But I'm fully aware of the NECESSITY of government to make the free market work, and to advance society. Certainly it is counterproductive much of the time, farm subsidies being an obvious example, but the free market on the scale it is today cannot maintain itself without a financial, legal, and regulatory superstructure created by government. There is the need for infrastructure which the free market will not provide. There needs to be an arbitrator of last resort. There needs to be a financial risk taker to develop technologies that have no near term profit returns. Every single nation that offers public education have all vastly increased standards of living within a generation. I happen to like things like medical regulations, airline regulations, food inspection and a wide range of other things the government does to keep my standard of living better than in most nations.

There are extensive economic proofs showing why the free market cannot perform some functions of society. There is also extensive empirical and statistical evidence verifying this. AND, there is conservative and libertarian literture subscribing to this.

Ayn Rand is not the last word in economics.