my own take is that a peer to peer economy reverses the equilibrium between competition and cooperation.<br><br>In capitalism, competition is primary and cooperation happens within the cooperating entities, although mostly in hierarchical ways\<br>
<br>in a commons oriented society, the cooperation within the context of a commons is primary, and competition, between market (but not capitalist) and non-market entities (say between joomla and drupal), happens within that context of cooperation<br>
<br>marvin brown makes the crucial point in civilising the economy that it is the citizenry that decides on provisioning systems, which may, or may not, involve market mechanisms<br><br>ows is a good example, the general assembly decided on food provisioning, through vermont organic farmers, which provided for free, but in order to preserve the livelyhoods of the food vendors, decided on fundraising to buy from the vendors<br>
<br>whether to use a market or non-market mechanism is secondary to the necessity of having a system which guarantees social reproduction ... (the vermont organic farmers would not be able to socially reproduce their own activities if giving away without reciprocity were there only activity)<br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Dec 7, 2011 at 3:11 PM, Karl Robillard <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:krobillard@san.rr.com">krobillard@san.rr.com</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;">
On Wednesday, December 07, 2011 01:43:25 AM <a href="mailto:10natalie@cox.net">10natalie@cox.net</a> wrote:<br>
><br>
> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordoliberalism" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordoliberalism</a><br>
<br>
� �"Ordoliberal theory holds that the state must create a proper legal<br>
environment for the economy and maintain a healthy level of competition<br>
(rather than just "exchange") through measures that adhere to market<br>
principles."<br>
� �"The concern is that, if the state does not take active measures to foster<br>
competition, firms with monopoly (or oligopoly) power will emerge, which will<br>
not only subvert the advantages offered by the market economy, but also<br>
possibly undermine good government, since strong economic power can be<br>
transformed into political power"<br>
<br>
--------------------<br>
<br>
Requiring competion is a bass-ackwards way to build a humane economy. �This<br>
solution is like trying to fight fire with fire. �Competition is about the<br>
capture of scarce resources and the suppression or elimination of those that<br>
cannot get them. �Rather than perpetuate a system you know leads to bad<br>
outcomes maybe people should try another system.<br>
<br>
The focus should be on sustained *diversity* not on any process of<br>
elimination. �You want to keep all people involved in the economy, not drive<br>
the less capable into the dirt.<br>
<br>
It seems to me that the concept of competition is often used where it's not<br>
appropriate. �In free software we have all kinds of graphical desktop<br>
environments and most people would say they are competing with each other. �In<br>
this case there is no scarcity as users may use any or all of these interfaces<br>
and developers are free to mix and match ideas between them. �The dynamic<br>
between these projects is much more symbiotic than competitive.<br>
<br>
To put an end to scarcity we must attend to systems of abundance, not pretend<br>
that systems of scarcity management (e.g. money and markets) are going to<br>
trancend themselves. �Ha ha! �There's a slogan for you: "Attend, not pretend!"<br>
<br>
<br>
-Karl<br>
<br>
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