Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/03/09
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]yes really like the carefulness of your discussion. Agree that a fair price does not exist in a true market economy. Easy to confuse value with price and price divided by value is even trickier. Internationally it is even harder to do.Does anyone know if the Big Mac standard is still used to compare countries? simon - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nathan Wajsman (private)" <nathanw@bluewin.ch> To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2003 11:34 AM Subject: Re: [Leica] price gouging/economics etc. > Jack, > > First of all, I did not perceive in the slightest that your initial > reply was a personal attack, so no need to apologize on your part. It > ought to be possible to have a civilized debate on the LUG and I believe > that you and I are showing that with our exchanges on this topic. > > The concept of "fair" prices is, as we agree, impossible to define. In > the water-for-hurrican victims example, all reasonable people would > agree that $20/gallon is immoral and constitutes price gouging. How much > lower the price needs to be for it to become "fair" is impossible to > define a priori. It is a bit like the pornography definition, you know > it when you see it. > > However, my point is that the whole issue of fair pricing and morality > is simply meaningless when we talk about Leicas and associated > accessories. We are not talking about necessities of life by any stretch > of the imagination here. We are talking about a luxury item, and the > only guide to whether the price in some sense is correct or not is > whether supply and demand are balanced at that price. Therefore, I find > it impossible to call Leica a price gouger--the concept simply has no > applicability here. They try to set prices that will maximize profits, > period. That is the prerogative of every business, even Tom's. In this > respect, I do not believe that there is a fundamental difference between > Tom and Leica. Sure, the cost structures are different, the size is > different and so on, but in the final analysis both of them provide a > product into the market and both must cover their costs and make a > profit in order to stay in business in the long run. > > As for ticket scalping, it is illegal in some jurisdictions and legal in > others, so I find it difficult to use the law as a guide to what is > moral and what is not. Also, the law permits many activities which I as > a human being consider immoral, so again, it is a poor guide to morality. > > Kind regards, > Nathan > > > -- > Nathan Wajsman > Herrliberg (ZH), Switzerland > > e-mail: nathanw@bluewin.ch > mobile: +41 78 732 1430 > > Photo-A-Week: http://www.wajsman.com/indexpaw2003.htm > General photo site: http://www.wajsman.com/index.htm > > -- > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html