There’s No Such Thing As Free Predation

Here are two superb letters — here and here — appearing in today’s Wall Street Journal:

Mr. [Thomas] Frank gets “predator” exactly backward regarding health-care businesses and government. My dictionary defines predator as “one that victimizes, plunders or destroys, especially for one’s own gains.” This is the very definition of government, which uses force to take wealth from some and redistribute it to others, or to use the wealth taken from some simply to support more government.

Businesses, on the other hand, operate on a strictly voluntary basis with no predation involved whatsoever. Consumers buy from businesses on a strictly voluntary basis.

David Pearse

Costa Mesa, Calif.

and…

Regarding “Mrs. Pelosi’s VAT” (Review & Outlook, Oct. 8): Several years ago when our children were very young, my wife and I hosted a different European au pair each year for six years. During the course of their stay in America, each au pair proudly commented that in their respective European country medical care was free.

When their time with us came to an end, each au pair went to the Mall of America and purchased several pairs of jeans, as well as other clothes, before returning home. At the time, jeans cost between $15 and $30 each. I asked these young women why they were buying so many jeans before returning to their country. With some astonishment at my lack of understanding, they explained that the same jeans in their country retailed for between $80 and $100. The price differential, of course, was due to the value-added tax and the higher costs of doing business in European welfare states.

I thought to myself, “Ah, but your medical care is “free.”

Mark Douglass

Minneapolis

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Justin P

I thought to myself, “Ah, but your medical care is “free.”

Couldn't help but laugh at that one.

I'm sure they have a lower unemployment too, I mean with their Government supplying all that G to consumption right? /snark

Randy

Politicians are exploiters, but usually not predators. People farmers, not hunters.

danielkuehn

RE: "Businesses, on the other hand, operate on a strictly voluntary basis with no predation involved whatsoever."

I don't like this "business is evil" instinct that a lot of people have, but this line is a little weak. After all, these guys are approaching on a strictly voluntary basis too: http://tinyurl.com/ylktyck

I'd say he's still a predator.

JB_Shotworth

There's no such thing as a last round of trading at Wal-Mart... as with most corps. But it's good to have commies commenting at CH. More cartoons, please!

How about some aphids and ants?

danielkuehn

Huh? My only point was that simply identifying that behavior is voluntary says nothing about whether it is predatory. Nothing. I have no idea what communism has to do with that.

JB_Shotworth

You say that you don't like this "business is evil" instinct and then feed us a metaphor wherein business is committing fraud just prior to murder. So you have two contradictory points, not only one. You can't help yourself because the Frankfurt School took over your mind, just as it took over the minds of all the other RDBs in this country. You HAVE to criticize free enterprise if someone else criticizes government; it's autonomic.

danielkuehn

How is that contradictory?

I don't think business is evil, but I don't think it's perfect either.

I don't think the state is evil, but I absolutely think it can be predatory. If the state can be not evil but predatory at times, why can't business be not evil but predatory at times?

Please explain the contradiction. There's no Frankfurt School, shadow-socialism about it. It's hard headed realism. There's no reason to think businesses can't be predatory. And even if we were naive enough to entertain the prospect that they can't be, the fact that businesses engage in voluntary exchange doesn't offer any proof of that naive assumption.

JB_Shotworth

"I don't like this 'business is evil' instinct that some people have."

vs.

Here's a metaphor for business: sneaky, fanged creature luring deep-sea guppy to its death.

The Frankfurt School is strong with you, RDB.

danielkuehn

Aha! I see the confusion.

That wasn't a metaphor for business - it was an example of behavior that is simultaneously voluntary and predatory. I never said business was a sneaky, fanged creature, if you'll review the comments.

JB_Shotworth

"Aha! I see the confusion."

Great! You now realize that you are a knee-jerk RDB! You will work to cull your comments of clear anti-business metaphors! This is real growth! Welcome to America!