[pure-silver] Re: {Disarmed} Re: Experts: Ansel Adams photos found at garage sale worth $200 million
- From: Tim Daneliuk <tundra@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:19:26 -0500
On 7/28/2010 12:09 AM, Eric wrote:
> Mark, I wasn’t proposing that part in my question. If I had I would have
> brought up copyright. I am simply asking , is it right to get a steal of
> a deal to the tune of $200 million dollar? You come down on the side of
> , Well Sure and thank you very much without any thought of the mental
> capacity of the seller. No moral obligation to prevent someone from
> giving away the family farm? Now I don’t know how the glass negs came
> into the possession of the seller, but lets just assume through a
> legitimate process.
>
The only ethical or moral consideration is whether fraud or force were
involved. Absent either of these, an honest deal was made and everyone
lives with the resulting endgame.
It was (IIRC) the economist Von Hayek that got a Nobel for
demonstrating that all opportunities for profit exist because of an
imbalance of information. The mere fact that one party knew more than
another does not - prima facia - constitute fraud or a moral foul. So,
no, the buyer in this case has no moral obligation to the seller.
Although the amounts are much different (I really question the $200M
claim in the article), this is no different than my finding a
Hasselblad at a garage sale for $100 and selling it for $1000 on eBay ...
P.S. If this were NOT so, then the seller would be morally obligated to
make the buyer whole if they'd made a poor purchasing decision. One cannot
on the one hand argue for a buyer's responsibility to the seller unless one
is also willing to demand that the seller step up if the buyer got a bad deal.
In the end, trying to regulate voluntary commerce among willing participants
always devolves into force by a third party and isn't a very good idea.
Caveat Emptor demands Caveat Venditor ...
--
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Tim Daneliuk tundra@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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