Alan, please name a few "free markets".
We've discussed this before. Free markets are on a sliding scale. As long as government taxes, imposes regulation, tariffs, and spends money, which all governments have to do, their policies will influence free markets and lessen economic activity. However, the less command and involvement from government, the freer those markets are and the more efficient they become. Capital is better allocated instead of wasted. More jobs are created. Competition provides better products at lower prices. Citizens benefit from better economic conditions the freer the markets become.
One look at what China did in thirty years from a total command economy to a largely freer market economy, albeit with still huge government control, shows just how effective free markets work.