&gt; <i>Why is it always &quot;free markets&quot; but never &quot;competitive markets&quot;?</i><p>I would put my money on newspeak.  &quot;Free&quot; sounds more positive than &quot;competitive&quot;.  Freedom is like always good, while competition makes it clear that there will be losers as well as winners.<p>It&#x27;s also much harder to be against freedom than competition.  Often, we want cooperation instead of competition.  But what could possibly replace freedom?