Big food at it again V. Price fixing and why we don't trust big business

  • Thread starter Thread starter TheRemains
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There is no such thing as an "evil corporation." I wouldn't even say there are evil executives. They're just trying to make money, but in doing so they're breaking a fundamental rule of free markets.

A free market isn't free simply because it is unencumbered by government interference. Corporations that collude instead of competing are just as (and in many cases far more) damaging to free markets as government regulations can be.

It's a big deal because it speaks to corporate attitudes in the U.S. They sit back and whine and complain about the death of free markets any time the government clamps down on them, but they're doing everything they can themselves to kill free markets by collusion and other illegal means.

Sure, this is just egg producers. Would you feel the same way if Ford and GM got together and decided they wanted to make a little extra cash, so rather than compete with each other they mutually agree to raise the price of, say, passenger side airbags on all their vehicles by a certain percentage?

It's the same exact thing. Don't let the smallness of the product fool you, this is a big deal. It speaks to the corporate environment we live in, and that is a corporate environment that has seemingly abandoned all concepts of free trade in favor of collusion, monopolies, and every other "evil" that can reduce the integrity of the free markets.

Until they start acting like they WANT free markets, I have a hard time caring when they complain about the government regulating them. And I'm saying that as a libertarian.
 
you serious bro?

actionable, yes.

but a blatant disregard for the 1st amendment should be illegal in all cases.
 
If people don't want big CEO pay they shouldn't buy the companies securities.

You act like paying the CEO of a company a lot of money somehow damages you. How about you shut the fuck up and realize it doesn't.
 
seriously dude? find the law that says a bottle of clorox bleach should cost no more than $3.00 a gallon. when you can't, I recommend that you try consuming that bottle of bleach as a followup
 
I never said it was immoral. Hence why I specifically said I don't believe anyone involved is "evil" or whatever. It is, however, very destructive to the fabric of the free market system.
 
I've decided I'm going to start defending politicians with the same logic that people use to defend corporations.

"Oh, it's not his fault that he accepted a bribe of illegal campaign donations in return for giving so-and-so special political favors and fat government contracts. He was just doing what the market incentives prompted him to do. Obviously, if it irritated the voters enough to do something about it, they would vote him out of office. Since he's been re-elected, we can conclude that he didn't really do anything wrong."
 
THAT'S MY POINT! If big business does it there is someone with more power than them that can say "no no no, you can't do that". If the government does it, NO ONE CAN STOP THEM.
 
yeah, everybody loves cheapass junk that has to be thrown away in a year so you can buy new cheapass junk again!
 
Vertical price fixing is completely legal. Horizontal price fixing is not.


Regardless, companies do have a right to charge whatever they want for their products. Just because a government comes in and says they can't, doesn't mean they don't have the right. Governments trample upon rights. Fuck your legality.
 
This was also part of my point: if the business requires the government, then how is one really worse than the other? You act as though the action taken by the group NO ONE CAN STOP was solely possible because of the group NO ONE CAN STOP.

In reality, the actions of the first group are what starts the chain reaction. Calling the watchdog worse because it's reaction cannot be countered as easily as those of its charges, completely misses the point of why any of this has to happen.

Which is dangerously close to bovine servility. If you have examples of the watchdog exceeding it's duties, then post them. In general, if the authority does not respond to the valid critiques leveled at it, it is not serving its role and tends to be seated with new people come the next election.

Of course, little is immune to the whims of a mob, and mobs tend not to know what is in their best interest. In fact, they tend to have very limited, self-centered interests in mind. In that event, the authority gets retooled whether it needs it, does not, might cease to function, or some combination of the three.

This idea of yours, that whatever the watchdog does is worse because there is no level of control directly above it (that you can discern anyway) smells like fear. The kind that comes from knowing the inherent ability of man to be dishonorable, backhanded, selfish, greedy. Yet your answer is to set your sights on the one crystallization that first jumps out at you, which is the inherent possibility represented by the watchdog, the governmental authority peopled by individuals, who invariably cannot be trusted outright.

Instead of addressing the problem, which is the behavior itself, you would jeer accusingly at the boogeyman you see presented in the authority...because the thought stopped at 'well no one can be trusted'- thus, those with the authority are somehow less trustworthy than those it is their job to keep trustworthy.

This mindset leads to the weakening of the authority, in forming itself around pointless and thoughtless boundaries, imposed by an impulsive and illogical distrust from those who have no control over it...according to you. Those people, being you and I, are not served by a blind tool anymore than we are in ignoring the first, most untrustworthy action that took place. That of the man or men who, knowing full well they might be caught, tried anyway. While you bicker about what the government does, or shouldn't do, the people responsible for that agency's existence spend millions to ply those who make up your tools with trips, cash, support, just about anything needed. Those lobbyists and 'friends' come with flattering words, supportive hands outstretched...you, and those like you who unknowingly argue idiotic platitudes like 'the government did it so it must be worse'-you bitch from the sidelines, offering only criticism, scorn, or mindless cheering when your basic nether regions get fondled.


And then set yourselves on fire when the government doesn't listen. When the people, who make it up, have turned a deaf ear to the idiocy being thrown at them. Idiots like Jindal, who's last big answer was 'Americans can do anything', and now knows all about what needs to be done in the current crisis. He might look very effective in his life-vest and rolled up sleeves, but the real push here is politics. Just a nice image to sell idiots who, as Wal-Mart proves uptidy millions of times a day, don't really care where it comes from. Just how much they have to put in to have it.
 
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