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Exactly. Hardline capitalism assumes that everyone is a rational actor, and that therefore nobody offering a product or service can be at fault for harm coming

by _bxg1 7y ago

Exactly. Hardline capitalism assumes that everyone is a rational actor, and that therefore nobody offering a product or service can be at fault for harm coming to their customers. The problem is that people are often not able to be rational actors: - People can have bad or incomplete information: misleading advertising, lack of expertise in every subject area that affects their decisions, etc. - People can lack freedom to act: monopolies, lock-in, etc. - People can have their rationality itself undermined through desperation, emotion, or addiction Some of these problems have been patched over with laws. False-advertising law, nutrition labels, terms/agreements. Many have not. The third, and to a lesser degree the first, are the most relevant to the OP.

thwarted 7y ago
Hardline capitalism assumes rational actors act with the information they have and assumes information asymmetry. The only way a price is agreed upon is with information asymmetry and rational actors: the buyer values obtaining an item in a certain way and the seller values getting rid of the same item a certain way. It matters not what those reasons are, nor that each side know the details of what leads to a narrow spread, only that the desired price itself be made public, shared with the other party. Hardline capitalism assumes the only important piece of shared information is the price. Rational actors and own-self-best-interest isn't about common, specific, long-term positions that an entire population might share (like increasing debt load is bad, or that having the most cash saved is good), only that the choice of price is set based on a number of variables, both internal and external to the actor. A desperate buyer might set their offer price high in order to attract sellers when there are none, despite not being able to pay (which is handled, positively or negatively, in other ways). A desperate seller might set their ask price really low because they have to get rid of inventory. Getting something "for a good price" is about the utility that comes about from having the exchange takes place vs not having the exchange takes place and each party being worse of. An addict might not be making the best decision for themselves and their livelihood but is making a rational decision if their goal is to get high. But hardline capitalism isn't necessarily the thing we want, because of the chance for abuse of the information asymmetry and that, while everything is encoded in the price, extracting and understanding those details and position of the other side is impossible.

by _bxg1 7y ago

thwarted 7y ago

Hardline capitalism assumes rational actors act with the information they have and assumes information asymmetry. The only way a price is agreed upon is with information asymmetry and rational actors: the buyer values obtaining an item in a certain way and the seller values getting rid of the same item a certain way. It matters not what those reasons are, nor that each side know the details of what leads to a narrow spread, only that the desired price itself be made public, shared with the other party. Hardline capitalism assumes the only important piece of shared information is the price. Rational actors and own-self-best-interest isn't about common, specific, long-term positions that an entire population might share (like increasing debt load is bad, or that having the most cash saved is good), only that the choice of price is set based on a number of variables, both internal and external to the actor. A desperate buyer might set their offer price high in order to attract sellers when there are none, despite not being able to pay (which is handled, positively or negatively, in other ways). A desperate seller might set their ask price really low because they have to get rid of inventory. Getting something "for a good price" is about the utility that comes about from having the exchange takes place vs not having the exchange takes place and each party being worse of. An addict might not be making the best decision for themselves and their livelihood but is making a rational decision if their goal is to get high. But hardline capitalism isn't necessarily the thing we want, because of the chance for abuse of the information asymmetry and that, while everything is encoded in the price, extracting and understanding those details and position of the other side is impossible.