Indeed, despite every attempt governments have made, the free market still rules. It might be underground like drugs, it might use an abstract currency like food stamps (traded at or near parity for cash in inner cities) or cigarettes in prison. Its like water, it will fill every crevice in the cracked foundation of central planning, where you could name some of the centralized systems that run the show like the federal reserve system or the IRS, under the skin you have everyone actong in their own self interest to get over.