I think one of the difficulties of preserving freedom is that it&#x27;s easy to get stuck in distortion bubbles where we become unaware of what we&#x27;re actually missing. We can maintain we have a free market in the US, and it does not appear to be otherwise. Only the few who see outside of the bubble actually have a wider gamut in which to compare.<p>---<p>A part I think is missing from this analysis is relative wealth inequality. Prashant&#x27;s driver and cook can only ever have a fraction of his income. This seems untenable in the US where those servants would be priced out of any wider economy. For example, there is no market for the $1 prepared meal in the US, likely due to those barriers to entry. But this creates a self-sustaining cycle which compounds the low-income trap. In effect, the poor are discouraged from even <i>having</i> an economy.