One of the greatest failings of the early #economic #philosophers, was their failure to foresee the impact of de-personalizing #markets.
Back in Smith's time there was an assumption of #honesty on the part of the seller. Markets were small enough that dishonesty would be punished by #buyers not buying the dishonest #sellers #goods.
#Trust is the bedrock of thriving markets. Which is why countries with rigid rules of law and enforcement do better than countries without. You can trust that if you get burned -- there's a #remedy.
But as markets expanded, so did de-personalization. See the "traveling salesman" selling #SnakeOil for example. Burn a bunch of people -- then move on to the next set of dupes.
Add then, the advent of marketing, or as I like to call it, #CapitalistPropaganda. In short, the practice of increasing demand by selling lies -- #BuyerBeware.
Add to that, legal precedent interpreting lies as free speech -- buyer beware.
Add then, #monopoly power, and it's impossible not to see where this is headed.
Today, we have markets of *distrust* because everyone is peddling legal lies.
Give it a name: #PredatoryCapitalism? #CrisisCapitalism? #Conitalism?
It's all the logical end result of rewarding those with the most capital to compete without rules governing the sale of #lies.
#uspol
