4 ms·

Are you under the impression that the planet has effectively infinite carrying capacity and ability to support an "optimal market" indefinitely?

quotemstr 8mo ago
I am of the opinion that markets and prices, not EU regulators, should tell us where scarcity is. We're bad at optimizing manually for the same reason we're bad at guessing where program hotspots are. The market is a profiler.
- mulmen 8mo ago
  Do you honestly believe this? Where did you study economics? This regulation is not about scarcity. It is about over abundance. Overproduction is a failure mode in capitalist systems. The market can’t correct for this because negative externalities do not feed back into supply or demand.
  - quotemstr 8mo ago
    Actors in a capitalist system have an incentive to maximize profit. How is it profit-maximizing to pay to produce an item and throw it away unsold? > negative externalities do not feed back into supply or demand. What is the unaccounted externality? Clothing makers pay for material inputs and labor inputs. They pay for transportation. If they discard goods, they pay for more transportation and for the landfill. What specific externality is unaccounted?
    - mulmen 8mo ago
      The unaccounted externality is the wasted energy to create a thing and destroy it without ever using it. This may be profit maximizing because it maintains the exclusivity of the brand. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good
      - quotemstr 8mo ago
        And you presume to know better than they do what to do with that energy? Do you think you have a general right to override people's resource allocation decisions when you believe they're being wasteful?
        mulmen 8mo ago
        > Do you think you have a general right to override people's resource allocation decisions when you believe they're being wasteful? Me personally? No, of course not. But I do think our government has the responsibility to govern.
        sehansen 8mo ago
        1. In this case, not using the energy at all would have been better. 2. The legislature of a sovereign polity would have, and be able to delegate, that right. If and when the legislature should make use of that right is a political question.

quotemstr 8mo ago

I am of the opinion that markets and prices, not EU regulators, should tell us where scarcity is. We're bad at optimizing manually for the same reason we're bad at guessing where program hotspots are. The market is a profiler.

mulmen 8mo ago
Do you honestly believe this? Where did you study economics? This regulation is not about scarcity. It is about over abundance. Overproduction is a failure mode in capitalist systems. The market can’t correct for this because negative externalities do not feed back into supply or demand.
- quotemstr 8mo ago
  Actors in a capitalist system have an incentive to maximize profit. How is it profit-maximizing to pay to produce an item and throw it away unsold? > negative externalities do not feed back into supply or demand. What is the unaccounted externality? Clothing makers pay for material inputs and labor inputs. They pay for transportation. If they discard goods, they pay for more transportation and for the landfill. What specific externality is unaccounted?
  - mulmen 8mo ago
    The unaccounted externality is the wasted energy to create a thing and destroy it without ever using it. This may be profit maximizing because it maintains the exclusivity of the brand. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good
    - quotemstr 8mo ago
      And you presume to know better than they do what to do with that energy? Do you think you have a general right to override people's resource allocation decisions when you believe they're being wasteful?
      - mulmen 8mo ago
        > Do you think you have a general right to override people's resource allocation decisions when you believe they're being wasteful? Me personally? No, of course not. But I do think our government has the responsibility to govern.
      - sehansen 8mo ago
        1. In this case, not using the energy at all would have been better. 2. The legislature of a sovereign polity would have, and be able to delegate, that right. If and when the legislature should make use of that right is a political question.