Re:Why the 2% Inflation Target? (2023)
by pdonis on Friday March 22, 2024 @07:36PM
(#39795967)
> If the banks are all publicly traded and the shares evenly distributed
Which of course they're not. Nor will they ever be. Even if you forced things to be this way on some particular day, they wouldn't stay that way, because people have different needs, different expectations, and different judgments about the best ways to use their money. And in a free market, they will act differently because of those differences, and quickly trade away from any "even distribution" of anything.
> If you have a healthy banking market with several competitors the banks will compete to the point where none of them can extract too much profit.
I agree that banking should be a competitive free market (as I think every good and service should be).
> you end up with companies extracting wealth in any market where they get too much of a monopoly
If "monopoly" means "ability to buy favors from the government to avoid free market competition", then I agree with this. But such a "monopoly" in no way requires there to be a lack of competition in an industry. There is plenty of competition in banking. It just all takes place against a backdrop of monetary manipulation by the government.
Which of course they're not. Nor will they ever be. Even if you forced things to be this way on some particular day, they wouldn't stay that way, because people have different needs, different expectations, and different judgments about the best ways to use their money. And in a free market, they will act differently because of those differences, and quickly trade away from any "even distribution" of anything.
> If you have a healthy banking market with several competitors the banks will compete to the point where none of them can extract too much profit.
I agree that banking should be a competitive free market (as I think every good and service should be).
> you end up with companies extracting wealth in any market where they get too much of a monopoly
If "monopoly" means "ability to buy favors from the government to avoid free market competition", then I agree with this. But such a "monopoly" in no way requires there to be a lack of competition in an industry. There is plenty of competition in banking. It just all takes place against a backdrop of monetary manipulation by the government.