Profit.

In class this past week we talked about how companies sometimes choose to opperate inefficiently. Why would a company intentionaly choose to do business in such a manner? Well, the simple answer is profit. At times, producing and selling at what is technically the market equilibrium and the most efficient point is actually less profitable for a business then opperating slightly under the efficient level. And as can be expected, a firm will generaly choose whichever route leads to the most profit. Afterall, a company's main objective is to make money, not neccessarily opperate efficiently.

I've got parkplace and boardwalk.McDonalds owes me $1 million

In class we began talking about monopolies. I've never come to a personal conclusion as to whether or not I think they are good or bad. As far as for consumers and potential businesses, it's rather obvious that monopolies are horribble, they allow no room for other firms and they have the priviledge of setting the market prices. However, I dont think it's right for government intervention to completly dissasemble monopolies, because it seems to violate property rights. Perhaps theres a happy medium somewhere in the middle, something like Wall Street, an entity that anyone can weasle into, and if the entity goes bad it drags everyone along with it.

Exit Market, Stage Right.

So we were begining to discuss how firms enter and exit markets. This is seen all the time, particularly with companies leaving markets, especialy given our recent economic circumstances. When the money to be made in a market dries up, firms shut their doors. If I were running a business, I think the hardest part for me would be deciding if I should shut down for good, or if I should just hang in there and hope the market picks up soon. As far as entering markets goes, it seems like things like that fluctuate alot. One day it seems like theres money everywhere in the car department, the next day everyone wants in the electronics business. So I sort of think that the best approach would be to find a market that you know would be sustainable, and simply jump into it at a beneficial time.