martin,<br><br>would you agree that there is a difference between profit making (i.e. an accidental or regular surplus in money after an exchange, which enables you to continue to operate in a money system) and a system based on profit maximisation (i.e.capitalism), i.e. between a mere market and capitalism ... this is a classic distinction made by marx (m-c-m vs c-m-c), polanyi, braudel, de landa, and even by anarchist anthropoligists like david graeber ... <br>
<br>pre-capitalist markets were always subsumed to broader economic and social goals (i.e. fixed price in Indian villages, 'just price', also pretty much fixed, in medieval europe, etc ...)<br><br>it seems to me that cartels/etc .. are a inevitable feature of capitalism, but are they a necessary feature of market systems in general, especially when the market dynamics are subsumed?<br>
<br>perhaps any class-based allocation system is marred by power law and concentration dynamics, since it was also certainly the case in feudal systems, where it is the land that was being concentrated,<br><br>to me it seems logically that any competitive allocation system, where some players can win, immediately favours the winner, since they already obtain more resources in the second round<br>
<br>without counter-measures, are these not inevitable?<br><br>my understanding is that tribal societies had such active countermeasures?<br><br>Michel<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Nov 25, 2011 at 6:14 PM, mp <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mp@aktivix.org">mp@aktivix.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;"><div class="im"><br>
<br>
On 25/11/11 08:22, Michel Bauwens wrote:<br>
> On Fri, Nov 25, 2011 at 12:22 PM, Natalie Golovin <<a href="mailto:10natalie@cox.net">10natalie@cox.net</a>> wrote:<br>
<br>
</div><div class="im">>> Scarcity of resources and risk-taking play major roles in allocation, and<br>
>> choices become skewed as decisions are controlled by govt policies,<br>
>> religion, culture & personal ethics. Consider the simple example of<br>
>> providing HIV drugs to poor populations. Lengthening lives results in the<br>
>> infection of many more individuals unless the culture �buys in� to<br>
>> prevention like condom use. Profits pay for the returns to risk in bringing<br>
>> a product to market. Once a product successfully hits the street,<br>
>> competitors are encouraged until a dynamic equilibrium is reached and in<br>
>> the long-run profit is roughly equivalent to the interest rate plus<br>
>> depreciation. Today we have nothing close to that due to cartels, monopoly<br>
>> behavior, collusion, FED manipulation of interest rates, insufficient or<br>
>> over-regulation & favoritism etc. etc.,, all now made more complex on a<br>
>> global scale.<br>
>><br>
><br>
> we can agree on this ..<br>
<br>
</div>are these problems (cartels, monopolies etc.) hindering a well<br>
functioning a profit system, or are they rather problems made by a<br>
profit system?<br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
<br>
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