[meteorite-list] Meteorite Market 101 

From: MexicoDoug_at_aol.com <MexicoDoug_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Jun 11 15:19:12 2004
Message-ID: <15a.373e3291.2dfb5fac_at_aol.com>

What ever happened to the pleasant humor that this list used to proffer; I've
missed you all very much on my extended vacation... some really wierd things
are starting to stir up the pot here (Michael and Glenmore's comments at end
of this message).? Good call Glenmore.

Hi Michael (Blood),

I know you like quotations, so here's one: "Don't just learn the tricks of
the trade.? Learn the trade." James Bennis

Please don't consider this personal, as you would insist.? You are, by some
accounts the market guru and I consider you a friendly dealer and respect you
appropriately as much as the next meteorite enthusiast.? I really truely do,
despite our differences in opinions of the past, and in that spirit I post.

First, Michael, I would recommend you pick up a reprint of the following
classic publication by the famous Scotsman.? Perhaps you reconize it as the basic
foundation of economics and markets, a favorite niche of yours:

Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776.

"People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and
diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some
contrivance to raise prices."

That is quite a famous quote from Smith's book, even much more than the first
quote in this message.? Can you interpret it as it applies to the current
thread you are in the middle of?? With good times most had in Tucson in mind, for
an encore it is a pleasure to offer the following for your comment:

FREE MARKETS AND ECONOMICS ARE BASED ON GAMING

Oddly, "Game theory" is the accepted foundation of modern economics.? The
basic gist is that independence of suppliers forces prices to their minimum,
which increases efficiency for everyone, and decreases the price determining
ability of each individual firm.? According to game theory, if one firm decreases
the price, others offering the similar product will follow to maintain sales,
but if someone increases price, others probably won't as it would result in a
loss of sales.?

The uncool, un-american phenomenon of "collusion" is the challenge to a free
market, enforced only by the invisible hand that gives naughty and deviant
undeserving rivals spankings on a regular basis for MISBEHAVIOR in the markets.
When firms collude to increase prices as a cooperative, loss of sales is at a
minimum as consumers don't have alternative choices.? This manipulation
benefits those who collude, and destroys the efficiency for society.

Collusion is illegal (in the US), however, implicitly, tacit understandings
which include "price leadership" which if provable are illegal under antitrust
law, continue.? A perfect example of collusion and the blurring of the line
between implicit and explicitness, is the request from Michael Blood that
suppliers restrict the way business is done, i.e., a rival seller should not offer
similar product at a lower price.

Luckily for innocent consumers who are assumed to work equally hard for their
wages (I suspect some work much harder), implicit and explicit collusion have
some barriers:
1. Economic recessions: Sometimes rival firms need to lowert prices to
increase their sales to pay for their own costs of doing business.? This actually
benefits both suppliers and consumers in the long run, as it prevents gluts from
developing and tends to stablize pricing at market determined levels.
2. "Cheating": Incentive to "cheat" among suppliers participating in the
illegal pricing is high due to the false price levels brought on by the collusion
itself.
3. Cost of Sales Differences: A more efficient supplier can profit more at a
lower price by moving a greater amount of volume that more than offsets the
lower price.
4. New Entries (negatively in this forum: "those who aren't blue blooded
dealers"), upon entry the new guy establishes new price baselines and errode the
colluding arrangements.

In Adam Smith's classic you can read all about supply and demand.? Basically,
if we restrict supply the next seller will not get enough gravy as the first,
and the first buyer gets screwed because he played a game where the deck was
stacked against him, whether he knew it ot not.? Is this respectful to the
consumer?

Instead of bucking law and economics, creatively we need a market brokered
like stock options, so you never have a risk, just a commission.? Example:?
LA001 seller wants at least X, sell the put option.? Moon pricing going
astronomical? Sell a call option...? Opportunity beckons...

Saludos, Doug

"Treason is like meteorites; there is nothing to be made by the small
trader." Douglas William Jerrold
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/meteorite-list/attachments/20040611/dfd91d27/attachment-0001.htm
Received on Fri 11 Jun 2004 03:19:08 PM PDT