How much profit is too much profit?

Link

That's a thread from DemocraticUnderground.com, a website for members of the American leftist party (the Democratic Party)

The few reasonable posts in that thread are probably spies from FreeRepublic.com (an American right-wing site) who have somehow managed to reach a high post-count; I have no idea how considering you get banned if you say anything too pro-market.

Ego:

Link

That's a thread from DemocraticUnderground.com, a website for members of the American leftist party (Democratic Party)

The few reasonable posts in that thread are probably spies from FreeRepublic who somehow managed to reach a high post-count. There are several anti-leftists who managed to reach several thousand posts; I have no idea how considering you get banned if you say anything too pro-market.

Thanks for the link. It's been a long time since I've seen to many consecutive economics fallacies. Wow, economists really suck at educating the public.

If you post "leftist" one more time, I am going to scream. 

Leftist this, Leftist that.  Are you trying to draw a distinction between the socialists and the fascists?

Libertarians are above that (on a Nolan chart no less). 

Oh, there's a difference between the left and the right...

Ego:

Oh, there's a difference between the left and the right...

Not much, and from reading many of your posts, I think you're above those differences.

Ego:

Oh, there's a difference between the left and the right...

Your right. One of them is more easily defeated.

What isn't different, aside from the fact that they both want a government? There are libertertarians who want a government, too! Is everyone the same aside from us anarcho-capitalists?

Ego:

What isn't different, aside from the fact that they both want a government? There are libertertarians who want a government, too! Is everyone the same aside from us anarcho-capitalists?

People on this board are starting to remind me of Marxists. If they aren't Marxists they are capitalists dogs (even progressives and fascists)!

As a side note, I was planning on being the first user with an animated avatar.

Ego:

As a side note, I was planning on being the first user with an animated avatar.

Epic FAIL!

 I have no problem with the right/left political spectrum. As far as Im concerned the more you move towards statism the more you've moved to the left. And when I hear the word "leftist" I think of folks like Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, and Castro. So I think Ego using "leftist" as a pejorative is spot on.

I have a huge problem with the left/right political spectrum, as it inherently limits the entire discussion within the bounds of Statism, reinforced by the good-cop, bad-cop game of the Reformists.  Its as if the State needs to exist in *some* form, in *some* amount of power, or else we would all de-evolve to violent simians going back to murdering our birth-defected babies so the Sun god doesn't tke our women and/or men away :\. 

I think the indivudals who continue to hijack an apolitical movement with their own political motivations are dragging the core concepts of libertarianism to the ground in chains, and cannot be seriously called libertarians.  The assumption that the left is more capable of being Statist than the right is silly & ridiculous, and the sooner this is realized, the better. 

Leftists for social programs?  As if the Right aren't for those, just suited to their own agenda?  Leftists for nationilzed healthcare?  As if the Right aren't going to implement such slower, only just suited for their own agenda?  They will both pursue similar agendas, albiet with different methods, and will pursue similar programs, albiet with different objectives, because they are *both* Statist parties.  Neither side is worse than the other because they are both represenative evils that stand for the evil that is The State. 

To say say "But Leftist this!" or "Rightist that!" is the exact type of crap that should've been left at the door when anyone realized that both parties (if not the entire politcal system) were shames, and became libertarian.    


Past my off-topic in the above, I think a better question would be: is it coercion really coercion, or only when it's rationalized?  For the topic on hand, a question concerning the legitamcy of companies also might help.

Nitroadict:

I have a huge problem with the left/right political spectrum, as it inherently limits the entire discussion within the bounds of Statism, reinforced by the good-cop, bad-cop game of the Reformists.  Its as if the State needs to exist in *some* form, in *some* amount of power, or else we would all de-evolve to violent simians going back to murdering our birth-defected babies so the Sun god doesn't tke our women and/or men away :\. 

I think the indivudals who continue to hijack an apolitical movement with their own political motivations are dragging the core concepts of libertarianism to the ground in chains, and cannot be seriously called libertarians.  The assumption that the left is more capable of being Statist than the right is silly & ridiculous, and the sooner this is realized, the better. 

Leftists for social programs?  As if the Right aren't for those, just suited to their own agenda?  Leftists for nationilzed healthcare?  As if the Right aren't going to implement such slower, only just suited for their own agenda?  They will both pursue similar agendas, albiet with different methods, and will pursue similar programs, albiet with different objectives, because they are *both* Statist parties.  Neither side is worse than the other because they are both represenative evils that stand for the evil that is The State. 

To say say "But Leftist this!" or "Rightist that!" is the exact type of crap that should've been left at the door when anyone realized that both parties (if not the entire politcal system) were shames, and became libertarian.    


Past my off-topic in the above, I think a better question would be: is it coercion really coercion, or only when it's rationalized?  For the topic on hand, a question concerning the legitamcy of companies also might help.

Exactly. One would think that a rejection of or disillusionment with the left-right spectrum is part of what drove one towards libertarianism to begin with.

CopperHead:

 I have no problem with the right/left political spectrum. As far as Im concerned the more you move towards statism the more you've moved to the left. And when I hear the word "leftist" I think of folks like Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, and Castro. So I think Ego using "leftist" as a pejorative is spot on.

From this nonsensical premise, it would logically follow that anarchism = "the far right". Which is absurd.

No offence to any of you, but what has the above got to do with the topic? On a free market, there is no such thing as "too much" profit.

-Jon

 Jon is exactly right.  Haha I think we have been around this "leftist vs. rightist" argument a few too many times.  Anyway, I agree with Jon again, there is no such thing as too much profit in a free-market. 

By the way, to illustrate that profit isn't exploitation, it would be great to come up with a situation where two people have a symbiotic exchange ecosystem, where they depend on each other to have enough to keep the cycle...

i mean, for instance, a cowboy and a farmer. The cowboy would run into losses if he exchanged a pig for less potatoes than he needs to feed it (in order to breed another), and he wants to make a profit, in order to have potatoes in his dining table, and possibly expand his business. On the other hand, the farmer needs pig to feed his body to work the land and he wants to have it in his dining table as well...

This illustration needs improvements though... I would like their relationship to be more dependable -- maybe the farmer needs maneuver :/. Anyone can think of a better direct, closed situation where both people profit from each other...