the market is a BAD king (498 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 0.97 on 37 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by shandythedog (View user info) at 2008-02-14 14:58:19 EST
The dominant view today is that 'the market' (which somehow sounds more real and practical than the mysterious and slightly sinister 'economy'), is king. 'Market forces' lead to the most effective use of resources. Government interference in this process should be kept to a minimum.
Common sense would suggest that a competitive market does indeed lead to efficiencies in specific areas of competition. Plasma TV's improve in quality and price because of competition.
But the plasma TV market is solely concerned with making money by making plasma TVs. The plasma TV market has no interest in the wider picture of the distribution and use of resources in sensible ways that foster an economic, social and natural environment conducive to happy and sustainable life for as many of the earth's inhabitants as possible (except sharks).
If the market was a good king, fostering an economic, social and natural environment conducive to happy and sustainable life is precisely what the market would be doing. But obviously the market cannot provide this kind of leadership. The market can be a very useful tool or servant, even an entertaining friend, but OBVIOUSLY the market cannot be a good king.
So if the market is not a good king, who is??? Somebody has to steer the fucking ship away from the rocks.
The job of steering the fucking ship away from the rocks supposedly rests with the governments we elect.
But they don't seem to be doing much steering at all.
They are servants of the Bad King.
User Reviews
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2008-02-15 12:43:19 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2008-02-14 20:21:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
anyone who things the market is king should try using the american health care system.
it's cool for me because I am rich beyond everyone elses wildest dreams but it's fucked for everyone else.
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The Good King has been pwned.
Submitted by simple_catalyst (user info) at 2008-02-15 09:57:52 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by iddqd (user info) at 2008-02-14 21:35:02 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
great article, there, karl marx. really mapped it all out for us.
Submitted by monkeyswithguns (user info) at 2008-02-14 20:58:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2008-02-14 20:21:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
anyone who things the market is king should try using the american health care system.
it's cool for me because I am rich beyond everyone elses wildest dreams but it's fucked for everyone else.
Submitted by locksly (user info) at 2008-02-14 19:40:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
The market is the combination of its participants, so if the majority of the participants (us) are corrupt, greedy or self serving then the market will be skewed in this way.
Factor in that everyone has their own opinion and information is not readily shared and information that is shared is full of spin and propaganda.
The market is simply made up of the attributes of those who participate.
It cannot be either good or bad, but you can.
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2008-02-14 17:48:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Actually, I really liked this post, and I agree with you. Laissez-faire produces a damned nice luxury car or plasma screen at good prices, but is that the attitude you want dominating the society? In the US, Alan Greenspan wanted everyone to own houses, so he dropped regulations on a lot of the major banks. As a result, the irresponsible sodomites pushed loans on people who couldn't afford them (largely the public's fault, granted), and ended up with a bunch of foreclosures.
The way I see it, you want your society to espouse a set of common values; not pro-life or anti-gay, but common sense things like education, health care, and renewable energy. Those things are not always going to play nicely with laissez-faire. But, like you said, who do you trust to set the direction? Our current leaders are really just an extension of old-school feudalism; upper-class warrior-caste folks who usually have friends and/or family in the businesses we're playing laissez-faire with. I think the solution is, as it's always been, an educated and involved public. Right now, the bulk of that public is too busy fiddling with their i-phones and garmins to get up and do anything. You start taking away their jobs and lowering their quality of living and things might get radically different.
Submitted by wardy (user info) at 2008-02-14 16:24:01 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
i'm agreeing, berty, that the market is a good king. i'm just not sure it can be influenced by a few, even governments. well, i guess it's like you said, since everyone is corrupt of their own interests, it evens it all out. at some point in the 7+ billion people on the planet, there is a natural median interest that occurs.
i don't even know if that made sense, but i'm drinking.
Submitted by shandythedog (user info) at 2008-02-14 16:21:09 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
i must go to work
hopefully the evil of the Bad King will have been fully clarified by the time i return
Submitted by corn_nugget (user info) at 2008-02-14 16:19:15 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
You should know that I have a son, and I will never go to seed.
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2008-02-14 16:18:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
But EVERYONE is corrupt! That's precisely why Market Forces is a good king!
Submitted by shandythedog (user info) at 2008-02-14 16:16:19 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
you don't?
let's just say that if you had a daughter, and if she was to hit 13 at about the time you were starting to go to seed, well, i know it's not an original concept, but...
Submitted by corn_nugget (user info) at 2008-02-14 16:14:28 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I don't see what those things have to do with our marriage!
Submitted by wardy (user info) at 2008-02-14 16:12:27 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
on a more serious note, i think the market is too big to be controlled by the corrupt. so really, the market is like a king that is so fat he can't be bribed with food... or something like that. the market runs itself, billions of people and their needs outweigh the pockets of the rich in the long run.
