[extropy-chat] Re: Seven cents an hour? (was: Riots in France)

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

On 11/17/05, gts <gts_2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 17 Nov 2005 11:47:45 -0500, Rafal Smigrodzki
> <rafal.smigrodzki at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > ### No, it's you who are ignorant of basic economics. In a competitive
> > economy, price is the measure of efficiency, period. Just learn this
> > simple fact.
>
> Where do you get that idea, Rafal?

### Econ 101.

-----------------------

I assume you are referring here to the
> retail price of Walmart goods.
>
> An inefficient company can sell goods below cost and by your standard look
> "efficient" even while it's filing for bankruptcy.
>
### Well, you just illustrated my point - inefficient companies trying
to sell cheap go bankrupt pronto, which means that when you look at
the prices (and of course, profits) of surviving companies, you get a
true measure of their efficiency.

Of course, for brief periods of time you can send false pricing
signals (e.g. on your first day of business sale) but Wal-mart has
been around long enough to be sure its prices and profits are a proof
of efficiency.

Since at Wal-Mart prices are low and profits high, it means that it is
a very efficient company.

Rafal