Apropos yesterday's post, I realized that two of my examples of free market effects came from China. Interesting story. Fresh Air recently broadcast an interview with a journalist based in China, who was detained at a Chinese factory compound while investigating the toy recalls. What became clear to him while he tried to convince his captors that he wasn't a spy is that the police (both local and national) and the political apparatus had absolutely no power to free him. His fate was in the hands of those running the factory.
Similarly, what has people up in arms about the excesses of the private contractors working for the TSA is that they are unaccountable. They can detain you in much the same way.
Of course, it's nothing new. Corporatism and authoritarianism have always gone hand in hand. It reminds me of the good-old Progressive days, when Pinkerton detectives shot labor organizers and strikers.
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