[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
orion wrote:
Free of “restrictions”, not free of cost.
Entering a market has a prize.So what?
Cost is a restriction.
Why should it cost to trade in a supposedly free and open system? If I wanted to trade my goods for some other need that I wasn’t able to procure why should I allow someone to profit by my lack of capital? That is the major flaw of capitalism. I cannot trade my goods openly. I must convert them to some form of currency and “purchase” what I need in the market. The transfer of capital incurs an unnecessary burden on my labor which in the long run causes inflation.
The purpose of trade is that it allows productive forces to free up unnecessary labor by producing only what they are most productive at. They then trade with someone who lacks this good for a good that they themselves lack. Logically, the trade partner would also benefit by freeing up unnecessary labor to produce more efficiently.
Free-trade implies that neither side benefits at someone else’s expense–in other words no one should lose sustainability because they had to incur some other cost.
The US is losing in this so called free-trade because we cannot produce anything sustainably because of the large corporate liabilities that have been incurred in the name of profitability; this also raises costs onto the rest of the market. Witness–US trade deficit.[/quote]
You are implying that transaction costs are somehow immoral. You can walk your money to your business partners, I prefer to have it transfered by a bank.
Specialising in making business easier and more reliable is a perfectly legitimate business and people are obviously willing to pay for it.
Then, it is a-ok to barter in capitalism. Nobody forces you to use money. I guess you will find out soon why people coose to use money in a complex economy, but nobody forces you.
Plus, money makes wealth storable and cost analyses and therefore financial planning possible.
You are right though that people get robbed by inflation. It is basically legal coin clipping, however, central banks are usually government institutions and inflation is the result of some bankers delusions that they actually know better what the money supply should be than the market.
Transaction costs play no significant role in inflation.
Last but not least, you are rebelling against reality. It costs money to trade. Period.
There is a big difference between realities restricitions,like the need to meet trading partners and costs that occur when you ship goods, or restrictions that are imposed by a government.
A free market is a tool to work with the former “restricions” and is ideally not held back by the latter kind of restrictions.
This trick to equal both kinds of restriction is an old socialist one and basically boils down to the argument that you are allowed to rule other people by force because life sucks anyway.