I gotta hat tip Gero for linking this, but I felt this could use it’s own thread.
US sues to lower prices of e-book best-sellers
[…] The Justice Department and 15 states sued Apple Inc. and major book publishers Wednesday, alleging a conspiracy that raised the price of electronic books. They said the scheme cost consumers more than $100 million in the past two years by adding $2 or $3, sometimes as much as $5, to the price of each e-book. If there was price fixing, even the e-book version of the hot-selling Walter Isaacson biography of Steve Jobs, the late genius behind Apple computers, may have cost too much.
Multiple times in this article they talk about how “the scheme added $2 or $3 dollars to the price of a book” and the books “cost too much”.
I’m sorry, the Justice Department knows the “right” price for an e-book? Just pray tell what is the “right” price? This is just baffling that people go along with this. It’s a great illustration of busybodies who need to create justification for their bullshit jobs, and an ignorant public—(mis)educated in the busybody’s government schools—who buy into it.
I almost started a thread on this and then I realized that most Americans will think this is a good thing. Then I lost all willpower and went on to something else.
Aren’t you glad there exists a place where not only people would actually post about how ridiculous it is…but it has over a thousand active members and receives 40,000 views a day?
The right price? Well, the marginal cost to produce is near 0, so the demand curve intersects the cost all the way to the right, so we should have very large quantities for free!
I too saw this on cnn.com looking for the current spot price on gold. I thought about posting it, then I thought “John James probably beat me to it already.”
Hey John, are those 40K unique? and, in your opinion, what percentage of those are like us (part of the choir) and what percentage are people who need some convincing. I love this forum, and everyday I am happier I joined, but i wonder…Are we just preaching to the choir most of the time or do you think our posts specifically make that big of a difference. Judging from the comments on that article, it makes me worry. But then I see Ron Paul and his growing listeners and think "maybe this whole mess has a chance of turning around one day (for a time at least).
I donno, I’m just blathering, but I would like to get you guy’s opinion on this. Is there a way to track regularly visitor views vs new timers?
I think the poster who joked about how little the books cost to produce was actually correct. These e-books benefit from a state granted monopoly - copywrite and thus are artificially raised in price. Anyone who has a copy should be able to make more copies and sell those at whatever price they wish.
Are we just preaching to the choir most of the time or do you think our posts specifically make that big of a difference
Probably a choir for a large majority of the time, but I wouldn’t call it preaching.
Rather, think of it like a martial arts class. Yes, the master teaches his students and not the public at large, but once the students master the techniques, they will be able to apply them to the real world.
Okay, that sounded better in my head.
What I mean is that I use this forum not to convince you guys of stuff but to improve my knowledge of economics, history, and rhetoric.
That way when I need to I can use these facts in the world.
the poster who joked about how little the books cost to produce
I’m not completely sure. I just remember seeing that number somewhere. I’d have to look for it. Here’s an old thread with some data and links on overall site traffic…which is really encouraging.
That’s virtually impossible to tell…but just realize you were lurking for 3 or 4 years before making an account and posting. And if you run a search for something like “welcome mises forum” you’ll see plenty of threads from newbies. They come in all the time. (And we’d probably get even more if there wasn’t a “welcome” screen encouraging new visiters to join the “new community” instead…but of course I doubt the powers that be care much.)
It would be nice if all those visits were people like us, but I think there’s no way that’s the case. So instead we get the next best thing…newbies who are looking for some insights and answers. (So of course, either way, traffic is good).
And even if you’re “part of the choir”, I think there’s always something to learn and skills to sharpen. I think the conversation can help with that.
“Human understanding is marvellously enlightened by daily conversation with men, for we are, otherwise, compressed and heaped up in ourselves, and have our sight limited to the length of our own noses.” -Montaigne
And I know plenty of people like to use the “circle jerk” accusation and claim that everyone gathers in a place like this just to reaffirm their “bias” and tell each other they’re right, and avoid any criticism or opposing views. I think anyone who spends any time here would see that’s certainly not the case in this forum. Hard questions are asked all the time…sometimes so much that people get fed up with newcomers asking the same ones…indicating the people aren’t interested in dealing with the same stuff they’ve already dealt with and are comfortable with, but in fact are more interested in new and challenging things. And disagreements happen all the time. Things are debated plenty.
And I think people definitely learn. I’ve had multiple people come out of nowhere and say they enjoyed reading posts of mine and have learned things. People who virtually never participate in the forums…meaning we’d never know they were there. But they are. People do read this stuff.
It’s a lot like the Mises Dailys I think. If you do a google search for almost any economic topic, odds are a Mises Daily on the subject comes up in the results. That’s largely how I found the Institute. There’s always some insight on the very question you’re looking for.
Oh yeah, no question there are millions left to teach. It can get a little distorting if you spend enough time in places like this and around likeminded people…you can start to lose a realistic sense of where the country is as a whole. But. The movement does exist. And it may very well have reached a tipping point already. Paul’s numbers are doubled and tripled from 4 years ago. Something is happening.
People need to stop citing that study by Rensselaer. I find it perplexing how easily people have fallen into its trap. It’s some bs algorithmic study of supposed idea propagation which uses some made-up model about how people communicate information. They’re essentially trying to mimic the job of a socialist central planner, only in the field of sociology.
“That doesn’t explain your position. Please tell us, what is the “right price”, and how you know it.”
The current price is unjust because it results not from market activity but from a position of monopoly priviledge. The right price is what would occur absent the monopoly.
…So basically what you’re saying is everything that falls into an “IP” category is “overpriced”, and you know this because you assume the price of every single item in that category would be different than what it currently is?
Artificial state monopolies drive up the cost of a good or product. Since the cost of making another one of these e-books is zero, the market price would be zero or close to zero. AFAIK 0 is > what these books are selling for currently.
