Posted by Dale on March 13, 2000 at 13:17:35:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: planning to sell BBb BAT posted by curmudgeon on March 13, 2000 at 11:48:58:
I'm sorry you thought I was criticizing your fair assessment of "marketplace" dynamics, it was not my intent to criticize you, I just think that dopes in the market make it a harder market to anticipate. Equity for both sides in a transaction is a concept we seldom want to think about. That was why I mentioned the rip-off by the "highly-touted" manufacturer. I will NOT give more details, only because that would make recovery all the worse for my friend. I am sure that once he recovers his 5-figure investment, plus damages, that unless there is an agreement between him and the tuba maker, he'll be HAPPY to tell anyone who asks about it...but that of course is his call. I think you were paying lipservice to that theft, and ignoring the real criticism of your lemming-like concept of what a free market is. I did not mean to emphasize that an inflexible, militant acceptance of "thats the damn free market" was the exact climate where thieves can thrive, but we surely don't wanna encourage that too do we? You asked about a seeming contradiction in my description of escalating prices, and the lack of sale of a relatively LOW priced horn. Mr. Curmudgeon, THAT was the point. There is scant little consistency to rely on a market is not a "market" according to the old definitions if there is NO consistency or NO predicatablility. It becomes a free for all. Chaos, like Pineapple Poll taken faster than the ensemble should. In theory, educated members in a marketplace CAN have influence over things like spiraling costs. They need not passively accept things "the way it is." A great example is this "gas-out" thing people plan for April. Will it have profound impact on suppliers? Probably not, will there be some value to the exercise? Absolutely! An informed buyer is better for her/himself, and THAT is at least partially what a marketplace exists for, the consumers as well as the buyers. To say "if you don't like it don't buy" is an embarrasment to basic sensability.