Since the onslaught of the Reagan administration in 1981, the “free market” has been promoted as the panacea to cure all economic ills.  The idea is that “market forces,” Adam Smith’s “invisible hand,” best determines the most efficient distribution of scarce economic resources.[i]  The free market solution, also known as privatization or deregulation, has been applied to everything from private companies such as railroads and telephone companies, once thought of as having an obligation to serve the public, to governmental agencies such as water systems, public transit and even prisons.   Now, the free market solution is slowly being applied to the US military as well as civilian police forces.