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So people want DRM in their printer cartridges? They want to pay for patent-encumbered filesystems instead of free ones? They want ads that spy on which website

by deogeo 7y ago

So people want DRM in their printer cartridges? They want to pay for patent-encumbered filesystems instead of free ones? They want ads that spy on which websites they visit? They want to be lied to about the harms of sugary foods [1]? About the harms of smoking? They want the dangers of climate change concealed from them, so that they cannot act in time and develop alternative sources of energy [2]? They want to be lied to about the dangers of lead in gasoline? Companies make money in all sorts of ways, and producing what people want is just one of them. To pretend otherwise is willful ignorance. [1] https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/13/493739074/50-years-ago-sugar-industry-quietly-paid-scientists-to-point-blame-at-fat https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/13/493739074... [2] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/exxon-knew-about-climate-change-almost-40-years-ago/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/exxon-knew-about-...

rayiner 7y ago
People accept those things as trade offs for things they want, yes. Free markets don’t give people what they want. They give people the trade offs they most highly value. They may not want DRM in printer cartridges, but they make the conscious decision to buy $100 printers with expensive DRM cartridges instead of $500 printers with cheap cartridges. They may not want less leg room on flights, but they make the conscious decision to click on a fare $3 lower in Orbitz. They may not want ads to spy on them, but they don’t want to pay for content. They want sugary foods, which are delicious. They want gas guzzling SUVs, and continue to buy them in large numbers even now that the “truth” about climate change is supposedly out. Economies are about trade offs. The central thing marxists do not understand is that you cannot alter the nature of the trade offs through government. All you can do is move the equilibrium to a different place (at the cost of a deadweight loss).
- anigbrowl 7y ago
  You're applying the logic of perfect competition(which presupposes total market knowledge) to real-world consumer decisions, which are subject to multiple complicating factors from the paradox of choice to well-documented behavioral quirks. You're smarter than this.
  - rayiner 7y ago
    All the industries I’m talking about are highly competitive.
    - anigbrowl 7y ago
      Now you're just trolling. I know you know the phrase 'perfect competition' is a term of economic art. I guess I will have to weigh your commentary less seriously than I used to.

by deogeo 7y ago

rayiner 7y ago

People accept those things as trade offs for things they want, yes. Free markets don’t give people what they want. They give people the trade offs they most highly value. They may not want DRM in printer cartridges, but they make the conscious decision to buy $100 printers with expensive DRM cartridges instead of $500 printers with cheap cartridges. They may not want less leg room on flights, but they make the conscious decision to click on a fare $3 lower in Orbitz. They may not want ads to spy on them, but they don’t want to pay for content. They want sugary foods, which are delicious. They want gas guzzling SUVs, and continue to buy them in large numbers even now that the “truth” about climate change is supposedly out. Economies are about trade offs. The central thing marxists do not understand is that you cannot alter the nature of the trade offs through government. All you can do is move the equilibrium to a different place (at the cost of a deadweight loss).

anigbrowl 7y ago
You're applying the logic of perfect competition(which presupposes total market knowledge) to real-world consumer decisions, which are subject to multiple complicating factors from the paradox of choice to well-documented behavioral quirks. You're smarter than this.
- rayiner 7y ago
  All the industries I’m talking about are highly competitive.
  - anigbrowl 7y ago
    Now you're just trolling. I know you know the phrase 'perfect competition' is a term of economic art. I guess I will have to weigh your commentary less seriously than I used to.