Word!!
On Tue, Dec 11, 2012 at 12:42 PM, Cameron Childress <[email protected]>wrote: > > On Tue, Dec 11, 2012 at 12:22 PM, Judah McAuley <[email protected] > >wrote: > > > Cam, the world you describe is one that is presented in some high school > > economics texts, I suppose, but not really anywhere beyond that. > > > > This is not a valid classification. > > > > Rule number one of actual economics is that there is no truly free > market. > > > > It's not rule number one, but no - there is no truly free market, only > varied degrees of it, just like everything else in life. > > > > The prerequirements of a free market includes absolute, instantaneous, > > knowledge amongst all parties, it requires symmetry between actors and it > > requires perfectly rational actors. > > > This is not a requirement for a free market, it is a requirement for a > perfect free market actor. > > > > The closest we get to it in practice is probably the commodities market. > > > Closest actors, this doesn't mean a system requires perfect actors to > function effectively. > > > > The further we get away from that, the more we have to deal with actual > > real entities and their complications. When you get to the level of > > employment, you are deep down in the weeds where actors aren't rational, > > differentiation between consumer and supplier is multifaceted and there > is > > substantial inequality of knowledge, which is itself asymmetric. > > > > Nope, people aren't rational. They buy big screen TVs with their tax refund > and then can't put food on the table the next day. Very irrational, crazy > actors. But there is no law prohibiting that wacky silly, self-destructive > behavior - nor should there be. > > These same irrational actors could potentially cancel their union > memberships, shoot themselves in the foot. Maybe they are smart actors, > maybe they are dumb actors, rational.irrational.... A Free(er) Market will > sort all that out. > > > > It is nothing close to a free market and it never will be. The > requirements > > for the simplistic model just cannot be met. > > > > I disagree. If the only acceptable for my Free Market is in it's purest > textbook form, you are correct. But this is not the only option. There are > many principles that can be applied to all parts of our lives that are Free > Market principles and the results are quite valid and predictable. > > > > The systems do, however, require constraints to protect the actors (on > > both sides) and to help the systems toward optimization. > > > > I think this is the most fundamental difference in our opinions on this > matter. I favor letting idiots be idiots. Take the warning labels off. Stop > "protecting" the poor poor irrational people from their own stupidity and > allow them to fail. This is how people learn to act differently and that is > a much better lesson (in my opinion) than "well, I don't know why but > that's just the way it is because the government makes us do it that way". > > > > We're still trying to figure out the best way to deal with all those > > things. It isn't obvious because it is a complex issue and an evolving > > system. Society is including moral valuations (freedom, dignity, > > fulfillment, etc) as variables in the equations that just don't arise in > > systems like commodities. And at the end of the day, people aren't > > commodities. Corn doesn't make choices. > > > Fundamental flaw here: The Corn is not the employee, it's the job. > > The job is the commodity, not the employee. The employee is only the > commodity in a world where a Union (or Government) is controlling (trading) > people. > > -Cameron > > ... > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:359064 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
