“If you’re a senator, you can fix prices and it’s called ‘serving your constituency’. If you’re a business and you try this, you’re in violation of anti-trust laws.”
-Dr. Abernathy in Principles of Marketing
“If you’re a senator, you can fix prices and it’s called ‘serving your constituency’. If you’re a business and you try this, you’re in violation of anti-trust laws.”
-Dr. Abernathy in Principles of Marketing
If you’re a soldier, you can kill people and it’s called ‘serving your country.’ If you’re a civilian and you try this, you’re in violation of anti-murder laws.
If you’re a pharmacist, you can sell drugs and it’s called ‘serving your customers.’ If you’re a pusher and you try this, you’re in violation of anti-drug laws.
If you’re a prison warden, you can hold people against their will and it’s called ‘doing your job.’ If you’re a trucker and you try this, you’re in violation of anti-kidnaping laws.
If you’re a pediatric dentist, you can drug children and drill holes in them and it’s called ‘practicing pediatric dentistry.’ If you’re an ice cream man and you try this, you’re in violation of anti-child-abuse laws.
Or was this something about accepting bribes?
I don’t know, it struck me as amusing rather than profound or educational. No real hidden agenda behind it.
Though, after a bit of thought it does point to some interesting questions in political responsibility: is it the role of government to ensure minimal prices to certain industries? Maybe. I sure don’t know.
Thomas
The role of government is to serve the people and to provide services best provided by a community effort instead of individual or for-profit efforts.
Regulation of prices is definitely the job of the government where the for-profit market needs to be held in check for the good of the people. Working against the utilities, I can tell you that they’d have no qualms sucking the life out of everyone if they weren’t regulated. Hell, even now that they are, they constantly find ways and loopholes to raise rates.
Every action our government takes will effect prices across the board, in the economy of every nation on the planet.
Whether or not this is right is irrelevant. It’s the way the world works.
yrs–
–Ben