Re: [OPE] free competition

WHERE should I begin when replying to Jurriaan's message??? It is so chock
full of falsehoods it is hard to know where to start.

> What Jerry means by "research" is looking up a word in the dictionary
 
False.
 
> Point is, Jerry is constantly vacillating, just toying with
> super-abstractions.
 
False and false.
 
> First he equates free competition with perfect
> competition.
 
Never happened. NEVER happened.
 
> Then he denies that free competition is the same as perfect
> competition, but does not explain the difference.
 
Actually, in a previous post, I did refer to some of the differences.
So, false again.
 
> Marx himself states his view unambiguously: "The analysis of what free
> competition really is, is the only rational reply to the middle class
> prophets who laud it to the skies or to the socialists who damn it to hell."
> (Grundrisse, p. 652).
 
 
LOL! First Jurriaan accuses me of 'selectively' quoting Marx, then he cites one
sentence and claims that his that it 'unambiguously' states his view. The funniest
thing is that I don't even think Jurriaan recognizes his inconsistencies and
double standards. No matter. At least he has the merit of occasionally
giving us cause for laughter - even if it is at his expense.

 
> so Jerry is tilting at a straw man, of his own invention.
 
LOL! Jurriaan must think that I invented or re-invented this expression. What
he won't acknowledge is its specific origins and meaning within the history
of economic thought because that would pull the rug out of his arguments.

 
> Everybody understands, as Claus Germer also acknowledges, that partial
> monopolies and imperfect competition always co-existed in various
> admixtures.
 
Yes, and so have I. What Claus understood, however, is that there
is a difference between competitive capitalism (a period of economic
history) and free competition (part of an ideology which arose more or
less contemporaneously).
 
> It is just that, from at least around 1500 to say 1800 or so, the amount of
> central control the state could exercise over the nature and actual conduct
> of business operations was still rather limited. The state could block
> businesses from operating, it could levy taxes, and it could punish criminal
> activity, but it had little grip on the process of business competition as a
> whole, that's the point.
 
LOL! If the state could (and routinely did) block businesses from operating - as in the
case of state-chartered monopolies - then it is ridiculous to call this free
competition.
 
> Even if laws were passed favouring some competitors at the expense of
> others, the ability to enforce those laws was often limited.
 
 
So, you keep saying but where is your evidence that states were unwilling to
block competition from the firms which they granted monopolies to?
 
 
> It is not that free competition did not exist, merely that free competition
> did not exist "everywhere at the same time" or permanently. But this is an
> abstraction apparently far too difficult for Jerry to grasp.
 
It is an ahistorical abstraction which is devoid of historical evidence in
support of it. That's why I fail to 'grasp' it as anything other than what
it is - a misrepresentation of economic history based on a myth. If free
competition existed SOMEWHERE at some point in history, then would it
be asking Jurriaan too much to say WHEN and WHERE? I guess it would
be: he would rather just stick to his comfort zone by not lifting his head
out of Marx.

>
> Nobody - including Marx - denies that there is a lot of ideological hoo-hah
> about "free competition". But for Marx this sort of insight was just
> superficial; anyone can observe that, the point is to understand what is
> behind the ideological hoo-hah, what are the economic relationships which
> structure the ideological myths.

Then you acknowledge that free competition was an ideological myth!
What is behind this ideology is the *agenda* of a segment of the capitalist
class, mostly in Europe (especially the UK) in the 18th and 19th Centuries.
It was for them an ideal to be fought for.

> Levyite philosophers
 
You should be a stand-up comic, Jurriaan. This certainly is laughable! Now, it
seems, a whole school of philosophy has been created by followers of mine.
Note to archive readers: can we convene the 1st annual meeting of Levyite
philosophers in New York City in January, 2012? Details forthcoming.

Jerry
                                               

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Received on Sun Apr 17 09:20:53 2011