> Rick wrote: > > I am still trying to get my head around "The Market".
You're not alone. When most people hear this concept - despite the fact that's it's in everything they do every day - they typically jump in one of 2 directions: (1.) What about catastrophic cases??? or (2.) What if I get hit by a bus??? Of course both of those cases are exceptions. To use your analogy ... last weekend I had to go to a dinner at a restaurant I didn't choose. Following you logic this must mean that capitalism will never work with restaurants since sometimes people have to eat meals at restaurants they didn't choose. The truth is, of course, that the amount of times (and therefore associated dollars you spend) where you DO choose your restaurant far out numbers the times you don't. Take me for example. I've been on this earth for over 3 decades and I've never had medical treatment where either I or my family didn't have a choice of where to go. Hasn't happened in my entire life including my birth. Nor has it ever happened for my wife. Even when I've been to the emergency room - and that's been a lot - it's never been so bad I couldn't have driven another 10 miles to somewhere else. Somewhere in a consumer-directed world I would've pre-selected and possible cut a deal with. As to quality, you can safely fly any airline and be extremely confident of not crashing. After that, it's all up to other factors to determine your ticket price; but the government guarantees you a well regulated - and therefore safe - market. Take hotels. Drive to any city. You're going to find roughly the same price for roughly the same room. If you have time you can get a cheaper price via various mechanisms, but there's generally no huge problem there. And just about any room you could get - even a dump - is going to be at least semi-clean. So there ya have it. Capitalism works the same way with widgets and wombs. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:298493 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
