[lbo-talk] Delong puts the smackdown on ol' Whiskers

[tully]

On Wednesday 06 April 2005 02:14 pm, Doug Henwood wrote:
>By the way, even though Wal-Mart has very substantial market power,
>it's been using that power to drive down wages & prices. About the
>only major "monopoly" I can think of right now that's overcharging
>consumers is Microsoft - and a lot of its consumers are businesses,
>not individuals.

I can see how consumer gouging is possible with utility company 
monopolies, where alternatives don't exist, but how does one 
overcharge customers when other choice do exist, even if they are 
much smaller companies?  As much as I dislike M$, they are not the 
only choice.  If the consumer is willing to pay the price, for 
whatever (dumb) reason, how can it be called overcharging?  

I remember someone saying he thought Ward Churchill was overcharging 
with his speaking fees.  If people are willing to pay him to speak 
and are not coerced in any way, how could Churchill possibly 
overcharge?  If his fee was too high, people wouldn't pay him.  If he 
was too low, he'd be inundated with more engagements than he could 
fulfill.  

Isn't price based very largely on demand?  Is there anything wrong 
with that?  

--tully