The Free Market in Practice

There is plenty of bad blood between the two companies.  Cisco has accused Huawei of anticompetitive practices such as selling below cost and stealing intellectual property.

Boo-hoo Cisco.  Need a tissue?  If you can't compete, maybe you don't belong.

Hey, that's what they say when it's an individual suggesting hiring practices or promotions or sales tricks aren't fair, are stacked towards the unscrupulous or the well-heeled.  Survival of the fittest, right?

There's this illusory notion that in a fully free market, people will compete fairly, like in a running race - no steroids, no tripping up the opponent, just best product and consumer demand.

And the free-market purists call socialists dreamers.

In the real world, competition isn't about quality of product, nor is it about consumer demand.  It's about beating the other guy and pushing people to part with their money for what you have.  How much money goes into garbage on Wall Street because of tough-talking traders?

Exactly.

How can you be against Big Government but in favour of conditions that lead to Big Corporate?  

They don't call it the Fair Market for a reason.  Until people start treating their neighours in a way they themselves would consider fair in return, we need regulation and rule of law, in markets as anywhere else.