A "Sidebar" About the Rules of the Game

The word "marketplace" means different things to different people. I am using it as a synonym for private enterprise. Private enterprise has some unique property rights associated with it. Not only do individuals have property rights (ownership) over the goods and services they purchase; they also have property rights (ownership) over the resources they purchase to produce the goods and services the community wants.

In the United States, we take this owner of resources for granted. Until recently, people in the socialist countries of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe were excluded from the ownership of certain resource used in the production of goods and services. The property rights associated with these resources belonged to the state.