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Markets Fail Upwards [1]

['Mother Mags', 'Kelli Anne Busey']

Date: 2026-08-06  

Use this field to give credit where credit is due.

Given human nature, any economic system is going to have market failures.

Progressives should zero in on this as “the soft spot at the point of decay” in our economy.

(h/t Joseph Conrad)

Unless contained, market failures are going to push money to the top, conveyer belt style.

The economy will inexorably move away from anything close to an optimal equilibrium.

This is the way to attack GOP and centrist Democrat dogma on their own terms.

The economy is made up of numerous pair-wise transactions.

But the higher status entity will usually have a particular advantage.

There are many, many, many ‘Freakonomics’ style studies that show this.

Thus, markets fail upwards for years, decades, centuries.

The obvious remedy is the Robin Hood protocol.

Now, economists love equilibrium and optimization arguments.

We should frame Robin Hood style redistribution as an absolute necessity because of biased market failures.

I think that this is a powerful way to crack open the Neoliberal consensus (and do it on their own terms).

Plus, behold, the sheer pithiness, ‘Markets Fail Upwards’.

Easy to remember and irrefutable.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/8/6/800080848/community/markets-fail-upward/

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