Firstly, markets are not a natural feature of human society.
Yes, they are.
Let's go back 120,000 years to the last Inter-Glacial Period. Because the average global temperature during the previous Inter-Glacial Period was 10°F warmer than present? No. While that is factually true, I just like the number 120,000.
Anyway, you are the Clan of the Stinking Water, and you have a Market. That Market is your local environment, where you do your shopping for tasty animals to eat.
How sustainable is your Market? Indefinitely, so long as the Supply & Demand of tasty animals remains in Equilibrium.
Believe it or not, over-Supply here could be just as detrimental as over-Demand. And then what if the Clan of the Rotting Wood starts to encroach on your Market, shopping for your tasty animals, and creating competition? Again, so long as Supply & Demand are in Equilibrium, there's no problem, but once Demand exceeds Supply, you'll have to expand your Market, or go to a new Market.
Nearly all societies other than the modern one we live in used different, non-market mechanisms to distribute goods to members. Our society is unique in having made markets the central mechanism for the production and distribution of goods to its members.
Again, notice how he lies by omission.
He simply refuses to address the nature of the Traditional Economic System, probably because it totally destroys his babbling nonsense.
Let's be real here, his non-market mechanisms are nothing more than Class oppression reinforced by Religion. Yeah, I really wanna give my last cup of grain to a member of the Noble or Warrior Class so the Priestly Class doesn't cast a spell on me causing my eyeballs to bleed.
Secondly, market mechanisms conflict with other social mechanisms and are harmful to society. They emerged to central prominence in Europe after a protracted battle, which was won by markets over society due to certain historical circumstances peculiar to Europe. The rise of markets caused tremendous damage to society, which continues to this day.
We've already established that he is a liar.
Give me one good reason why I should give you two baskets of wheat for one basket of barley, when I can trade two baskets of wheat for two baskets of barley to a neighboring clan, tribe or village?
I just totally destroyed his entire premise.
Thirdly, certain ideologies, which relate to land, labour and money, and the profit motive are required for efficient functioning of markets. In particular, both poverty, and a certain amount of callousness and indifference to poverty are required for efficient functioning of markets.
More lies.
Profit is always required.
I don't care if you are a Capitalist, Socialist or Communist, and you subscribe the Free Market, Command Market, Feudal System or Traditional System, if you don't have Profit, then you can never acquire new Capital, and without new Capital, you cannot grow.
How did trade start? With Profit.....that's what a Surplus is.
I grew wheat, harvested the wheat, and then distributed to various Classes based on Tradition as reinforced by Religion, and had two baskets of wheat left-over. I can trade that surplus -- profit -- to another group.
He also fails to define "poverty" objectively in no uncertain terms. That's because to do so would harm his fantastical nonsense.
Poverty is not a requirement for anything, in spite of the lies he spews. Poverty is the result of something. What in particular? That depends. Is it poverty when someone refuses to labor and demands that everyone else support them?
Fourthly, markets have been fragile and crisis-prone and have lurched from disaster to disaster.
So?
That is the nature of the Laws of Economics.
The EPA demands that corn-based ethanol be used for its E85 Fuel Standard. That necessitates pulling corn from other Markets -- such as the Market for corn starch, the Market for corn flour, the Market for corn meal, the Market for corn flakes, the Market for light corn syrup, the Market for dark corn syrup, the Market for popcorn, the Market for corn as live-stock feed, the Market for corn as canned corn, the Market for corn as on-the-cob etc etc etc etc.
Because Demand remains constant, while Supply has decreased, the prices of everything using corn, have increased.
Drought has further harmed corn yields, reducing the Supply even further, while Demand remains unchanged, with the result being the prices of gasoline and food --- all based on corn -- are increasing.
And then a lot of really stupid Americans will blame it all on the Federal Reserve, who apparently can control the weather in the US.
Non-market mechanism are impervious to drought? Floods? Shortages? Wrong answer.
Fifthly, market economies require imposition by violence – either natural or created.
That's a lie. Violence is never a requirement.
In the Free Market System, consumers of all classes (meaning individuals, households, business and industry et al) engage in voluntary consumer transactions.
Pardon my French, but that ass-clown is full of shit.
Lexington wrote:I do not think it is correct to equate GM and the US government with, say, the Crips, just because all exercise force.
Two of them are productive (We can argue about the measures!) and the other is not.
None of them are productive. In fact, they are counter-productive.
Were you born yesterday? 'Cause if you were, there's a documentary film you'll want to watch about General Motors. General Motors embarked on a plan to purchase all private mass transit systems in the US, and destroy them, to deny people access to private mass transit with the result being Americans were forced to buy cars against their will.
That is not a conspiracy theory.....that is reality, and if you watch the film, you will see General Motors' vice-presidents and executives admit/confess in front of their mothers and the entire world, preserved on film for posterity.
It was the US government -- along with State governments and a special interest group called the American Hospital Association -- that enacted policies and laws causing Millions of Americans to become disenfranchised and have no access to health plan coverage, which limited their access to healthcare.
How exactly is that productive?
The enemy numbered 600-including women and children-we abolished them utterly, leaving not even a baby to cry for its dead mother. This is incomparably the greatest victory that was ever achieved by the Christian soldiers of the United States. Mark Twain