another example of this, as it provides goods at lower and lower prices for everyone.  This is very helpful to the poor.  Someone can have no money, or lose all his money, and yet if he tries then he can live nearly as well as the wealthiest man in the nation -- '''''if''''' the free market exists to drive down prices and provide equal opportunity.  The poor can enjoy the public parks and cheap land in rural areas rather than be confined in the traffic-congested and polluted cities where most of the rich are.  The poor can benefit from the low prices for food and travel caused by the free market.  But if the free market does not exist -- as in many countries of the world -- then the poor may go hungry and otherwise suffer, because prices are too high and opportunities are too limited for the poor to do as well.  Thus one of the best ways to help the poor is to provide them with the free market in order to lower prices and increase opportunities for them.

As the above example illustrates, the free market lowers costs for the poor.  Wal-Mart is another example of this, as it provides goods at lower and lower prices for everyone.  This is very helpful to the poor.  Someone can have no money, or lose all his money, and yet if he tries then he can live nearly as well as the wealthiest man in the nation -- '''''if''''' the free market exists to drive down prices and provide equal opportunity.  Where the free market does not exist -- as in many countries of the world -- then the poor may go hungry and otherwise suffer, because prices are too high and opportunities are too limited for the poor to improve their life.  Thus one of the best ways to help the poor is to provide them with the free market in order to lower prices and increase opportunities for them.

The free market can have an enormously beneficial effect on politics also.  In the United States, there is a system of "checks and balances" against tyranny:  the three branches of the federal government -- Congress, the presidency, and the courts -- check and limit the power of each other.  Also, the state governments and the people themselves (as through town hall meetings and free speech) check and limit the power of all three branches of the federal government.  But the free market may be the most powerful check of all against tyranny.  Government cannot easily control and limit what the free market supply and demand -- not even all the king's horses and all the king's men, and all the church authorities, could stop the Tyndale Bible, as discussed above.

The free market can have a politically beneficial effect also.  The free market is a powerful force against tyranny.  Government cannot easily control and limit free market supply and demand -- as discussed above, not even all the king's horses and all the king's men, and all the church authorities, could stop the Tyndale Bible.

The next time you're flat broke without any job and facing a hopeless economic situation, remember this:  you still have the free market, the most powerful tool of all.  Put it to work for you, your family, and your evangelism.

So the next time you're flat broke without any job and facing a hopeless economic situation, remember this:  you still have the free market, the most powerful tool of all.  Put it to work for you.  The free market is a hardworking servant.

== What is Irrelevant to Supply and Demand? ==

== What is Irrelevant to Supply and Demand? ==