Tommy Jones begged, pleaded, and hoped beyond hope for that new touch screen phone that would immediately move him up the ranks in his school. His wish was granted on Christmas morning. He was rewarded with that sleek black phone with 4G capability. Two months later the next phone in the series comes out, an exact clone of the original with the most moderate changes, and suddenly Tommy's phone is obsolete. There wasn't a big improvement over the old model, no; the company knows it will sell, no matter how small the improvement. This pattern of constant obsolescence has become the norm in today's economy; companies reap profits with mediocre products, completely indifferent to consumers. To put the economy back in the hands of consumers, a system of deregulation must be implemented to allow the market to be managed by consumer interests again. Adam Smith theorized that the economy could be run entirely by consumer interests in his book The Wealth of Nations. Smith has been labeled by many as “the father of modern economics”, however his policy is quite simple, the government should adopt a policy of non-intervention. This means no interference from the government so that the market involves only private businesses and consumers. In this way, businesses will be dependent on consumers and will be forced to appeal to them by offering incentives in the form of competitive prices or a better product to beat the competition. In this type of economy, consumers hold all the power, businesses succeed or fail based on their own merit and quality. Since companies are now completely dependent on customers, these companies are now incentivized to offer high-quality products at lower prices. It's... half the paper... short-sightedness and greed. I believe, however, that these collapses can be avoided as long as citizens do not allow themselves to be controlled by greed. My solution is to have an educated and informed population before allowing consumers total control of the market. While CEOs profit from the hardship and shortsightedness of many, we, as a society, must take control. Only when the masses are able to make informed decisions will we have a chance to prosper. Works Cited “Chapter 24: Business.” What citizens need to know about government. 2009: page n. SIRSInteractive citizenship. Network. March 24, 2014.Mallaby, Sebastian. “The Role of Government: Setting the Terms to Promote Competition.” PolicyReview (2003): 21+. General OneFile. Network. March 30, 2014.Hodak, Marc. “The Madness of Adam Smith”. Forbes.com. Forbes, November 25, 2007. Web. March 30. 2014