At 11:53 PM 10/4/98 -0500, Jim Choate wrote:
Now in a free-market, by definition, there is no law. What then is the responsibility of businesses other than the pure unadulterated pursuit of profit?
None whatsoever.
If this includes lying, denying consumers information, etc. what harm is done, they have fulfilled their responsibility to their shareholders (potentialy quite lucratively)
While there is a sucker born every minute, the strategy you describe is for the most part unlikely to be profitable.
Within this environment it follows that a primary strategy for such executives is the elimination of *all* competition.
Fortunately the most cost effective method of eliminating all competition is that followed by Alcoa, to deliver a satisfactory product at the cheapest possible price. In the cocaine market a number of organizations have attempted to employ other methods for eliminating competition, but here in America these methods have generally proved not only unprofitable, but also for the most part fatal. --digsig James A. Donald 6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG GyHvJ0Mh5TLXWeuRFFAMR+C9RlwfJf71h1IZ/fFt 4+Ev0QZVg+BYgSXjL4IgOBonA/OwuM11NaPGTgMxr ----------------------------------------------------- We have the right to defend ourselves and our property, because of the kind of animals that we are. True law derives from this right, not from the arbitrary power of the omnipotent state. http://www.jim.com/jamesd/ James A. Donald