Capitalism and economic struggles

Vincent Penquerc'h Vincent.Penquerch at artworks.co.uk
Fri May 2 06:14:38 PDT 2003


> Two people start businesses in the same town. Alice works hard, works 
> long hours, concentrates on her business. Bob fails to do this. Alice 
> drives Bob out of business.

The point is to balance consequences of everyone's actions for
everyone. In your case, Alice works hard and drives Bob out of
business because she gains something in it (as the smoker did
gain something (pleasure) from smoking). But the smoker could
gain the same pleasure from smoking at another time (though if
smoking was forbidden everywhere, that would be a different
matter) for little annoyance. Alice could not do with changing
business to help Bob, this would be a huge strain on her. So,
you see, there is a large difference in the two examples, though
I grant you they seem similar.
Now, you might also say that being exposed to the smoke is only
a small inconvenience, but this is to be compared to the small
inconvenience for the smoker.

As a side note: I'd have different views on your example if
Alice was specifically trying to get Bob out of business, and
depending on the methods she was using to further these ends.

> capitalism is the process of creative destructionism

Life as a whole is, whether at the micro level of one's life or
at the macro level of evolution.

-- 
Vincent Penquerc'h 





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