[pvn]

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People demand and pay for products they value and shun and don't buy products they don't value. This notion that companies rip people off and laugh all the way to the bank is a Marxist fallacy.

I never said company's can't or don't rip people off, I am saying ones that do will not prosper. I asked you to give me an example and you can't. Even if you think people are getting ripped off they may feel that the product or service to them is worth the price. Why should YOU be the one to decide?

Not once did I say the free market cures all ills. I said free market capitalism fuels the best economies and the most prosperous nations throughout history. Inida and China are recent examples of economies that became more prosperous by allowing for more free market competition.

My point was and still is that outside of laws and resources to protect our persons and property from theft or destruction and our basic rights government intervention makes a system less effecient, not more.

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Exactly.

This is basically the same argument that comes up when talking about organized crime. When it's pointed out that organized crime only thrives in an environment filled with regulation (and hence, black markets) people invariably claim that "the mafia isn't just in black markets."

You *can* make money off of petty crime; bank robberies, protection rackets, purse snatchings. But you're not *creating wealth* that way. You're not going to make it on the Forbes 400 list. And while you might "make money" over the short term, such activities are -EV long term.

It's the same thing for ripping off customers. You might make some money short term, but it's -EV long term. Mark1808 said such actors do not "prosper" and "thrive". These are obviously long-term assessments.