France approves law stopping Amazon from shipping discounted books for free

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

It's doable.
What's hard is getting past the concept that politics can supercede basic economics principles. Distort economic behavior, yes; abolish the consequences of the distortion, no. Core economic principles are not different for different political systems; they apply equally to theocracies and autocracies, democracies, and tribal groups.
Political discourse is infinite but economics is about finite resources. And it is the limits imposed by the resources being finite that brings politics (and emotion) into the picture. Focusing on theoretical politics is just a way to avoid dealing with the underlying issues of finite resource allocation, the reality that politicians everywhere can only dispense largesse they take from somebody else and that somebody else invariably ends up being their own society, present or future.

Allocation and regulation is not creation; sooner or later the rave ends and somebody has to clean the debris.

I very much appreciate your clarity of expression and effort to transcend politics, but the problem still seems to be that the interpretation of economic principles, like a decision regarding allocation on a massive scale, is itself political in scope. For one thing, there's the political interpretation as to which effect of allocation is distorted and which consequence is undesirable. And that's where we descend into politics.

. . . all within a political spectrum several inches wide.

Ding, ding, ding! You win the internet -- that's the exact problem which plagues every side of the American political debate.

[DiapDealer]

Just wanted make sure my signature quote made it in the discussion somewhere.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by roger64

Funny that there is no word for "gratuit" in English, and you have to revert to "free"". I guess it says it all.

Free like free beer but not for "free" software!?

That makes no sense at all.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Just wanted make sure my signature quote made it in the discussion somewhere.

I've even noticed that issue with self-professed anarchist friends: They want not to be told what to do so that they can order everyone else in some commune-sized area not to be told what to do. Their private interest seems to be in becoming teapot despots -- in wielding non-negotiable power via fine-print consensus over four hundred square feet of human influence.

[Mivo]

Originally Posted by roger64

Funny that there is no word for "gratuit" in English, and you have to revert to "free"". I guess it says it all.

Doesn't "gratis" work?

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Mivo

Doesn't "gratis" work?

Or complimentary. Or liberated, if he was going that way.

But also, "free" as he said in the post itself.
The first poster may have been mistaken about there not being a French word for 'cheap', but roger64's post is nonsensically self-contradictory.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

I've even noticed that issue with self-professed anarchist friends: They want not to be told what to do so that they can order everyone else in some commune-sized area not to be told what to do. Their private interest seems to be in becoming teapot despots -- in wielding non-negotiable power via fine-print consensus over four hundred square feet of influence.

Very old joke:
Two university radicals at the cafeteria checkout line.
Radical one - Disgraceful, no strawberry shortcake. AGAIN!
Radical two - I hear you. Somebody ought to something.
Radical one - They have been feeding us cheesecake and peach cobbler and Apple pie and brownies over and over and no strawberry shortcake all week!!!
Radical two - Come the revolution we'll make sure they do strawberry shortcake every Monday.
Radical one - Come the revolution we'll make sure they do strawberry shortcake every day!!! Come the revolution, everybody will eat strawberry shortcake!!!
Radical two - Uh, dude... some people don't like strawberry shortcake...
Radical One - Come the revolution everybody Will. Eat. Strawberry. Shortcake. AND LIKE IT!!!

Campus security cop: Move along you two, you're holding up the line, professor.

[Istvan diVega]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

How are north sea oil reserves holding up for Norway?
And what's the local attitude towards cracking?
Peak oil has been delayed but not abolished.

If you had read what I wrote, you'd have noticed I said "since WWII". Oil happened in the late seventies. If you had known anything about the Norwegian economy you'd have known that even discounting all oil-related revenues, we're doing very well thank you.

Either way that has nothing to to do with building consensus and a sense of fellowship.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by roger64

They have "bon marché" (cheap)

"bon marché" stands for "good price", not necessarily "cheap/inexpensive".

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Mivo

Walmart is cheaper because they buy their wares at lower prices than a local grocery store can. Walmart doesn't buy 20 or 30 of one thing, but tens or hundreds of thousands. Partly, these chains even produce goods, or buy them directly at factories. Walmart also tends to employ people for low, at or close to minimum wages, so that's another area where they save in.

Local, independent stores don't pay the price because they overcharged. They pay the price because customers don't look at the larger picture and only want the cheapest price (which is understandable, of course), regardless of the long term consequences. In the end, it's not cheaper. Either we lose our own jobs eventually, our retirement payments get cut down, healthcare increases in cost, or we pay more taxes. Because those local stores employ local people, relay on other local service providers, etc. That card house is more complex than Walmart's card house.

The store I was referencing was a chain; albeit a smaller one, but a chain nonetheless.

Amazon and Walmart are doing society a favor. They're weeding out the buggy whip makers.

[Istvan diVega]

It sounds like what you'd like to see is a society without corner shops, without newsagents, without tea rooms, without...anything but large, faceless chain stores which can sell all the cheap crap made in South East Asia and your industrially produced, processed food as cheaply as possible.

[aceflor]

Originally Posted by afv011

"bon marché" stands for "good price", not necessarily "cheap/inexpensive".

Bon marché means exactly "inexpensive"

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Istvan diVega

It sounds like what you'd like to see is a society without corner shops, without newsagents, without tea rooms, without...anything but large, faceless chain stores which can sell all the cheap crap made in South East Asia and your industrially produced, processed food as cheaply as possible.

Sounds like a plan

[aceflor]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Sounds like a plan

But... processed foods = NO BANANAS !!!!

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Istvan diVega

It sounds like what you'd like to see is a society without corner shops, without newsagents, without tea rooms, without...anything but large, faceless chain stores which can sell all the cheap crap made in South East Asia and your industrially produced, processed food as cheaply as possible.

Sounds like what you'd like to see is government telling everyone what kind of society they should want to see, and making sure they make the 'right' decisions by criminalizing or penalizing the 'wrong' ones. Because you seem to believe that the population would be incapable of choosing to patronize newsagents and tea rooms, if in fact the population DOES want them in society, unless the government makes laws making any other choice less desirable.

I'm sure I never opted into the P&R section. How did I get here?

ApK