- Capitalism and Alternatives -

Was gonna

Posted by: Red Deathy ( Socialist party, Uk ) on May 17, 1999 at 15:16:42:

In Reply to: Relevent. posted by Ludwig von Mises on May 16, 1999 at 13:49:36:

Was gonna leave you to have the last word, but you asked some questions, so I'll just answer them...

: Hmmm...was anything else involved in the trade? Also, are you saying that this happened all of the time, or just some of it?

Welll, for long periods people inside a community wouldn't need to trade- either they'd be dependant upon a father, or they were part of a small community of tithes and things (hence most folk wouldn't have paid the blacksmith)- monetary trade was for trading rare goods, and was a minor feature of the economy. AFAIK.

: Then you are not free.

Sorry, I meant you don't *have to* work for yourself, you can if you really want to, but you're probably better off freely choposing some role in social production. My bad.

: Which means that several will work their asses off and several will sit on theirs. This means that those still working will produce more than they ussually would, but ultimately end up with less.

Why does it automatically mean this? I don't see why. Evryone can find a role to play, and its in their interest (individual) to ensure the system keeps going, if one group persistantly sat on their arses the whole thing would collapse- the condition of failure is also the reason for success, tehrefore...

: To complex--you need to trade with people directly. Producing tons of stuff and then sending it away on some plane or ship so that many others can take it and then hoping that a ship comes back with stuff that you need is a little risky, n'est-ce pas? Plus, many people would not get what they needed, as the export/import system would go to hell in a handbasket.

Then the system would fall apart- its in people's self interest not to do so- plus arrangement would be made between communities- monetary trade would be replaced by communicative trade, exchange of words...

: OK, I agree that we could do without boards:) However, companies go public in order to create more capital to do what they have to do, and investors are the only way to a ccomplish that. Also, in a free society, people should be able to do what they want, be it investing in companies or investing in commodities, they should be able to do it.

Not if it means enslaving others.

If ya wanna continue, start a new thread ;)



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