RayR wrote:I don't about you Frank, first, you talk like a COMMIE PROGRESSIVE with that "unfettered capitalists" lingo, as if free market capitalism is bad. Then you end with "honest supply and demand Capitalism...which is truly the greatest system of all to all parties." Which is it?
Under "honest supply and demand" free market capitalism makers and sellers are under competitive pressure.
A local example: There are four corners of a major street not far from me with a Walmart, an ALDI, a Target, and a Wegmans. You can see price competition all the time between them He who serves the customer with the product they want, at the level of quality and service they desire, and at the best price wins the vote of the consumer dollar. The free market is the only true democracy for those reasons. Totally different from that dishonest duhmacracy stuff that you believe in.
But you skirt around the whole issue of INFLATION. Inflation is not just about physical factors like temporary supply chain issues and stupid government interventions in the economy that are the greater cause of them, INFLATION is a monetary phenomenon caused by governments spending money they don't have and Central Bank policies that monetize that debt and artificially manipulate interest rates. It's a game of picking winners and losers and by design. the little guy will be the sucker at the end of the line, as the biggest loser who will be stuck with the debased paper notes that have lost the most buying power as they shop for goods and services.
May we should call it STINKFLATION because a dishonest monetary system is not a foundation of free market capitalism and the whole thing just stinks.
"Inflation and credit expansion, the preferred methods of present day government openhandedness, do not add anything
to the amount of resources available. They make some people more prosperous, but only to the extent that they make others poorer." - Ludwig Von Mises
Shrinkflation is ugly Capitalism taking devious advantage of financial circumstances as opposed to that noble vision we'd both support.
Consider that raising the price AND shrinking the volume of product in a package that appears the same size as before adds to inflation and only happens so as to increase profit artificially, not due to honest responses to market pressures/ increased demand.
Your 12 oz box of Luck Charms that used to cost $5 is now $6 and only has 10.5 oz in it, AND represents an increase in profit margin. Smells like cheating from every angle. Sneaky tactics increasing profits is not earning profits by filling the needs of consumers by reacting to market pressures, it's trickery. Dare I say shenanigans?
the idea that competitive pressures are THE factor that keeps Capitalism honest is a theory, certainly a model of perfection. It is the best theory on Earth and the one worthy of our efforts.
But reality plays out differently. Capitalists are drawn from the same gene pool that supplies Politicians, teachers, Police/Military, and crooks, con men, and other scoundrels, making the Perfect Theory impossible to exist due to the imperfections of human beings.
But I don't expect it to be perfect, I only hope to be able to curb and minimize the damages that imperfections inflict on consumers and harm the model as it should be working.
So aside from market pressures, sometimes a touch of consumer protection is required...how much protection is clearly debatable but not necessary for this thread.