The Price Corporation.

Arising from cold war game theory that underpinned our nuclear survival during the cold war a view of human function evolved. We are all, they believed, self-serving individuals. That then mutated into current political theory whereby the market place is essentially seen as a more democratic process than any governmental democracy because politicians are themselves self-serving individuals however much they profess to be serving the public good: Hence small government, the selling off of public amenities the NHS and the BBC leaving politicians to serve themselves with inflated expenses. The Conservatives and Blair’s Labour Party were directed by their (American) advisors to adopt these theories as a conscious policy to ‘improve’ our democratic process. ‘The Prisoner’s Dilemma’ and Game Theory suggested if we all compete as self-serving individuals then society and consequently we all will benefit. But these theories make one mistaken assumption, that we all have equal standing. A game equalises the players standing and The Prisoner’s Dilemma assumes equal standing but in real life there is a huge variation, and that variation skews the consequences grotesquely. This policy, adopted to improve democracy, becomes an instrument to destroy it. Powerful voices dominate and grow stronger whilst the lesser voices of the majority go unheard. This is where we’re currently at. So here’s the challenge. How does the majority create one powerful voice to exert our presence? For example imagine going into a shop and when asked to pay saying, “I’m a shareholder of the Price Corporation and our corporate policy is to reduce prices wherever possible. We deem that the price of your cappuccino is not £2.45 but £1.50 and as such here is £1.50. Not accepting this price will cause our one point five million share holders to cease using your services.” Obviously this idea requires refinement but please suggest your own.