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Let's face it: the ebook market is FUBAR, thanks to pure greed
Renegade:
That's how capitalism works. There are alternatives...
-johnk (February 04, 2011, 05:55 PM)
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Like what? -Renegade (February 04, 2011, 06:55 PM)
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This is veering off topic, but you're right that, in practical terms, we cannot all choose tomorrow not to live in a capitalist system. But we can choose how we live in that system.
"Greed is good" is now an iconic phrase, summing up an era. But I would argue that the really key phrase is "growth is good" -- the automatic underlying assumption in every economic discussion that more is always better.
I joined many other people in recent years by "downsizing" my life. Not just the "giving up posh restaurants" downsizing that everyone does when hard times hit (I could never afford posh restaurants anyway), but more radical downsizing -- from big city to much smaller house in a small town, far less discretionary spending, a simple lifestyle. We can survive on very modest income. Recession is nowhere near the worry it would have been five years ago. We are to an extent insulated from it all. But we are much "poorer" economically. We have experienced severe "negative growth", as economists would say. But we are happier. It was a good decision.
If significant numbers of people made a similar decision, opting out of wealth generation? It would be economically devastating. Living standards would fall back by at least a generation. Would you be happier? That's the real choice we have today. And everyone can make it for themselves.
-johnk (February 04, 2011, 07:30 PM)
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Not too far off topic though. :)
You're right -- we choose how we live in that system.
I've got nothing against "capitalism" or growing wealth, but at some point, capitalism starts running amok in ways that are not beneficial.
Our lives are made better by cheap food, but not by cheap junk food that enjoys massive subsidies in sugar and corn costs.
Our lives are better for having cheap clothing, but not by having clothing that costs $10 to manufacture, distribute, and sell at retail being sold for $250. That is greed. Somewhere in there in the costs for that $80 blouse I'm sure there's enough money to pay the worker who made it more than the $0.10 that the worker earned while making it.
People get angry at slum lords because they're in the same area as them, but nobody cares about the corporate "slum lords" because "out of sight, out of mind".
Collectively, we are making some very bad choices in how we live in the system. There's an angel on one shoulder, and a devil on the other, and we choose to listen to the devil because he's screaming a lot louder, and we'd have to make a real effort to listen to the soft-spoken angel.
In chorus:
Angel: We can be sustainable!
Devil: 50% off today only! Buy yours today and SAVE~!
I know sure as Hell I'm guilty.
Renegade:
I sound terribly one-sided there... (Well, that's pretty normal. :) )
A large number of my friends are "high net-worth individuals". They have not just money, but wealth. They want for nothing and pretty much get to do whatever they feel like whenever they like.
They're also some of the most principled and decent people that I know.
I also have friends that are poor and principled.
I'd much rather be rich and principled. :)
My point is that "evil" doesn't have to go along with "wealth" or "growth".
One friend is quite wealthy and doesn't need to work. However, he does. His approach though is very different. He starts out thinking how he can help people, then goes on from there. He also maintains that attitude in his businesses. He has done very well for himself doing that.
Some other friends (a couple) do the same in their business. It works for them. He has his own business (that takes about 30~45 minutes a day for him) and does very well at it (currency trading - FOREX). He participates in her business though out of interest as in her business she focuses on helping people. And she does very, very well.
It can be done. You can get rich helping people!
GDT certainly hasn't made me rich, but that's where it started. I had a problem and needed a solution, and figured it would be good to help other people as well. I was very pleasantly surprised when people started paying me for it. :D
I fantasize about all kinds of "evil/greedy" schemes to get rich. I simply can't do them though. It's not in me. I may talk about them... But I just couldn't ever follow through. I sometimes wish I could though.
Anyways, just wanted to put that out there that helping people can make you rich. :D
Paul Keith:
That's how capitalism works. There are alternatives...
-johnk (February 04, 2011, 05:55 PM)
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Like what?
I can't see an alternative. (Practically that is, though it is *possible* to imagine counterfactuals.)
Capitalism is the new dictator. You either follow it, or perish. There are no alternatives and there are no choices.
