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Corporate FriendsCompanies are there to provide us with our necessities but they need to operate within tolerable limits. We know that companies must behave ethically and be good corporate citizens. We also know that companies must provide products at reasonable prices and with reasonable assurances and warranties. We also expect that companies make reasonable (not ridiculous) profits and that they behave fairly and honestly in their dealings with customers. Additionally, we expect companies to correct their errors in a timely manner and with equity.

If you believe all that BS, we have more for you! Additionally, we have for sale wonderful arable land in Antarctica. Perfect for a DIY farmer. Some landscaping required. If you are interested, please send us an e-mail.

Are you kidding us!!!??? Let’s get back to basics:

The sole purpose of an enterprise is to make money. Period.

Companies and enterprises of any shape, form or size anywhere in the world are there to make as much money as fast as possible for their owners. Period. They will cheat, lie, cajole, exaggerate, modify, marketize, propagandize, and use any and all techniques available to them to separate you from your money.

Anybody believing that for some reason enterprises must be “well behaved” is deluded. Of course, 200+ years of forced delusion through a mandated so-called “educational” system re-inforced by a mandated so-called “curriculum” will do that to you.

Enterprises are not there to be “good corporate citizens” or to provide “steady employment” or “adequate wages” or “suitable products” or “affordable items” or any other nonsensical sound bit that politicians are so fond of using. Enterprises are most definitively NOT your friends. Enterprises are akin to pirates sailing market waters with the objective of finding a sucker (that would be you) and loot them. They are sharks and you look like delicious lunch. Period.

But… we need their products and services. But… they need our money.

See where we are going?

Even in the absence of the most basic rules of understanding, there is a mutual need. One side cannot survive without the other. Each side needs the other.

Now, having recognized this, there are two ways of proceeding:

We can create a gigantic and never-ending set of rules and regulations which will determine how one side will relate to the other. We have “consumer” laws and “manufacturing” laws and “employment” laws and so far. This would be the government way to do things.

Or, we can let every side decide for themselves how do they want to interact with each other. This would be the contractual or free market approach.

Let’s take a look at both.

THE GOVERNMENT SOLUTION

This “solution” implies the unending creation of rules and regulations that dictates what enterprises can and cannot do with ever-increasing intrusion. If you happen to ask any entrepreneur, they will tell you, unanimously, that they are absolutely sick and tired of government regulations. They are drowning in paperwork for no reason whatsoever. Take a look at the article The High Price Of Government Regulations if you don’t believe us.

But, do these regulations do any good? To be fair, yes, some do. However, the vast majority of them do not. The problem is that you cannot pick and choose which one you will accept and which one you will reject. You have to take the entire package and this this at the centre of the problem.

Do regulations do more harm than good?

Seriously?

Entrepreneurs have to fulfill regulations and/or find ways around them. This is time and money wasted and a lot of it. Regulations stop entrepreneurs from behaving entrepreneurially. As such the end result is that they provide less goods and services at higher prices thus lowering our standards of living. Period.

THE FREE MARKET SOLUTION

In a free market things are vastly different. Entrepreneurs and customers are free to contract as they see fit, but also to con each other as they see fit. Let’s never forget that there is also a negative side and quite a large one. We could go so far as to say that the potential outcomes of an economic transaction in a free market is 50/50 at best. Potentially speaking we have a 50% probability that any given transaction is a scam.

Emphasis on “potential”.

So, why would we then want to have a free market?

Because in a truly free market two things happen.

Firstly, people are aware of these circumstances and this tends to balance the scales. In a government system we are told to “trust” enterprises because they are “regulated” and so we do. In a free market there is no such thing. Thus, everybody will scrutinize every transaction in minute detail. This will diminish the number of negative outcomes quite significantly. Think about it. If people refuse to contract under suspicious conditions, there is no way that an entrepreneur can make money. Thus, automatically, conditions become transparent and simpler. The need for people to be “protected” from those evil, evil entrepreneurs simply disappears in thin air.

Secondly, we have the mutual dependence factor. Entrepreneurs must sell in order to make profits. There is no such thing as an entrepreneurial activity with ongoing loses. But if this is the case, they must sell. Oh, did we mention that they must sell? See? There is no other way around whatsoever. They must sell. And what happens if they can’t sell? They don’t get any profits. They go broke. They disappear. Entrepreneurs realize that they depend from their customers. Completely. Thus, it is in their best interest to keep customers coming back from more. Repeat business is the holy grail of all entrepreneurs. But in order to achieve this goal, they must absolutely, positively and undeniably provide goods and services the customer may want to come back to. There is no such thing as ongoing enterprises with lousy products. They go broke. Period.

IN BALANCE

As you can see, in a free market the worse intentions of entrepreneurs disappear simply because they don’t have any other option. It is not that they have suddenly become “ethical” or “moral” or “well behaved”, this is BS plain and simple. They do it because they have no choice.

In a government system on the other hand, they always have the choice to go around regulations and/or hit unsuspected customers. They can do so because they have this option. How many times have we heard the term “built to regulations” or “compliant to regulations”? Are you happy with this? Probably not. Most regulations are minimum standards which do not actually protect us to the degree we want to be protected. This is so because this option has been removed from our contractual abilities. We, the people, have no choice. Because the “law” say so.

Think of entrepreneurs as wild and dangerous animals. The government solution provides a neat cage that keeps their worse intention separated from us. However, should we get too close; we will be shred to pieces. Too bad. Thus, the need for more cages and more sophisticated control systems. Unfortunately, as they are all caged, they can’t fulfill their role in the ecosystem. Thus, the ecosystem becomes progressively damaged.

The free market solution, on the other hand, operates on a natural basis. Those wild animals roam free and co-exist with us, but we fully understand this risk and are fully prepared to deal with it. In time those animals learn not to mess with us, but we also learn that we need them. Yes, there is risk but on the other hand, those wild animals are free to fulfill their natural role in our ecosystem thus benefiting us all.

THE MINDSET

Each time we explain how free markets work we have a great deal of trouble getting through the “government” mindset and into a “fee market” mindset. This is so because the words “fee markets” have been so polluted with political and economic propaganda that they have lost any meaning. Fortunately, the concept of true free markets remains the same.

We are not theoreticians and are not proposing a Walhalla of delightful pleasures on earth through the free markets. We are not naïve and we don’t want you to be naïve. If anything, we want you to think by yourself and challenge everything that comes across you, including our ideas. We want the opposite of drones. We want independent, thinking people. We want you to be fully aware of what true free markets imply. We want you to know exactly what kind of animal we are dealing with when we refer to entrepreneurship and companies.

CONCLUSION

Entrepreneurs and companies are most definitively NOT your friends. Get this ridiculous idea out of your head once and for all. However, not all is lost. They need you and because of this need they will tailor their behavior to suit your needs. They will serve you. How well will they do so or to what extent depends upon you. You have two choices. You can go with the government choice or the free market choice. We prefer the latter but you may not. If you choose the former you already know where their path leads to. But if you do so, hope you are satisfied with it because there far, far more BS where the current one came from.

Note: please see the Glossary if you are unfamiliar with certain words.

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