Capitalism: Free Market Myths

I was listening to the Freakonomics podcast a while back and they had a Harvard economist on talking about how cities are so much more sustainable than any other means of organizing people.  I have many things to say about cities, but I'll start out with a critique of his economics theories.  I have a hard time listening to hardcore market economists and their optimism about the potential of the free market given the world of examples of how it has utterly failed us, the biggest being that we are racing towards a great wall of eco-doom, and still not even taking a glance ahead. 

At one point, this economist criticized public school systems in cities, which are easy targets for critics. As market economists are wont to do, he proposed that the free market could do much better. He gave the example of restaurants to describe the flaws in how public school systems are set up. He said you wouldn't want the government to set up one restaurant and require all the people to eat there because it would taste bad and there would be no incentive to make the food better. So why would you want to set up an educational system like that? He said restaurants have to compete in the marketplace, so they have to do better than the one down the block or they will go out of business.

I was a little amazed that somehow he could draw a connection between these two very different economic sectors. For one thing, one is a luxury market that meets a finite need, the other is a program that continues throughout your childhood and teaches you information that prepares you to function better in society as an adult. You buy dinner and you get something that lasts you one meal. You aren't buying food service for the rest of your life. You aren't buying a nourishment plan that provides the most healthful food for you on a continuous basis. That kind of long term health strategy would compare better to an educational system.