The barbarism on display on Black Friday as shoppers clamor for the best deals on consumer electronics is sometimes used as an argument against capitalism and the consumer economy. But every time someone gets punched for a TV, Adam Smith rolls over in his grave. The entire point of the commercial society is that violence is no longer necessary to obtain what we need or want, and we can peacefully exchange money we’ve earned from our work for the goods we desire in the market.

The advent of the commercial society that Smith propounded has resulted in the greatest increase in prosperity in human history. The best bargain available today is not 80 percent off an Xbox or a microwave. Earlier this week, I bought a 100-tablet bottle of ibuprofen on rollback at Walmart for $1.98. Now, that’s a deal.

Ibuprofen, a common household item and one of the most popular drugs in the world, did not exist 65 years ago. National Review is older than ibuprofen.

A team of British chemists and pharmacists, led by Stewart Adams and John Nicholson, began researching a drug to treat rheumatoid arthritis in 1953. (Note that they were working for the private drug company Boots, not the National Health Service.) After experimenting with hundreds of compounds for eight years, they first made ibuprofen in 1961. The new drug went through clinical trials and was first approved for sale in the U.K. in 1969 as a prescription drug to treat rheumatic diseases.

Over the next decade, ibuprofen was found to be useful for far more than that. In smaller doses, it relieves headaches, toothaches, back pain, menstrual cramps, and fevers. The U.K. approved it for over-the-counter sale in 1983. The U.S. followed in 1984.

Over-the-counter ibuprofen in the U.S. is a more recent innovation than the personal computer. It’s younger than Adam Driver or Carrie Underwood. President Biden had already been a U.S. senator for ten years when ibuprofen first became available over the counter. And now, it’s one of the most purchased drugs in the country. GSK markets it as Advil, which retails for about $10 for 100 tablets. But the good folks at Walmart said, “You know what? Ten dollars is too much!” So, they offer the same drug under their store brand for less than half that. And then, from time to time, just for the fun of it, they’ll put it on rollback and sell 100 tablets for $1.98.

That’s $1.98 to lower 100 fevers, relieve 100 headaches, or ease 100 painful periods. That’s two cents per tablet. The bottle sits in your medicine cabinet, and all you need to do is walk over and grab it when you need it. A person making the average hourly wage in the United States earns enough money to buy that bottle in about four minutes.

Fever, which for millennia was a mysterious force that caused discomfort in people who would soon die of then-unknown infections, can now be reduced in about 30 minutes by swallowing one tablet, and you can get a good night’s sleep while letting your body fight off your cold.

Do you have kids who can’t swallow pills? Johnson & Johnson markets children’s Motrin, which is liquid ibuprofen that comes in three different flavors and retails for under $10. Are you allergic or have some other health condition that rules out ibuprofen for you? There’s acetaminophen, naproxen, or aspirin that all have roughly the same effects at roughly the same price and likely located within arm’s reach of the ibuprofen on the shelf in the store. Do you not live near a Walmart? You must live near a pharmacy, grocery store, convenience store, or gas station, all of which are likely to carry at least one brand of each type of common pain reliever, alongside their own, cheaper, generic-brand options.

The real triumph of the commercial society is not the doorbuster deal on Black Friday. It’s the mundane goods such as over-the-counter ibuprofen that would have blown people’s minds less than 100 years ago. Not only do we have ibuprofen, we have so much of it that Walmart is nearly giving it away for free. Be grateful today, and every day, for the abundance that only a commercial society can provide.