That depends on what you're talking about. Economy, industry and free market with government are all different things and are often thrown in together for the ease of understanding.
In the socialist system of national economy the means of production are social property, that is, they belong to the working people in the person of either the socialist State or of the collective farms and other co-operative unions. Consequently, the products of labour also belong to the working people.
The capitalist mode of production is characterized by private ownership of the means of production, extraction of surplus value by the owning class for the purpose of capital accumulation, wage-based labour and—at least as far as commodities are concerned—being market-based.
The rub here lies in the free market - the ability to determine prices without fear of throttling. Your employees wanna get paid more? Fine. Raise prices on the commodoties. Usually this works when it's just one industry or brand. However, when the government intervenes on the scale it did due to global factors in 2020, everyone feels the pinch. In a free market, inflation is unmitigated. All that matters is keeping the percentage of profits at the same levels. Your entire workforce just got a raise because of the government? Raise prices on everything to make up for the sudden deficit. The world recovers and WOW! You don't need to fix the deficit because no one can force you, but no one wants to lose out on money. Companies shouldn't be competing for the lowest cost, we should be competing for the commodity of the highest quality, and they have us doing both. Only get quality if its stupid expensive, but they are cutting all the corners they can to nickel and dime us. 2020 A large Water at McDonalds cost 1.00$ in my town. The cup size got smaller, still called a large and is now 1.50$
If the government can take the burden of health insurance off of companies so we can afford health care on our own and not have to put drain on the companies in a free market, I'm all for it. Socialism all the way in that regard. Only 20% of Americans have half the US economy in assets: Boomers.
Baby boomers control over 53% of the country’s wealth, while Gen X accounts for just over 25% and the silent generation holds around 17%, according to the Fed’s data, which breaks down U.S. wealth in the beginning of 2020 by age, class and race.