__/ [ Mark Kent ] on Monday 04 September 2006 10:17 \__
> begin oe_protect.scr
> Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>> __/ [ BearItAll ] on Monday 04 September 2006 09:17 \__
>>
>>> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>>
>>>> __/ [ Handover Phist ] on Sunday 03 September 2006 17:09 \__
>>>>
>>>>> Roy Schestowitz :
>>>>>> Other Economies are Possible!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Organizing toward an economy of cooperation and solidarity
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>>>>>| Can thousands of diverse, locally-rooted, grassroots economic
>>>>>>| projects form the basis for a viable democratic alternative to
>>>>>>| capitalism? It might seem unlikely that a motley array of initiatives
>>>>>>| such as worker, consumer, and housing cooperatives, community
>>>>>>| currencies, urban gardens, fair trade organizations, intentional
>>>>>>| communities, and neighborhood self-help associations could hold a
>>>>>>| candle to the pervasive and seemingly all-powerful capitalist
>>>>>>| economy. These "islands of alternatives in a capitalist sea" are
>>>>>>| often small in scale, low in resources, and sparsely networked. They
>>>>>>| are rarely able to connect with each other, much less to link their
>>>>>>| work with larger, coherent structural visions of an alternative
>>>>>>| economy.
>>>>>> `----
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2006/0706emiller.html
>>>>>>
>>>>>> This article is from the July/August 2006 issue of Dollars & Sense
>>>>>> magazine.
>>>>>
>>>>> I dont think we need an alternative to capitalism. I'm both a Linux
>>>>> user and a capitalist myself. When I create a system for someone using
>>>>> FOSS, I fully expect to get paid for my time and expertise. And paid
>>>>> well, thank you.
>>>>>
>>>> But have a look at the article. It supports capitalism but objects to
>>>> things which we have come to know as, e.g. Walmart the benemoth. It
>>>> talks about working collabortively in smaller, distributed networks.
>>>> That's just the way Linux operates.
>>>>
>>>
>>> This seems to be one of those anti-success things. Walmart is big because
>>> it's successfull. People must like shopping there or they wouldn't have
>>> an income.
>>
>> Ask an American why they like Walmart. There are several factors and among
>> them:
>>
>> * Walmart saves legwork because it has everything (integration).
>>
>> * Walmart is inexpensive (read: cheap, owing to repetition, reuse)
>>
>> Both advantages are obtained through size, which makes a cyclic trap. How,
>> for example, can small rivals gain acceptance? Investments are one
>> options, but it is rarely available to startups in technology, let alone
>> to non-profit-making 'crusades'.
>>
>
> Economies of scale lead to oligopolies, and ultimately to monopolies.
> Economic theory indicates that when a monoply becomes too inefficient,
> then they'll be replaced by up and coming new businesses which reduce
> costs still further. Unfortunately, all of these theories are based
> on ideal markets, which do not exist. Political manipulation is
> unavoidable, the question is more about how it's done, not whether
> it's done. Monopolies have huge economic power, even when not very
> efficient, and can and do use that power to influence governments to
> help shore-up their monopolies.
A couple of factors to add:
* Principles of economics assume production and distribution costs, which do
not exist in software.
* Microsoft /is part/ of national politics. It no longer needs to subvert it
'behind the scene', by proximity. As proof:
http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/68821/index.html
See comment by the author (submitter rather):
"[How is it that Microsoft gets a seat on an education commision? - Scott]"
> OSS is the reaction to the MS monopoly, amongst others (originally a
> reaction to vendor lock-in as an economic tool, but it's broadened
> since then). Like it or not, if you use a computer, you're in the
> middle of the most significant thing to ever happen to computing since
> Ada Lovelace thought "... wonder what would happen if I did this twice..."
I said it yesterday, but it's worth repeating. Microsoft is one among several
companies which exemplify the fragility of unsupervised capitalism. And the
US government turns a blind eye while making other outrageous decisions that
strengthen monopolies.
http://www.savetheinternet.com/
,----[ Quote ]
| Congress is pushing a law that would abandon the Internet's First
| Amendment -- a principle called Network Neutrality that prevents companies
| like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast from deciding which Web sites work best for
| you -- based on what site pays them the most. If the public doesn't speak
| up now, our elected officials will cave to a multi-million dollar lobbying
| campaign.
`----
Best wishes,
Roy
--
Roy S. Schestowitz | Play Reversi: http://othellomaster.com
http://Schestowitz.com | SuSE Linux | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
10:20am up 45 days 22:32, 7 users, load average: 0.86, 0.60, 0.54
http://iuron.com - Open Source knowledge engine project
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