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Originally Posted by Thematic-Device
1.) Wells cannot be dug everywhere, even many places
2.) Bottled water doesn't run showers, toilets, or clean plates, further 1 dollar per liter is price gouging
Water should be sold where supply equals demand when all externalities are adjusted for. Without government regulation this will never be the case. So the Water companies have to charge less money then a dollar a gallon, 75¢ per gallon is still exploitation.
And do you realize how incredibly inefficient shipping water by truck would be? Capitalism is the best system because it is the most efficient system. Laissez-Faire Capitalism is what happens when people completely forget about the idea of efficiency because its just too hard for them to understand.
These are what real economists refer to as "hacks" they're not very good economists, they don't actually have any proof, or econometrics, or "evidence" they just have poorly based theories and ideologies they defend tooth and nail.
They're no different then Marxists.
Competitors cannot enter the market. Thats why there are monopolies. Monopolies aren't some myth that the hacks you've been reading make them out to be, they're real, and they happen on there own in a number of markets.
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You're right, wells can't be dug everywhere. If someone lives in an area where a well can't be dug, or remote area where water cannot be deliverd cheaply, I say "tough cookies." I don't live in a place like that, and there is no reason I should have to pay with a decreased water supply because someone is bitching about having to pay too much for water.
And why is $1 a litre gouging? This seems to be the market-clearing price. If people thought it was too high, they would not buy it, the supplier would have a surplus and either go out of business or lower his prices. You might think that $1 a litre is gouging, but your oppinion is of no relevance in an exchange between two people.
No, those economists are not hacks. They are tenured economists at four year schools. Block even has an endowed chair. These are not hacks. You are right about their methodology. While other economists look at data and expect a theory to pop up, Austrians use logic. As you have argued, people behave outside of nice neat equations. Austrians don't pretend to be able to predict the exact future of an economy.
Which of their theories do you think are bad?
When has a monopoly arisen in the way you desribe.