Submitted by shandythedog (user info) at 2008-02-14 16:09:28 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
corn, do you have a son or a daughter?
and how old is he she?
how old are you?
Submitted by shandythedog (user info) at 2008-02-14 16:08:53 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
yes, so long as their are guidelines
and someone has to set those
the Bad King can't set his own guidelines
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2008-02-14 16:08:39 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by wardy (user info) at 2008-02-14 16:04:08 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
is that a religious question?
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er...
er...
...yes
Submitted by wardy (user info) at 2008-02-14 16:04:08 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
is that a religious question?
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:59:08 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by wardy (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:53:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:37:23 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
The daily grind does put you in a situation where you have life force and you go to work and when you go home you have less of it, but I guess it's better than me lying around in bed jizzing on everything.
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I disagree.
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About the life-force or the jizzing?
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:56:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by shandythedog (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:49:25 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
berty, i'm happy for market forces to be the ENGINE
but someone has to steer
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Why? Why does there need to be some single, consolidated, control? Isn't it enough to simply set guidelines and let the King bumble along?
A benign despot is still a despot.
Submitted by corn_nugget (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:54:00 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
YOU DONT CARE THAT ID MARRY YOU!?
Submitted by wardy (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:53:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:37:23 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
The daily grind does put you in a situation where you have life force and you go to work and when you go home you have less of it, but I guess it's better than me lying around in bed jizzing on everything.
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I disagree.
Submitted by shandythedog (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:49:25 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
berty, i'm happy for market forces to be the ENGINE
but someone has to steer
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:47:08 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
In the interests of devils advocate I'll say that the only good king is market forces because 'he' provides drive, structure and prosperity whilst encouraging communication.
Yes, communication. I think that's the one.
Lets look at the Chinkies. Without Good Kind Market Forces at the helm we would all be very much at odds with the Chinkies. Instead, we are doing business with one another, making money and so on.
OH! And also it FORCES good natured enviromental types to come up with solutions that are actually appealing rather than frightful ball-aches such as forcing us to ride donkeys to work.
So there's my case for Good King Market Forces.
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:41:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by beeltea (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:33:13 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:22:32 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
i'm not 'someone' i'm the most awesome uber user ever.
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AHAHahahhaHAAHAHAHA
whahhahahahahahahah
hahaahhhhahaha
hahahahahahhahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
hahaha
ha
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:(
Submitted by shandythedog (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:39:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
the market is good
i like the market
BUT IT SHOULD NOT BE KING
THE KING SHOULD BE...
modesty prevents me from continuing..
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:37:23 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I dunno if I agree, 'the market' ensures we don't live in perpetual inertia and provides dangerous psychotics (or 'achievers' as they're otherwise known) something constructive to do. It's relatively un-tyrannical in regards to what we are allowed to believe in or live our lives.
The daily grind does put you in a situation where you have life force and you go to work and when you go home you have less of it, but I guess it's better than me lying around in bed jizzing on everything.
Submitted by beeltea (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:33:13 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:22:32 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
i'm not 'someone' i'm the most awesome uber user ever.
---
AHAHahahhaHAAHAHAHA
whahhahahahahahahah
hahaahhhhahaha
hahahahahahhahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
hahaha
ha
Submitted by corn_nugget (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:25:57 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Yes, scrouge is the one that I was talking about you with.
No, I'd still marry you.
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:22:32 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
i'm not 'someone' i'm the most awesome uber user ever.
Submitted by shandythedog (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:21:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by corn_nugget (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:13:20 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Yes, you playing the piano! I saw it right after I told someone I'd marry you. FYI!
--
did that change your views re. the marriage?
Submitted by corn_nugget (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:13:20 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Yes, you playing the piano! I saw it right after I told someone I'd marry you. FYI!
Submitted by wardy (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:11:23 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
i don't really think i read most of what you said.
Submitted by Socialist_Joe (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:08:20 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
hey sharks aint that bad
Submitted by shandythedog (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:06:44 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
the video of me playing the piano i assume you mean?
not the one of me caught rooting pamela anderson and tommy lee jones up the arse, simulataneously?
i will read your post this arvo, must get ready for work now
Submitted by matchoo (user info) at 2008-02-14 15:04:32 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
hey btw your US market is coming to a time of reckoning....
Bring on the asian thirst for raw materials
Submitted by corn_nugget (user info) at 2008-02-14 14:59:43 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I didn't read this yet, but I have a lot to say to you.
Well, two things.
1. read my most recent post, you'll like it.
2. I saw that video of you!
hah :)