Harry Pollard wrote: > > > Harry only looks at the consumer side, ignoring the > > producer side. > > It's difficult having to explain even the simplest things > to you, but here we go again. > > The entire reason for production is consumption. We don't > produce things to throw in the sea. They are produced > because someone wants them > > Further, the consumer is everyone. In the US there are 300 > million people all of whom are consumers. All production is > decided by them (unless the government knows best and > coerces production of other things). > > So the question to find out whether an economy is good is > "How does it service the consumer?"
My point was that (working) people can only be consumers if they have jobs -- as producers (of goods or services). But you ignore this side of the equation. You act as if people could do without jobs. Well, perhaps YOU can... East Germans thought that paradise would come with reunification -- suddenly, the shops were full of Western products! But they soon had to find out the hard way that they can't buy them without money. (around 20% unemployment rate) > The enormous advantage of a market system is that we get > good stuff at low prices. You are not used to low prices in > Europe. At times I have been appalled at the way Europeans > are screwed by exorbitant prices. Of course some of it is > the heavy tax burden that pays for your ìfreeî services. Quality comes at a price. If I want cheapo junk, I just have to cross the border. Or with free trade, not even that. > A normal thing for visitors from Europe in the US is to > load up with better goods at lower prices. Iíve seen it > happen again and again. What better goods? Hormone beef, irradiated junk, GE Frankenfoods, pesticide-saturated fruit, products that can't be repaired, ...? > For a socialist, you are rather supercilious about price ñ > you know, if itís cheap it couldnít be good. Maybe, because > an effect of socialism is higher prices, or very high > prices. As usual, you're confusing valid costs with illegitimate rip-off. Externalization of costs isn't cheap! Chris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
