[Draco T Bastard]

Originally Posted by Sp0nge

the free-market is an extension of capitalism
it does not have fair distribution of wealth

I disagree. You cannot have a free market in a capitalist society because the capitalists end up owning the market due to excessive property rights.

imo, you need government intervention to redistribute some wealth back into different areas of society.

No real argument there although I think you'd find you'd need less redistribution under a free-market than under capitalism.

the free-market philosophy puts too much emphasis on markets and individuals
and not enough emphasis on society as a whole.

Capitalism puts too much emphasis on ownership and property rights (ie, individualism). A market will spring up when ever you get a few people together because people will always find ways to trade. The market place needs rules that are set at the community level and those rules need to cater to the needs of the community rather than the desires of individuals. If we don't have those rules (or the rules are inadequate or cater to the individual rather than the community) then we end up with a Tragedy of the Commons type tragedy. Basically what we're seeing today in anthropogenic induced global warming, over population etc.

power to the people

/agree