Forwarded message:
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1998 12:34:34 -0500 From: Petro <petro@playboy.com> Subject: RE: dbts: Privacy Fetishes, Perfect Competition, and the Foregone (fwd)
Assuming your definition of "free market" is "a market without regulation", you can't have a black market in a free market since a black market is trade in violation of regulations.
Actualy a black market is usualy goods gotten through theft or other illegal means, not necessarily anything related to how or what is sold. If you don't corrupt free-market to include legitimizing theft as a viable market strategy then yes, you can in fact have a black market in a free-market. Let's consider auto-theft. The issue isn't that you can't buy the car through legitimate means, it just means you have to have more resources than you have. So what do you do? You find somebody whose stolen a vehicle and is willing to sell it to you at a discount.
In other words, a Black market is when you trade either illegal goods illegally, or legal goods illegally.
Too strict and unrealistic a definition of black market.
If there are no illegal goods, and there is no regulations limiting trading, then the black market cannot exist.
Of course not since we've now legitimized theft and murder with your definition. ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage@ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------