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Ban On Price Floors Abandoned, Internet Prices May Rise
paro12 and i_like_spam informed us of a 5-4 decision by the US Supreme Court which abandons a 96-year-old ban on manufacturers and retailers setting price floors for products. The Slashdot community discussed the issue when the case was argued back in March. The ruling means that anti-competitive complaints based on price-fixing will have to be argued case-by-case and will be harder to prove. Discounts and discounters in all venues may be under pressure, with internet sales possibly the hardest hit. "Importantly, this case points a dagger at the heart of the most consumer-friendly aspects of the Internet. The Internet has shifted power to the consumer in two ways. First, it allows consumers to search for and gather information in a cost-effective, efficient manner. Second, it provides a low-cost means of retailing, making it easy for discounters to offer products to the public. This combination squeezes excess profits and inefficiencies out of product prices. Retail price maintenance seeks to short circuit this extremely consumer friendly process. By setting minimum prices, manufacturers can build in excess margins for themselves and for their favored retailers -- prices that consumers have no choice but to pay."
I thought companies like Apple or Palm already did this - an iPod shuffle is $79 everywhere for example.
Could somebody elaborate?
Competition reduces prices. What we have here is a case of market manipulation by insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies (among others) which drives up prices and in fact reduces the quality of care because it limits available treatments (insurance companies decide by fiat what they will or won't cover, and most Americans who do have health care get it from their employer and can't afford their own insurance.)
I can actually get dental work done in Mexico, with a reputable dentist who people I know have patronized, for less than the cost of my fucking co-pay here in the states. That includes my round trip flight (sacramento to san diego), and all the week's expenses including booze, transportation, and lodging. And I'm talking about minor work here.
If I get my major work done, I can probably squeeze a month's vacation in Thailand out of the deal (getting the work done there) and still come in under my co-pay. I have two impacted wisdom teeth and they are very large. And that price will include at least an hour of massage every day :P
The health care system is broken here in the US, plain and simple. It has been broken in the name of profits, due to illegal business practices (price fixing, but not this kind of price fixing) engaged in by health care providers, insurance companies, and pharmaceutical companies (the latter being one of the most morally bankrupt industries in existence, probably second only to the military-industrial complex.)
You can tell yourself any lies about it you want, but the fact is that the quality and availability of health care in the US have gone down while prices have gone up.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
You know, you can live in a fantasy world or you can make the most of a situation. Some people live in a world where they can understand that sometimes you have to make a choice that isn't perfect.
Talk about a fantasy world. That's the one where we 3rd party voters only need to make the imperfect choice "sometimes." Give me a break. I make this imperfect choice every election. Yes, it pisses me off. But what happens if 3rd party voters vote instead for one of the big two parties? Nothing. The two big parties are equally corrupt, just in different ways.
And it sure doesn't make sense to convince otherwise reasonable voters that Gore and Bush were fungible.
Hindsight is 20/20, the grass is greener on the other side, and you can't predict the future of America if Al Gore had won. Perhaps instead of dumping our money into the war, we'd be dumping it on further social security and medicare waste, and imposing draconian environmental laws to curb greenhouse gases, economy be damned. You know, people die due to bad economies as well as wars.
In my view, the big parties are one giant party designed to increase their power and decrease ours. One side wants to limit what you. The other side wants to limit what you can do with the money you earn. Both increase taxes and spending and the size of government. Both parties want to infantilize the citizens so that they rely on bigger and bigger government -- which provides them with more power.
So yes, I do blame Nader as a spoiler, and the nuckleheads who helped him along.
You can continue to blame them all you want. I'll continue to vote my conscience. That means I'll be voting for Ron Paul. If he doesn't win, I don't care who wins.
Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.