tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19937890.post679640538060430014..comments2023-10-15T08:15:46.205-04:00Comments on Mike's Eyes (Spotted By): Spotted By Mike's Eyes Dec. 2007.Michael Neibelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15321103608597264855noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19937890.post-84686934111720985932007-12-09T13:09:00.000-05:002007-12-09T13:09:00.000-05:00Burgess:I agree on all points. On the point of bus...Burgess:<BR/>I agree on all points. On the point of businessmen wanting rules to play by, if the government won't give them rational rules to go by, then they'll obey the irrational rules the gov. does provide. I've always said that many if not most of today's major CEOs would not survive in a capitalist system because they have been conditioned to think they need such controls.<BR/><BR/>You make a great point about antitrust. If businessmen had agreed on their own to do this, my own Michigan representatives like John Conyers and John Dingell and others would be screaming "colusion "and" restraint of trade" and more to the high heavens. These same representatives would not have the mental acuity to see the hypocricy in their positions.Michael Neibelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15321103608597264855noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19937890.post-14236041744334182372007-12-09T09:08:00.000-05:002007-12-09T09:08:00.000-05:00As you noted, sanction of the victim, as a moral e...As you noted, sanction of the victim, as a moral element, is part of the acquiescence of businessmen in accepting more regulation. I wonder, though, if there are not other, additional factors explaining their seeming passive acceptance.<BR/><BR/>1. Psychological: "Well, now we at least know what the rules are." I have heard this from business people I have worked with. They are anti-capitalist. They don't like the "chaos" of the marketplace. It is a nasty distraction. But, under certain types and levels of regulation, they don't have to think about certain things any more. Those issues are "settled" by the state.<BR/><BR/>2. Economic: The state has set five years as the term of application. That is it. Now businesses need not invest money and effort in competing with other businesses over the terms.<BR/><BR/>Note the irony. If businessmen had met in a big conference hall somewhere and decided among themselves to stop competing on the term of application of their gift cards and set it at five years, statists would have screamed "Collusion! Oligopoly!"Burgess Laughlinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13865479709475171678noreply@blogger.com