Everyone, including the big corporations, is caught in its grasp. Governments are powerless to change the model. Even in "communist" countries, capitalism is alive and well. If you don't believe me, visit a few.
It's an overwhelming system, and it's dictating behavior for corporations. They do not have a choice in the matter. They MUST be greedy.
"All problems [in computer science] can be solved by another level of indirection." David Wheeler (de-emphasis added) :D-Renegade (February 04, 2011, 06:55 PM)
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Since we're going to the philosophical side of the issue, I personally feel it's the opposite and socialism is the modern day dictator. (although not too modern)
Not in the scare monger version of socialism but in the way corporations are both the giver and receiver of all the elite staff and all the elite development and it's much harder to be "entrepreneurs" or radicals.
The oldest visible example is probably the minimum wage debate but let's connect it with more modern issues of DRM for example.
Why is it that most of this generation doesn't want to pay for an item? Because they don't see enough value to paying for it and it's becoming safer and safer to test trial a full program and this generation wants to invest in peer pressure over premium items and they view these well-hyped items as premium ones over the random gamble of trusting in closed-sourced companies.
It's not that there wasn't this phenomena before but now there are actually free alternatives that are satisfactory enough. If capitalism was the dictator, then corporations would wise up and step up their premium products.
Instead we have this idea that "reducing profits" is akin to "increasing profits". To me that's very socialist in the sense that the victim (in which these publishers feel they belong to because they were spoiled by the older model) needs to be entitled to "protect" or "gain" something.
...and it's not just a one side issue. The reason this generation also wants to pay for less quality is because they have been spoiled to want "more" and "more" so cheaper or free equals more money to spend on more items. If this were a capitalistic dictatorship, consumers would see a need and become more entreprenurial prosumers and a group would arise that would be different from the bestsellers category but have equal pull. Instead these are mostly delegated to the rare successful self-marketer. The end result thus is that there isn't as large a support for DRM-free as much as there is a complaint for DRM items and hence it's not as easy to penetrate the market because the market still demands items from the old model but "cheaper".
Finally you look at the original idea of capitalism and you'll see that the general idea of more competition was always to bring it to a breaking point where certain older concepts eventually become free whether it be from complimentary tickets up to free IPAD give aways. Competition was always supposed to head this way under capitalism and currency wasn't supposed to be "entitlement" or "right to bail out and prevent progress".
It's really more of a socialistic dictatorship. People want to be entitled to bonuses, discount coupons, merchandise...and if this means that technology could make it cheaper - then it's a "cheap alternative" demand not really an "e-book" or hell... a "book". Yet e-books in order to reach critical mass needs to be demanded as clear cut e-books. Hardware readers and open formats may push the demand but there has to be a meaning to the supply beyond the supply of "cheaper books". An identity much similar to notetakers, outliners and budget managers where text is not an alternative to be put there but rather a necessary productivity boost while at the same time being addictive and share friendly even to people who can't afford the readers or don't know much about the formats.
Renegade:
Since we're going to the philosophical side of the issue, I personally feel it's the opposite and socialism is the modern day dictator. (although not too modern)
-Paul Keith (February 04, 2011, 09:01 PM)
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I read a few times, but I'm missing it. I'm not sure how you see socialism as the modern dictator.
I meant things in a practical sense. i.e. Compared to the US, Canada is a socialist country, but it is still very much run as a capitalist economy.
Do we have a Red Herring here? Not sure.
kyrathaba:
Our lives are better for having cheap clothing, but not by having clothing that costs $10 to manufacture, distribute, and sell at retail being sold for $250. That is greed. Somewhere in there in the costs for that $80 blouse I'm sure there's enough money to pay the worker who made it more than the $0.10 that the worker earned while making it.
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+1.
One of the most horrible examples of capitalistic greed is our pharmaceutical/health-insurance industry. I list them together, since they're in bed together, completely. It's ridiculous that there are medications on the market, which people desperately need, that see a markup of 1,000% to (in some cases) up to 8,000+% their cost-of-production. There's a happy-medium in there somewhere, wherein the companies could make healthy profits, yet still make medications moderately affordable for people. But greed is the antithesis of caring about others; instead, it is self-aggrandizement in its most despicable form.
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