[legulere]

But are the values of the participants really the goals of a free market economy and what it leads to? I think absolutely not - it's earning as much money as possible.

The things we actually see as good are just side effects. Free market systems work well, seem fair most of the time and have lots of positive side effects. However they also have negative side effects and I don't think participants alone can really avoid them. There are some cases of executives later on regretting that they couldn't act in another way because they had to keep shareholder value in mind.

That's why we have regulation in our actual economic systems. Of course views on what has to be regulated and how widely differ, but this is where our morality comes into the economic system (and all the other rules that act as a counter-measurement for the cases where free market economy isn't working).

[vezzy-fnord]

Profit maximization is one goal among market participants, though not the only one, since the market also encompasses modes of organization embarked on for communal and personal reasons as well.

Profits are a motivation to act, but they may be nonpecuniary and psychic. Nor is "earning money" the ultimate goal in any sense, insofar as holding nominal money balances as a store of value becomes intractable with greater capacity. Now, subpar monetary and financial arrangements may distort savings-investment decisions, but this is not an intrinsic market deficiency.

Regretting your decisions ex ante is inherent to humanity, not to economic systems.

Regulation is and has emerged endogenously. Guilds, unions, standards agencies and other quality assurance bodies arise without state action.