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0 pointsCryptoPunk7y ago0 comments

Not all customers/workers feel the same way about every business practice, so it's not fair to appropriate their decision-making power by monopolizing it through one regulatory agency or union that they may not support.

People are entitled to their individual choices. If it's too much information to process, they can individually choose someone they delegate their decision making to. One way they do this is to trust a particular certification and only buy products with the certification seal. But each individual should get to choose which party plays the role of delegate for them.

Resorting to one-size-fits-all regulatory/union monopolies shows a lack of imagination that deprives individuals of their agency and breeds corruption/rent-seeking-behaviour.

As for this case, it's pretty clearly theft, and should be dealt with accordingly by the legal system. Customers/workers shouldn't have to band together to punish theft.

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Klinky7y ago

Relying on certifications is laughable. Things like "Organic", "Fair Trade", and "Cage Free" do not always mean what you think they mean. Even what constitutes products like peanut butter is up for dispute by those trying to sell a cheapened product as the real thing[1].

Even in tech you have paper CCNA who don't know anything, but have a piece of paper saying they're certified.

You're also saying in this case it is theft, and should be handled by the legal system, which in part is legislated by labor regulations.

1. https://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/History/ProductRegulation/ucm13...

CryptoPunkOP7y ago

It's not at all laughable. It is as effective as the organizations people create and choose to follow.

There's nothing that makes giving an entity like a union or regulatory agency a monopoly that makes it more competent. There's no advantage in monopolizing a market under one quality assessor.

We essentially did that with credit ratings, by creating a special class of credit ratings agencies, that only three firms fall under, and making regulatory requirements requiring participants to receive a passing rating from one of them to be allowed to engage in various market activities.

The result in a non-competitive credit ratings industry with profit margins of approximately 40%, meaning they're extracting a massive amount of economic rent.

>>You're also saying in this case it is theft, and should be handled by the legal system, which in part is legislated by labor regulations.

I'm not endorsing those aspects of the legal system that prohibit contractually agreed terms. Only tort should be punished by the legal system.

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