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of everything that is important to any individual, or group of individuals. One person might value entertainment over the environment, while another would be willing to live in relative poverty if it meant saving the planet. Every human has innumerable values, and every human's values differ from everyone else's.

In human decision making, value is everything.

Only the market can take into consideration the myriad of values represented by mankind. Every time a person makes a choice to spend money on something, or to not spend money on something, the market gets information that allows the actors in the market, basically every human being on Earth, to decide how best to serve everyone else.

When someone chooses to purchase chicken, instead of steak, the market is informed that that person, at that time, values chicken more than they value steak. Perhaps that's because the price of beef is just too high. Perhaps it's because the person doing the buying feels that chicken is healthier, or, to them, it tastes better, or they think that chicken farming is better for the environment than raising beef. Or, perhaps, just today and not tomorrow, they want chicken.

This information about the values of that single consumer is transmitted through the ordering processes at the grocery, to the distributors and ultimately to the producers of both beef and chicken and, however minutely, affects the decisions of all of those people and companies.

When enough consumers provide the information about their preferences through such a system, ultimately, everyone's choices and voices are heard and acted upon.

Such information can make significant changes in society. Several years ago many consumers became concerned about the killing of dolphins through tuna fishing. Enough of those consumers decided to do something about the situation; they refused to buy tuna until fishing methods were adopted that protected the dolphins. Those actions, people acting on their values through the market, were enough to force most tuna fishermen to adopt dolphin-safe fishing techniques. Many companies changed their fishing methods long before governments stepped in and claimed credit for passing laws to protect the dolphins.

Governments can never take into consideration all of the things that people value. The only information that is given to the government happens every few years at election time when our politicians are voted into, or out of, office. And, when we elect our government officials, we are

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