This quote was a particular example of one of the great fallacies of economics, the idea that markets have to be "perfect":

Melamed was ideologically opposed to the market economy, saying that for markets for work: “everybody has to have perfect information - everybody has to know everything about what’s going on in the market and everyone has to know the same amount about what's going on in the market.”

What she forgets of course, is that if we did have "perfect" knowledge of all wants, all economic possibilities, etc, then central planning would work. It is precisely because we have imperfect knowledge, and therefore an incentive to acquire more of it, that markets derive their value. One man's lack of knowledge is another man's entrepreneurial opportunity. If I do not know what people want, then there are plenty of people with a strong incentive to find out and make a lot of money.

If a man in London can sell a bag of oranges, say, for three pounds, and another guy up the road can sell that for two pounds, then consumers may be "ignorant" of the cheaper price but then the seller of the cheaper goods has an incentive to advertise, spread the word, etc. So markets constantly encourage people to learn more and spread more information around. Simple, really.

I am afraid that this woman's views are not rare, but in fact the product of the disastrous way in which much economics is taught. The sooner that the idea of "perfect competition" is trashed and people understood the market as a dynamic process happening across time, the better.

Well, good riddance to her.

Further evidence that socialism is a disease against which we must innoculate every successive generation.

I don't know if Claire's Jewish, or of Jewish ancestry, but her surname's very aposite. "Melamed" is the Hebrew word word for teacher, but has very perjorative overtones. A melamed taught elementary Hebrew to small boys - teaching-by-rote - and was considered at the bottom of the intellectual (and social) scale). Leo Rosten's "The Joys of Yiddish" defines melamed as "An unworldly, unsophisticated, impractical type. There is a saying: 'A mlemad remains a melamed.' It means, 'He'll never get anywhere,' or, 'What did you expect?'"

Another comment on melameds was, "If they were smarter, they'd be rabbis."

Cheers

there is sence of wellbeing no matter the little caos.

Sounds to me like the classic example of un-christian people attaching themselves to nominally Christian organizations so that they can find personal justification. The Apostle Paul made a point that when he would visit his disciples for long periods, he would seek to use some skill he had as a tent maker (engaging in some capitalism) so as not to be a burden on his hosts. What a Concept!!!!

He has a statement in one of his letters .....
"Those that work eat"