Unfettered Capitalism

[Toddsterpatriot]

If I buy a hundred shares of Microsoft stock from you, how much of my money goes to Microsoft?

If you own Microsoft and sell it to me, don't I own it now?

 

[georgephillip]

Workers get paid! It seems you don't know about that part.

Workers are the source of all new value within society.
What do shareholders contribute to earn their dividends?

 

[georgephillip]

I'm not going to explain economics to you george. If you don't get it, you don't get it. I don't really care.

You're about the last person on this board I would consult for economic explanations.

 

[dblack]

Workers get paid! It seems you don't know about that part.

Workers are the source of all new value within society.
What do shareholders contribute to earn their dividends?

Sadly, Marxists are too stupid to realize that allocating resources efficiently is actually work - some of the most important work that goes on in a large economy.

 

[dblack]

I'm not going to explain economics to you george. If you don't get it, you don't get it. I don't really care.

You're about the last person on this board I would consult for economic explanations.

Then why did you ask?

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Workers get paid! It seems you don't know about that part.

Workers are the source of all new value within society.
What do shareholders contribute to earn their dividends?

What do shareholders contribute to earn their dividends?

They own the company.

 

[bripat9643]

Democratic socialism means every decision in society is subject to majority rule.

No, it doesn't:

Democratic socialism - Wikipedia.

"Democratic socialism can be characterised as follows:

• "Much property held by the public through a democratically elected government, including most major industries, utilities, and transportation systems
• A limit on the accumulation of private property
• Governmental regulation of the economy
• Extensive publicly financed assistance and pension programs
• Social costs and the provision of services added to purely financial considerations as the measure of efficiency

"Publicly held property is limited to productive property and significant infrastructure; it does not extend to personal property, homes, and small businesses. And in practice in many democratic socialist countries, it has not extended to many large corporations."

How about Venezuela?

 

[bripat9643]

Workers get paid! It seems you don't know about that part.

Workers are the source of all new value within society.
What do shareholders contribute to earn their dividends?

Hmmmm, no, that isn't true. Who invented the Iphone?

So-called "public-private" partnerships are generally indistinguishable from pure government projects. I'm not sure what the distinction is.

It's more of the same brand of capitalism where private contractors pocket the profits and taxpayers shoulder the costs.

That's called "crony capitalism," socialism, in other words.

 

[georgephillip]

Certainly maxing out the deficit/debt isn't the right track.

Austerity doesn't seem to be working too well.
If the for-profit sector can't provide enough living wage jobs to prevent massive indebtedness among working class Americans, government will have to step up.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/05/consumer-debt-hits-new-record-of-14point3-trillion.html

 

[georgephillip]

That doesn't really make any sense. Try again.

Market failure - Wikipedia).

"Traffic congestion is an example of market failure that incorporates both non-excludability and externality.

"Public roads are common resources that are available for the entire population's use (non-excludable), and act as a complement to cars (the more roads there are, the more useful cars become).

"Because there is very low cost but high benefit to individual drivers in using the roads, the roads become congested, decreasing their usefulness to society.

"Furthermore, driving can impose hidden costs on society through pollution (externality). Solutions for this include public transportation, congestion pricing, tolls, and other ways of making the driver include the social cost in the decision to drive."

 

[georgephillip]

Whether it's in four months or four years, Trump is leaving behind an absolute mess. And yet, he could very well still win. The Democrats are taking advantage of the ugliness, ignorance and arrogance of the Trump administration by running a historically weak candidate.

Even if Trump loses and leaves office, he still has more than two months to exact his revenge:

The Other Way Trump Could Destroy the Next Presidency

"A brazen refusal by the president to leave office is surely a nightmare scenario.

"But even if President Donald Trump were to lose and accept the results on November 3 or soon thereafter, he could nevertheless wreak significant damage during the period between the election and the inauguration of Joe Biden—endangering the incoming administration, at best, and actively sabotaging it, at worst."

 

[bripat9643]

That doesn't really make any sense. Try again.

Market failure - Wikipedia).

"Traffic congestion is an example of market failure that incorporates both non-excludability and externality.

"Public roads are common resources that are available for the entire population's use (non-excludable), and act as a complement to cars (the more roads there are, the more useful cars become).

"Because there is very low cost but high benefit to individual drivers in using the roads, the roads become congested, decreasing their usefulness to society.

"Furthermore, driving can impose hidden costs on society through pollution (externality). Solutions for this include public transportation, congestion pricing, tolls, and other ways of making the driver include the social cost in the decision to drive."

Roads are "non-excludable" because that's the way the government designs them. They can easily be made excludable by imposing tolls. Government designs and builds roads, but you claim it's not responsible for congestion.

 

[dblack]

That doesn't really make any sense. Try again.

Market failure - Wikipedia).

"Traffic congestion is an example of market failure that incorporates both non-excludability and externality.

"Public roads are common resources that are available for the entire population's use (non-excludable), and act as a complement to cars (the more roads there are, the more useful cars become).

"Because there is very low cost but high benefit to individual drivers in using the roads, the roads become congested, decreasing their usefulness to society.

"Furthermore, driving can impose hidden costs on society through pollution (externality). Solutions for this include public transportation, congestion pricing, tolls, and other ways of making the driver include the social cost in the decision to drive."

Those sure are some quotes.

But, once again, you're talking about the commons. Managing the commons is the responsibility of government, not markets. These are examples of government policy failure, not market failure.