Oddbean

The market doesn't "decide," price controls don't work because the price is a result of voluntary market interaction. It's a thermometer, not the heat itself. Price controls are analogous to capping the thermometer and letting pressure build up, while claiming that we've controlled the temperature outside. Saying "the market decides" is like suggesting we are "letting the weather decide the temperature" instead of the weatherman. When the second statement is just nonsense. The weatherman doesn't control the weather, if he is manipulating the thermometer then its just lying about what the real temperature is. My proposal isn't about "letting the markets decide," because markets are literally the only thing that create prices in the first place. I'm saying we shouldn't have institutions with the express authority to completely monopolize a market and then lie about the price. Price controls are simply lies, we should just stop lying.

The perfect analogy does not exis— nostr:nevent1qqs083yth3aagau8wzaehgglrtrarpefr8f4hl0wj9e8estpgqdj6dgpzpmhxue69uhkummnw3ezumt0d5hsyg9euaj5dwsxg4hdxqweu54uf8ay3ec2d0ezs2l85xh899rkzgprmspsgqqqqqqswyevdr

I've come to associate the concept of price controls as a form of subtle moral evil, in that a ruler decrees a value for a good that does not accurately match the real value for that good. So it has to distort the truth. I think, in an indirect way, it is lying? While I think all value is subjective (as a good has different utility for every individual), there is still a kind of market truth. If money could not be manipulated, then the going price of a thing would accurately reflect its place in a society's hierarchy of value

Free enterprise is the default state of affairs. It's a complex and ever-ongoing negotiation of prices between retailers, product producers, commodity producers, employees, and so forth. It is a constantly-adjusting control system sorting toward Truth. Authoritarian governments and the masses that support them can impede upon prices and thus rekt the ability for natural pricing to occur, which disrupts all trade and makes everything more inefficient and more expensive. Notably, the handful of countries that have made social democracy work, all preserved the metric of "ease of doing business." In other words, if you examine Scandinavian countries, they do have high taxes and high support for society. That's how these relatively small and homogenous societies have chosen to govern themselves, and they consistently score among the highest global levels of happiness. But in terms of "ease of doing business," they still score very high. They tax and spend, but they don't interference with business operations to generate new value. They tax and redistribute the engines of growth, but they don't impede the engines of growth. That's the key thing, in terms of variables not to mess with. Don't interfere with the flow of pricing, domestically or globally, which is ultimately just information. Maintain the ease of doing business, let pricing set supply/demand balances, and then sort out what sort of social contract exists independently of those foundational wealth-building engines. nostr:note170zgh0rm63mcwu9mnws37xk86xrjjxwnt077aytj0nqkzsqm956sf4qqce

^^ This! ^^ I had been searching for an answer for years and Magatte Wade is the first person to help me understand. It’s deeper and more entrenched and more nuanced than just price controls. The Scandinavian countries are a great example of why taxes, or price controls, aren’t the root issue. Without a “good business environment”, this very first ingredient, the entire enterprise ecosystem is broken. Thank you @LynAlden and @TheGuySwann

This is why I think there's a valid argument for UBI in the short term while we downsize the role of government in our lives. Let the free market do its thing, and if we need social support to get us through the transition to a less government dependent society, a UBI would be the most economic approach, letting individuals decide where best to put their capital.

If we build sovereign wealth funds based on #Bitcoin, which is the only asset that stands a chance to appreciate faster than the U.S. government’s accumulating debt and interest, only then does UBI make sense to me. How else could a government possibly ever bankroll it?

A free market economy is a kind of aspiration, not a reality. In typical capitalism, gov intervention is necessary, otherwise, companies tend to grow large, monopolize markets, and suppress competitors. This isn't due to superior product offerings but rather through influencing the gov to pass favorable laws or simply disregarding existing laws. Therefore, corrective measures are essential.