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Capitalism (the way I understand it, free market and all) does not imply participating in bad faith. The fact that in the West there are bad-faith players that
by strogonoff 5y ago
Capitalism (the way I understand it, free market and all) does not imply participating in bad faith. The fact that in the West there are bad-faith players that take advantage of the system does not mean it is normal. See the grocery example. It works for everybody, suppliers, sellers and consumers, as long as no one abuses the system. However, if one does want to go that route, it’s achievable; in a small market a single participant can ruin things for everyone, and in a larger one multiple participants can do the same by acting in accord.
It looks like capitalism is sometimes taken to mean an extreme zero-sum form of free market where everybody is out to win at the expense of others. Proponents of centralized dispensation by an all-powerful government often bring this up, but is that the mainstream meaning of the term?
For the record, I don’t think the requirement of market participants to act in good faith is a bug. I believe the existence of malicious actors is not fundamentally inevitable, and mutual trust is empowering.
- barry-cotter 5y agoWho is participating in bad faith? If you want long term security of supply pay for it. Suppliers love long term contracts and orders. Buyers usually don’t go for them because it’s cheaper on average not to. No one signed a contract. The market price moved. That’s capitalism. If you want to prevent it happening again you can pay for it, by having a long term contract, stockpiling or multiple suppliers. Many, many markets work fine without enduring personal relations. If you want security of supply of commodity parts buy a stockpile.
- strogonoff 5y ago> Who is participating in bad faith? Hoarders. (In this instance, as per upstream comments, possibly coordinated, possibly by CCP.) There’re fairly illustrative examples in my comment that you are ignoring. You should address them if you object to that idea. > If you want long term security of supply pay for it. A single player cannot outbid a state and/or many players acting maliciously in accord.
- zozbot234 5y agoHoarding is not in "bad faith". If people anticipate a shortage in the future, storing some of the existing supply is socially beneficial. It raises current prices less than it lowers future ones.
- strogonoff 5y agoThe problem being discussed is when it wipes the supply, isn’t it?
- ido 5y agoMaybe a more relatable example: ticket scalping. These are people who rush to buy tickets to popular concerts or sports events and then resell them at the venue priced much higher than sale value (and a lot higher than the venue/artist/sports team got). Are these people adding value in any way or form or just leeching?