251–260 of 265 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
See also: Insurance, healthcare, and car dealerships, all "free market" institutions that people consistently have great experiences with /s, in case it's non-obvious
The healthcare market has been completely distorted by government interference. Car dealerships are another market distortion set up, again, by government interference. Health insurance, too.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Co-ops are Marxist? If so, wow, Marxist businesses are remarkably profitable, productive [1], and resilient [2]! [1] https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/worker-cooperative... [2] https://www.uk.coop/sites/default/files/2020-10/co-operative...
If they are so remarkably profitable, why aren't they pervasive?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, but that is a separate purchase (that is usually extraordinarily expensive). You don't just get continued coverage.
That's why I had said "... I can sign up for COBRA... "
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's interesting, every time I've left a job the insurance was canceled more or less instantly.
its cancelled because your employer stopped paying for it. If you pay for it, its valid for a period of time, usually 6 mo
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Note that customer satisfaction != customer well being (i.e. heroin)
The heroin users believe it is in their best interests.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If they are so remarkably profitable, why aren't they pervasive?
Aren't they? The top 300 cooperatives apparently accounted for 2.2 trillion in turnover back in 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171022081215/http://monitor.co...
And btw, none of the text in your cite says anything about 2.2 trillion in turnover.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The heroin users believe it is in their best interests.
That's my point. It doesn't necessarily mean it is in their best interest - the free market doesn't optimize for people's best interests, it optimizes for people's perception of their best interest (which is usually fine but it's not always the same thing)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I didn't say anything about wealth in general. Capital is concentrated.
I think it's generally under appreciated just how unstable free-markets are. Our historical experience with economics has shown that 100% of free-markets have devolved into a less free form and generally that devolution is violent and extremely unpleasant and it can take quite a while for a market to self-correct into a semi-free market with non-abitrary regulations. Free markets are like pretty much any element nort…
Got a case history?
> it's generally under appreciated just how unstable free-markets are.
Freedom does require eternal vigilance, that's for sure.
> the half life is extremely short
The US has had one for what, 240 years now?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's my point. It doesn't necessarily mean it is in their best interest - the free market doesn't optimize for people's best interests, it optimizes for people's perception of their best interest (which is usually fine but it's not always the same thing)
Do you think it is better for the government to decide what's in your best interests?
Let me ask you something: do you think this is how we're going to run things for the rest of time? Feudalism came and went, mercantilism came and went. Probably we'll come up with something better than what we have now, some day. I admit it's hard to imagine what, though
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's generally under appreciated just how unstable free-markets are. Our historical experience with economics has shown that 100% of free-markets have devolved into a less free form and generally that devolution is violent and extremely unpleasant and it can take quite a while for a market to self-correct into a semi-free market with non-abitrary regulations. Free markets are like pretty much any element nort…
> generally that devolution is violent and extremely unpleasant Got a case history? > it's generally under appreciated just how unstable free-markets are. Freedom does require eternal vigilance, that's for sure. > the half life is extremely short The US has had one for what, 240 years now?
I guess if you want to call that entire 240 years "capitalism" and use that as evidence that it's, ah, more sustainable than other strategies, well that's fine, but that means free market capitalism has no mechanism preventing things like slavery or company towns. In fact it seems it continually fails to provide for anyone other than capital holders until another philosophy enters the picture, such as government regulation or worker's unions.
You say freedom requires vigilance, what's that mean? When the only way to eat was to work in a company town and scrape together barely the means to a living, everyone is vigilantly aware of how shitty the situation is, so then what? History teaches us the "and then what" is strike followed by reactionary state violence followed by bloody revolution, so there's your case history of devolution to violence.