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Balance of power
Straightforward asks: "Yes, markets are about buying and purchasing, but u'll have to agree that this buying and purchasing happens on terms set by the balance of power?"
Without any specifics about what is meant by "balance of power," and perhaps an example or two of a proper transaction corrupted or prevented by said balance, I don't know that I can either agree or disagree. If it's "balance of power" which provides judicial and other protections against fraud artists and muggers, I would agree; but that is not how one would normally phrase such an observation about the role of the political order in safeguarding market processes. I implied in my post that I would agree that many political institutions in the world affecting markets ought to be reformed, in such a way as to best protect market transactions and the legitimate (as opposed to imagined) rights of transactors. But I doubt that my reform agenda and Putin's would much overlap.
How can "balance of power" set the terms of markets except to the extent political power is used either to protect or to obstruct or crush markets? If you have the milk and I have the dollar, it doesn't matter how relatively powerful we are in some irrelevant terms. In our hypothetical scenario, you be the hulking, politically well-connected, millionaire store owner clerking for the day because someone called in sick; I'll be the timid little old lady with weak knees on a fixed income. As long as we abstain from robbing each other, our "power" to conduct the transaction is equal. We each obtain our purposes in the transaction merely by engaging in the transaction. No "imbalance" of power prevents us unless it's political power, i.e., bureaucrats or whomever horning in to change the terms of the transaction or perhaps prohibit it altogether.
posted by
David_M_Brown
on June 11, 2007 at 3:08 PM
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Yes, markets are about buying and purchasing, but u'll have to agree that
this buying and purchasing happens on terms set by the balance of power?
posted by
Straightforward
on June 11, 2007 at 10:21 AM
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