Capitalism 101: was Re: Terror Kids...

From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lee@piclab.com)
Date: Mon Apr 08 2002 - 15:24:38 MDT


> (Kai Becker <kmb@kai-m-becker.de>):
> Am Sonntag, 7. April 2002 19:35 schrieb spike66:
> > Governments fight using bullets, corporations fight using dollars. I
> > prefer the latter. This whole globe should be ruled by capital, not
> > by governments. All tyranny voluntary, all rule systems voluntary.
> > Products to the market, not soldiers to the battlefield.
>
> The problem is, that business entities only aim to maximize their monetary
> win. This is perfectly okay, because that's what the investors (the
> capitalists) gave their money for. But it is also a positive feedback loop
> without any inbuild self-control regarding social aspects. And any system
> without a self-regulation, i.e. a negative feedback-factor, will finally
> end in a catastrophy.

By the very definition of "market", it is a negative feedback loop.
Businesses only make money by /persuading/ people to give it to them.
Feedback is precise, immediate, and accurate: every time I buy brand A
instead of brand B, I am saying that company A better serves /my/
goals. Now those goals might be a simple a effectively cleaning my
dishes, but they might also be for more what you would call socially
responsible reasons (and I would call simple ethics)--people can and
do buy products that pollute less, or from companies that support
causes they like, for example. I buy products made in China, for
example, and I don't rent John Travolta or Rene Zellweger movies on
the outside chance that some of my pennies might make their way to the
Church of Scientology.

Government, on the other hand, I only get to provide feedback to
every couple of years or so, and my feedback doesn't count at all
unless I happen to be aligned with the majority.

-- 
Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/>
"All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past,
are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified
for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC


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