Saffire

I have to agree, I think voting Conservative would be the "least of three evils" for any British citizen. But I get the feeling that conservatives will only slow down the process... Margaret Thatcher is pretty well hated in England to this day, right?

I'm being facetious of course, but my point is that all socialist economies require stringent rules to keep from being overrun by freeloaders. Also, they need ways to make it difficult for the middle and upper classes to leave or renounce citizenship. Socialism is the "gated community" of economics. They might as well have a sign in front saying "Whites Only".

Here's a good quote on this subject, for anyone interested in learning the mechanics of currencies:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1269463/Afghanistan-PowerPoint-slide-Generals-left-baffled-PowerPoint-slide.html (context: in reference to powerpoint presentations) :laugh4: Yes, General. Some problems aren't bullet-izable.

Oh my god, talk about cankles! [/whispers] Ohh nooo! Now I can't be prime minister!! Anyway, I don't see the problem with extending welfare to non-citizens. Just tax the rich and middle-class more!

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Spain-debt-downgraded-by-apf-1816859080.html?x=0&.v=27 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/7640783/ECB-may-have-to-turn-to-nuclear-option-to-prevent-Southern-European-debt-collapse.html But...but... I thought everything was contained! There's no way this can be right! The Euro was supposed to be our saving grace, making Europe into the economic power it deserves to be! You're an absolute sucker if you think the world economy isn't about to go off a cliff. Right now the smart money is slowly and carefully unloading their shares at these high prices, hoping nobody notices.

How long before a charismatic US president leads a "coalition of the willing" to to invade these countries? :rolleyes:

Excellent point, Kite. I wasn't aware of that (oddly enough I've never used Ebay). So it's currently in Ebay's best interest to allow this to continue. Maybe another website will pop up that offers the same service, but patched up the holes Ebay left open and charges a flat-rate for auctions rather than a commission rate.

I think the root of our disagreement lies in the fact that I don't find the "two wrongs make a right" approach very productive. My thesis is that it's the job of entrepreneurs and individuals to figure out solutions to technical problems. You guys are still playing in the medieval sandbox - "Well let's chop off his hand!" - stuff like that. I'm thinking beyond the powdered wigs and "50%+1 makes right" conceptualizations of arbitration services. So there is very little that I consider necessary or even desirable for government to do, particularly when it comes to non-violent voluntary interactions. The way I see it is, you might as well have Gordon Brown hold Meg Whitman's hand while she poops. Ebay are big kids now. They can figure something out.

lol I don't think Stephen really thought this through. He must have watched Avatar recently. Assuming aliens figured out how to travel here, it's not like there's anything here on Earth that they couldn't get somewhere else. There are tons more natural resources in other parts of the universe, on other planets/dust clouds/asteroids/etc. I'd like to hear his full argument though, maybe he's thinking of something I've overlooked.

I see a few massive assumptions on the part of others here. The most glaring is that law enforcement can prevent this from happening. IT CAN'T. Police aren't magical utopia fairies that create a perfect scenario with the wave of their guns. So just fess up and admit that you all are only attempting to seek revenge on the sellers. This is a great question! Ask Ebay. Or the seller. Again, I don't have an endless stream of answers for how the world should work. Some inventor/entrepreneur will figure out a solution to this flaw in Ebay's system. Not the police.

Reilly, if you want me to be an expert on British law, then you should say so up front. But surprise! I'm not. And no, you can't prevent this. Just like you can't prevent your future wife from gaining 40 pounds after you marry her. What you're advocating here isn't a method of prevention. It's a method for revenge. And that's cool, if you want to go beat up a person who kept you from getting a good deal. It's kinda weird and sociopathic. But cool. Wait, no. It's freakish.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=356ViUx1Ktc]YouTube- Preston Reed[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVuq4l5ucME]YouTube- Valgeir Sigurðsson and Nico Muhly - Focal Point (take 1)[/ame] If you haven't heard/seen this yet, enjoy! They start playing at around the 2:50 mark.

There are actually several towns throughout Europe that have gotten rid of all traffic signs & lights, and they've uniformly seen a decrease in accidents. It's pretty interesting.

I mean... you can spout all sorts of legal mumbo jumbo and make anything sound horrible. My point is that it shouldn't be illegal. What he did wasn't evil or stepping on anybody's toes. He just exploited a flaw in Ebay's system. One solution would be for the items put up for auction to be placed "in escrow" until the auction is over - so they are rented out to Ebay until a time when the auction is over, and Ebay is contractually required to give the sale proceeds to the previous owner.

Well they can jail anybody for a technicality. I read somewhere that the average American commits 4 felonies per day. That's the key to a police state - create so many laws that you can lock up your enemies whenever you feel like it.

Damn! Hurry up law school students! Figure out another inventive way to interpret an existing law so we can put him in jail! :laugh3:

Nobody forced bidder B to pay more - it was his choice to bid higher after bidder C made a bid.

double post

Reilly should be the chief prosecutor. "Well I never!"

I don't know how to build a car. I don't know how to make a computer processor. But I sure as hell don't want to hand those jobs over to police who barely have a high-school education. Similarly, this is a technical problem with Ebay, not a crime.

So I guess your idea of a nuanced solution is: DUHR, THE GUBERMINT SHUD FIX IT. Real deep thinking there, Sherlock. Say specifically what you want them to do. Don't just say "shit". I want to hear EXACTLY what you want them to do to the seller. Detail it for me.

OF COURSE there would be a high probability of winning a claim against him. Just like there would be a high probability of the government winning a claim against someone smoking weed, or downloading music. That's not what I'm talking about here. And Reilly, if your argument is that Ebay and the buyers are incapable of determining if a seller has been bidding in his own auction (because of the supposed complexity or impossibility involved in accumulating evidence that would prove it), what makes you think the government could be any better at doing it? You don't really even have a position on this other than "Oh that's RUDE! If I were the buyer, I would want the police to hurt the seller!" It's Ebay's job to figure out a way to stop this, so they can continue to attract customers. But we should have no sympathy for the buyers because they voluntarily made a trade.