[Alan]

Originally Posted by msundman

That's utter BS. E.g., children can buy stuff, but children can't agree legally on contracts.

Children can agree on contracts but with a restricting condition: If the parents do not approve, the contract was invalid from the beginning. If they do approve it is valid. And of course, every time you buy or sell something, you make a contract with the other person, be it in writing or by verbal communication. You agree to take the item, the seller agrees to give it to you und you agree to give him an certain amount of money. Having done all this, you are the legal owner of the transferred item.

I don't believe for a ns that anyone at your grocery has told you what you must and can't do with your groceries that you buy there.

At the supermarket? No, perhaps not. But in a shop where they sell cell phone plans? Yes, there I am being told what I can do or not do with my phone. Likewise a car dealer, who sells me a car lease will tell me, what I am allowed to do with my car (how many miles I can drive per year, how I have to service my car and so on). When I buy software, I am being specifically told how and how long I can use the software.

More BS. I have never agreed to anything when I've bought any books, yet the book stores have sold the books to me and let me read them.

You made an verbal contract (or a written if mail ordered) with the book seller. Furthermore you were told on the first pages of that book, what you are allowed to do with the text in the book.

If I were to ask for my contract at that 2nd-hand bookstore I'm sure they would look at me as if I was a complete nutcase. And I would be.

You made a verbal contract. I recommend you to read these two articles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_contract

Ups, the correct term would be oral contract. I hope you excuse the incorrect term I used. I'm not a native English speaker.

If the government hadn't taken my natural copying-rights away from me then I would be free to copy a book as I see fit if I get my hands on it (unless I have agreed to some anti-copying contract when obtaining it, but I probably wouldn't agree to something like that).

If there would be no default law, every book would be preceded by 100 pages of EULA. You would agree to be bound by those rules when buying the book. But there is a default law. The publisher or author will notify you about the rights he deserves to his work at the beginning of each book.

The authors can choose to give a small part of them back to me or they can, and mostly do, choose not to.

Exactly, the author of a book decides which rights he wants to reserve to his work. It is his decision. If you don't like it, don't buy it.

Yes, but my point is that it is not the author's right to decide what I can do with the books I've bought (without me agreeing on any special terms).

The authors can indeed decide for themselves. Only if they chose to not offer specific terms on the front pages of their books, the default law will apply. In not giving other terms on the front pages, the author has already decided for the default rules - the law.

No, I did not. My answer was more like: "Make cars both cheaper and more expensive so that it fits everyone."

That and: Do not lock cars, for they can be stolen anyway and it will only bother me as the owner of the car if I have to use a key.

You are the one being unreasonable, wanting sellers to have utter dominion over buyers. You are probably also in favor of other monopolies and price-fixing and other anti-consumer stuff. After all, hindering such things is just more government meddling.

Authors don't have a monopoly. If you don't like the prices or rules or whatever that one author is offering, go to another. That's market economy. If I don't like the prices at one supermarket, I'll go to another. Eventually the prices at the first market have to come down or the market will go out of business.

but in reality the sellers often aren't a very heterogenous bunch.

That might be true for certain markets (energy, water, and very few more) but certainly not for the music or book branch. If you don't like one author or musician, you can buy from another. Eventually the others have to adopt in order to stay in business.

Alan