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View Poll Results: Who runs industry and services better? | |||
Government in almost all cases. | 2 | 4.88% | |
Government generally runs things better, but private has many merits as well. | 8 | 19.51% | |
Private runs things better, but government has many merits as well. | 23 | 56.10% | |
Private in almost all cases. | 8 | 19.51% | |
Voters: 41. You may not vote on this poll |
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2008-11-28, 20:05 | Link #221 | ||||
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2008
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Say, I hate to reply like that but I'm feeling I've been talking to a wall.
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How can "capitalism" can create false needs? Care to elaborate? Quote:
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2008-11-28, 20:51 | Link #222 | |
Gregory House
IT Support
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You didn't bother to comment at all on my explanation of what capital is. Which is natural, since your brain doesn't seem to understand it.
And you think you're talking to a wall... lol Quote:
All those needs (well, *everything* that is superfluous) are created by the consumerist society--which, as I explained, is a natural consequence of capitalism.
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2008-11-28, 20:55 | Link #223 |
思想工作
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Vereinigte Staaten
Age: 32
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Well people buys lots of things they don't need (i know this is somewhat subjective), the prices of which are unnaturally low and disproportional to their actual value (or what the value should be).
An example is companies making really cheaply-produced goods that are designed to satisfy the consumer temporarily and then break, only to be replaced by more cheap goods. This is a waste of our limited resources and while monetarily efficient for the corporation, is terrible in the long run. EDIT: WanderingKnight beat me to it. damn. |
2008-11-28, 21:17 | Link #224 | ||||
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2008
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Do you want an iPod? Do you want a new cellphone everymonth? Do you want expensive perfumes? ===> Yes I want an iPod. Yes, I want a new cellphone not every month but every day. No, I don't want perfumes. And I also want to travel around the world. I want to live in the 10 stars hotel and I want that hotel moved to Paris instead. I want to travel in space... So what is your point? You didn't tell me how "capitalism" creates false needs? Quote:
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2008-11-28, 21:26 | Link #227 | ||||
Gregory House
IT Support
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My father works in the advertisement field (he's a graphic designer) and he would explain you quite well that the main point behind advertisement is to absolutely convince the viewer that he needs the object that's being advertised--but he doesn't. Advertisement is one big fallacy (actually, different types of advertisement can be broken down into certain types of fallacies, but that's just minor nitpicking). Quote:
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2008-11-28, 21:54 | Link #230 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2008
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Uhm, you've already won a life-time Nobel Prize in economics for that statement . In other words, you win economics! Don't bother capitalism, socialism, communism, etc.... such trivial stuffs could never withstand even just the shadow of your greatness.
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2008-11-28, 22:07 | Link #231 | |
Gregory House
IT Support
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marginal_utility
Plus, as Irenicus and I have stated a couple of times, the "desires are infinite" idea is not a scientific truth. Also: Quote:
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2008-11-28, 23:02 | Link #232 | |
Gregory House
IT Support
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Oh, and about this:
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However, my point remains: people don't "want" an iPod--the whole rhetoric of "product xxx has filled xxx hole in the market" is bullshit. The desire for an iPod is implanted by those who sell them (thank you Apple)--there's no "desire for an iPod" before the thing actually comes into existence.
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2008-11-28, 23:23 | Link #233 | |
Bittersweet Distractor
Join Date: Nov 2007
Age: 32
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However desire is not need. People don't need anything beyond food, water, and shelter to stay alive... So everything after that becomes purely a desire.
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2008-11-29, 00:10 | Link #234 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2008
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Oh, your greatness, what does the concept of marginal utility have anything to do with demand? I only dare say ‘demand’ since the light of your wisdom has engulfed the former’s boundlessness.
Oh, your majesty, since the one truth of this universe is the limitedness of demand, I follow the light of your guidance to the conclusion that the number of people going to StarBuck Coffee everyday would be the same if everything were free. Yes, that must be true. /facepalm Enough of the lulz: Desires when compared to the available resources on Earth are unlimited. It’s the truth and the very reason for the existence of the thing called “economics.” And please don’t share your life-time Nobel prize with any other. For capital and capital accumulation, here I’ll help you win economics in round #2: _ Capital includes many things but all would be meaningless without labor! _Capital accumulation is ....,what the heck, trivial stuffs, since everything related to capital must come from labor! Conclusion: a capitalist can only make profit by exploiting labor. Therefore, capitalism is evil. Das ende. Satisfied? |
2008-11-30, 09:35 | Link #235 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Singapore now, QLD next.
Age: 40
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Well, private usually runs things better, if only to fight corruption. But basic needs like energy, water and oil should be under the government. Prices of staples like rice need to have a bracket (set by the government) to limit its price.
Therefore, for the most basic, the government does best. For all else, there's private sector. |
2008-11-30, 15:30 | Link #237 |
I disagree with you all.
Join Date: Dec 2005
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I don't want to go into the particulars of the present situation, but there's a difference between subsidizing an industry all the time, and keeping it alive through a bad period. The latter makes more sense than letting it crash and then try to rebuild from scratch afterwards.
Not that the former doesn't have its uses too. Our agriculture is heavily subsidized because, well, we have to be able to grow on own food. |
2008-11-30, 15:45 | Link #238 |
思想工作
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Vereinigte Staaten
Age: 32
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To expand on the steroid analogy, I guess it would be like the difference between working out and pumping yourself full of questionable substances. Subsidizes can be good, but I think that the corporate lobby has turned them into something much less beneficial to society.
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2008-11-30, 16:01 | Link #239 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2008
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That is a very very interesting concept. It alters the mindset of many future entrepreneurs. How to run a business in the 21st century: ....... In time of crisis: _Step 1: whine and inform the press _Step 2: complain about how unfair life is. _Step 3:"It's not my fault" _Step 4: Convince people to believe that the world will explode if your business is gone. _Step 5: go to D.C _Step 6: if (business == "still fail") goto Step1 (this method guarantees success) _Step 7: treat yourself a worldwide tour. |
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2008-11-30, 17:37 | Link #240 | |
I disagree with you all.
Join Date: Dec 2005
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Lobbies are a problem, I won't deny it. Another is that, quite often, we just don't know what we're doing. |
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