This is why people don’t take libertarians seriously.

The “free market” in Austrian economics is a theoretical construct used to understand human action and market behavior in an idealized setting. It’s similar to how physics classes assume interactions occur in a vacuum, useful for modeling, but not reflective of reality. We can sometimes observe free-market dynamics on a small scale, such as paying a teenager to mow your lawn. However, when we look at economics on a global, macro scale, a truly free market does not and cannot exist.