Quote:
Originally Posted by neeeel
why? and how do you know?
I used to have intense video game competitions with a group of friends. One of those friends was a business owner. He ran a small but successful local restaurant where he was able to make a decent living and support his family. It allowed him plenty of time for leisure. One day he told me that he’d decided the restaurant was doing well enough to expand.
Motivated by his success, I began research into the restaurant business. I found that my friend’s particular style of food was the easiest to setup and the most profitable in the industry. I also found that if I were to farm my own food instead of going through a wholesaler I could dramatically increase my margins and charge a lower price. This would give me a big competitive advantage while at the same time lowering the cost to consumers. I would be doing the community a service!
I opened as quickly as possible. My restaurant turned out to be a great success. I was making money hand over fist and saving people money in the process. I was even able to expand, opening several locations throughout town. Unfortunately my friend’s restaurant was unable to compete. Eventually he had to close for good. He works full time at starbucks now.
He will no longer speak to me. I can’t figure out why. It was a competition just like the video game. I mean c’mon dude get over it already.
Obviously the reason he won’t speak to me is due to the consequences that the monetary component had on his life. The video game was completely voluntary and the only thing at stake was status. We would yell, throw ****, and argue, but at the end of the day it was just a game. The closure of his restaurant impacted his whole life. He has to work more hours at a job he does not enjoy. He has no disposable income for leisure. Even his family is impacted. He can’t spend as much time with them and is unable to provide in the same way. He’s rather miserable.
Now this whole story is BS, but it illustrates the difference between compartmentalized voluntary games of competition and the non-voluntary in our current system. This kind of thing happens all the time. Sure that brings us stuff at a lower price. But what is the cost?
It’s happening on a much larger scale with big corporations out-competing smaller stores. Money is being syphoned away and funneled to the top winners. There are innumerable factors that go into becoming a top winner. Yes, some of it is hard work, but most of it is just luck. Included in that luck is being born intelligent enough to come up with a winning idea, or having the temperment to stick through tough times and work hard.
If we had a redistributive system in place that provided security from those lucky people to those not-so-lucky people, then the impact on my friend from the story wouldn’t be so dramatic. Those who are unable to work the system and properly care for themselves would be taken care of. And the people the people who are feeling like they are, as Craig puts it, “suffering at an incrementally unbearable level”, would be able to do what they want and find something meaningful.
If we could establish a working version of a redistributive system there’s no question it would work for this exact problem. The only question is, could it work?