I have become convinced that we, as a nation of consumers, need to be removed from our time to an earlier time when there was no such thing as price fixing.  We are a nation of consumers as all nations at all times consume because that is what people do.  But where did the idea come from that one price fits all?

It seems in the history of our kind, we used to come together to talk, to boast, to scheme and to buy and sell.  Buying and selling is what we call it today but in yesteryear it was all trading and bartering conducted through the venerable custom of “haggling”. Haggling is interesting because you want it and offer low while the owner prices it high.  You go back and forth insulting or praising each other and eventually getting down to near the value for both you and the seller.  Each has enjoyed the social as well as the economic process and each comes away satisfied.

I like the idea of an economy conducted without markers, spondulucks, bucks, guilders, rubles, pounds, shells, ivory, ebony or paper.  For example:  I will give you an hour of my work for an hour of yours.  Another example:  You will have to give me four more of those potatoes if you want this dipper I have carved. And, so on. 

Somewhere along the line of development of society it became the norm to decide that the way to exchange goods could be reduced to an accepted standard of either gold or silver minted as coins that could represent the dollars, euros or pesos in paper. These would be used to exchange for goods.  It is interesting to note that some goods are more expensive than others despite the fact that they are essentially the same. You can drive to the store to buy the same brand of stomach soothing “medicine” in a low priced Civic or in the high priced Bentley. 

My Timex watch has the face and features that I need.  It used to cost in dollars about fifteen $ but today it is nearer to 35 $.  A Rolex watch in gold can cost thousands of $s but its face is unreadable and its band is heavy and clunky.  Why it should cost someone who thinks this is better is beyond me.  What is also beyond me is the idea that worth is decided on the bases of rarity.

We all should know when we read commercial advertisements that “Diamonds Are Forever” that they might be long lasting and probably nearly indestructible but their price is regulated by private interests to insure inflated prices no where near their value.  This is done by collecting all the diamonds produced by a small group and then dribbling them out in small amounts that cause the price to rise due to artificial scarcity.  This same scenario may be extended to certain cars, clothing, art work and some very judicious and extremely intelligent manipulation of availability and hucksterism. Some works of art ARE worth unbelievable sums, but the artist rarely lives long enough to be compensated for his or her vision and rare ability.

Price fixing, by governmental or by industry-wide agreement to set a price for some good or another does not fit with the way people are constructed.  All people are as different as snowflakes or fingerprints – no two alike.  But all prices for goods are fixed at some artificial and arbitrary level in order to insure that if all produced are sold that the producer or owner will receive, not a fair and just return, but the highest possible profit       over and above the cost to produce it, advertise it, transport it and sell it.  Profits that fit some portfolio of costs and income inflated to some unimaginable level in excitable times do not fit the human portfolio of consumers who make up the bulk of the buyers in any time. We somehow consider the ability to pay more important than need.  Some inventors, producers of goods and some sellers know this.  Many others exist to take advantage of the many who do not know how to buy or sell to their own advantage.  They also do not know how to barter or trade to get a fair exchange.

Profits projected seem to be profits expected.  In the days when barter ruled, if you got a fair exchange it was considered well and good. If you took unfair advantage and exchanged shoddy goods for honest labor you were considered exploitive and a bad person and it was expected that you would not profit further by those who knew what you thought only you knew.  The market place of knowledge as well as the market place of buying and selling has always been taken advantage by the few “insiders” and selfish and greedy people who use their knowledge to fleece others who are not so advantaged. Professors are chief offenders in the buying and selling of knowledge.

I like the idea of barter and I have become rusty in the art of haggling because there seems to be a “genteel” prejudice against it.  The price is set and therefore you should accept it and guarantee the seller the advantage to take advantage of you.  My uncle Harry instructed me on the art of putting something on “SALE”, a magic word.  He said that what you do is to raise the price, and sell it at that price for a while and then lower it to the “real” price at a couple of hundred percents above the cost to make it and then announce that the price was reduced and it was on SALE.  This was not bad – it was good if you made a lot of money and lived way beyond your means.  Other people would admire you for your business “acumen”.

How about if I exchange the hour it took me to compose this, set it up to mail to you for you to give me a few minutes of your time to read it and then exert yourself to send me a message to tell me what THINKING ALLOWED does for you? Carol concludes that “some will say nothing” and I guess that may be expected for what I think THINKING is worth others may not.