| >The maxime of capitalism is to maximize ones own profit. Not sure I necessarily agree with this. I can understand how 1 might come to see it this way. Capitalism is about measuring ones contribution to society. >What happens in practice is an accumulation of wealth == power in the hands of a small elite, which then no longer need to compete, cronyism or not, because they have the resources to defeat every competitor, even if the competing product is superior. In our current system which is a regulated capitalist system this happens. It would be a strawman to assert this against capitalism and exclude any impact that government regulation may provide. I'm pretty most people could see government monopolies as abusing capitalism. >Company A, having been dominant on the market for a long time, can simply tap into their savings and lower its prices, to the point where X is more attractive to consumers than X'. B, new to the market and wo. such substantial savings, cannot compete and goes bankrupt. Lets evaluate. Tesla: Market Cap of ~1,030 Billion $ off of ~$30 billion revenue. Ford: Market Cap of ~100 billion $ off of $150 billion revenue. GM: Market cap of ~100 billion $ off of $150 billion revenue. Stellantis: Market cap of ~64 billon $ off of $100 billion revenue. Very clearly shows why Ford and GM are rushing to get EVs out to market. Stellantis who had good plans has basically not arrived to market with anything. This is one of the highest regulated industries and capitalism is working great here. >Okay, but the consumers still get X' when A buys the patents from the now bankrupt B, right? Maybe. Patents != capitalism. A true free market would not have any patents. If you build something new and unique, everyone would be able to come in and copy it. We could debate the merits of the patent system and perhaps from society's point of view it's a good thing. However, it the current subject, this isnt capitalism you're arguing against. >They have eliminated their competition anyway, so why bother, when they can just continue printing money by making X, right? Remember, the maxime is maximize-your-profit not deliver-the-best-product. I think this is a good spot to come back around. Capitalism is not competition. Yes it engenders competition but that's the wrong way to look at it. This is something business owners need to learn. Capitalism is about solving problems and contributing to society. Capitalism measures this in one of the most effective ways. |