Este entrada de blog está — en parte — una celebración del nacimiento y de la vida de César Estrada Chávez. Mi Español no está perfecto. Pero quiero decir, «¡Feliz celebración!» Perdone si mi Español no está correcto. Está bastante por hablando con ustedes. (¡Espero!) Si necesitan un abogado, llámame. Dice «bueno» y hablaríamos en Español — usted con la lengua correcto, y mi como un gabacho.
Okay, I assume the majority of my readers are English speakers. And those Spanish readers I have are now busy laughing at me, and will be for some time, so I think it’s acceptable to switch to English.
Today — at least in California — is a holiday in celebration of the life and accomplishments, the memory of, César Chávez.
Whatever the Market Will Bear
The phrase “whatever the market will bear” is typically used in economic discussions. Primarily, when discussing how fees for various products or services are set you’ll hear the phrase offered as some explanation for what is really exploitation of the market. It only works well in a non-competitive environment. Adam Smith, the pioneer of political economy who authored An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations,
would have considered the type of power — and unrestrained greed — that supports the idea of “whatever the market will bear” as a thing too terrible to imagine.
But then, Smith was passionate about liberty, reason, and free speech. He was a classical liberal, a believer in “natural liberty”, but not quite the free-wheeling laissez-faire libertarian those who frequently co-opt his theories apparently believe him to be.
Smith believed there was a danger in too much concentration of power which naturally occurs on the side of businesses and the rich in an unregulated environment. There are some interesting parallels between Smith’s concerns about the collusive nature of business interests and the problem of our dying Constitution and the consequent perversion of our criminal justice system.
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