[lbo-talk] Understanding _Capital_ (Was Re: barbaric)

[Tayssir John Gabbour]

On 3/12/07, Dmytri Kleiner <dk at telekommunisten.net> wrote:
> Tayssir John Gabbour wrote:
> >      So, in response to the claim that people don't like to plan food
> >      consumption, a parecon advocate might respond that something like
> >      a supermarket could plausibly spring up. (Like it does under
> >      today's economies, saving consumers the need to haggle.) Then we
> >      can evaluate whether such a store is plausible within parecon.
>
> Ummm, superMARKET. The whole point of paracon is to avoid using markets
> as an allocation method. If the parecon-supermarket doesn't use market
> price feedback information to allocate productive resources, then what
> do you mean by "like a supermarket?"

I believe German's word "Supermarkt" is the same as English's
supermarket. (Which are both in contrast to the mom & pop store, or
"Tante-Emma-Laden.")

So I expect you're fully aware what I mean by this analogy; I doubt
even a computer would mistake the word supermarket with the technical
term "market," as opposed to (say) a brick-and-mortar store.

(Of course, you could counter, "Ummm, stORE," penetratingly asking
what parecon's dependence is on ore deposits. I'd be at a complete
loss to respond, and you'll have won two debate points outright.)

Assuming you're being halfway serious, people frequently build
institutions to decrease burdens, increase efficiency, etc. So I made
an analogy to today's supermarkets.

Tayssir