I'm not sure how anyone can claim we're "participating" in a "capitalist" economy when a commodity can be so obviously price fixed by the oligarchs.
Is this an example of a price fix, or is it simply more lucrative to sell silver on the open market as opposed to the U.S. mint, which would later retract its exaggeration on the "silver shortage"?
"Merit" in a modeling job is "looks".
Which can still be subject to the preferences of their employer, correct?
I've never once suggested that every job should be available for every human.
never.
once.
I'm not suggesting you did. I'm suggesting that there are financial circumstances of which one takes advantage simply by being fortunate--i.e. being born into the "right family" or being born with the "right look."
What happens when the "privatized rules" inevitably become insular, raising anti-competitive barriers to entry?
Privatized rules affect those who are part of the arrangement. They don't have to let a competitor participate in said arrangement. And a competitor can create or seek another arrangement.
How do you propose we protect the individual from the collective?
Sustaining the moral theory.
Do those interests include all citizens?
With respect to their individual interests, yes.
If your company serves the public, then they are within the public sphere.
What is the scope of this public service?
I've been pretty clear on this from the word go.
NO NEPOTISM.
NO INHERITANCE.
Yes you have. So why have you strictly isolated nepotism and inheritance as unfair? Elaborate.
Please provide your personally preferred definition of "oligarch".
"An oligarch is one of the select few people who rule or influence leaders in an oligarchy—a government in which power is held by a select few individuals or a small class of powerful people."