Something Appropriate

Mao and purses

   Sometime I think we need a Mao Zedong for the financial sector, someone to band together the various guerilla groups selling knock-off purses and rolexes on the streets of large cities. Fight the power and all that jazz.
   What benefit is there to have $1000 purses other than to demonstrate fiscal inequality? It's not like there is anything you can put in a real Gucci purse that you can't put in its very similar looking, street-sold cousin. Does a real rolex tell time any better than a fake? No. From a purely capitalist viewpoint does spending $10,000 on a watch versus, lets say, a new boat offer anything more to the economy? No.
   Ditto to various other sectors. The market sets the value of a commodity based on perceived value, not actual value.  A Gibson guitar starts at $1,800 because that is what someone will pay to get one, not what one costs to produce, test and market. Somehow, the good folks at musoland still seem to be a viable business while creating a slightly-less-quality product for 800-percent-less the price.
     In the same regard, this 'Market Mao' could help everything from flea markets to fruit stands. Buying fruit from a farmer's roadside market often offers fresher products  at a better price. The producer makes more money than by selling to a corporation and the buyer gets a better food at a better rate.
   Will this destroy the economy? Unless you think you can ever sell enough $20 purses on the street to buy a home in New York (you can't.) Or you think the local farmers are going to take all that money and hoard it (they won't, even if they had enough to matter.)
    It's just a few little things that promote social equality. A trust-fund princess doesn't feel as important if the debt-laden single mother on the subway is carrying the same Dolce & Gabbana bag she is.

    On the most basic level, our economy is based on inclusive factors. There are some people who buy a Mac because they want to own a Mac, not because it serves their purposes any better or worse than a PC would at one-third of the price. Someone might want to own a shirt that says "Bannana Republic" instead of one that says "Steve & Barry". In both instances, fashion played largely the equation. It is cooler in many circles to wear a expensive T-shirt while holding laptop with a fruit on it.
   And while i won't argue against that some of this creates value, there is a large segment of society more interested in function over making themselves look richer than their neighbor.
   Well, at least I hope there is.