h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi,

This is a good idea. There are problems with the grammar, but it is my wife who is a copy editor not me, so I have pasted below an example of how I would have said the same thing, in the hope that (a) you don't think it rude and (b) it helps in some way

Good luck.....

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The law of supply and demand is believed to be universal, and certainly applies on this planet. To understand it fully, you need to appreciate the following:

1) The more you want to buy something, assuming a constant supply, the more the price will go up - so costing you more dollars, pounds, yen or whatever.

2) The less you want to buy something, assuming a constant supply, the more the price will go down, saving you dollars, pounds, yen, or whatever.

3) If supply cannot meet the demand for an item, the price will go up until manufacturers can make enough of the item to meet the demand.

4) If supply exceeds the demand for an item, the price will go down until (a) the manufacturers can get rid of their inventory or (b) the lower price generates sufficient demand to meet the supply - so supply and demand tend to equalise.

5) Once supply and demand have equalised, as described above, the "equilibrium price" has been achieved for that item. The law of supply and demand really works, so this is the price you could expect pay at the supermarket.

Unfortunately.....

6) None of these rules apply in the absence of a free market - i.e. just about anywhere on earth.

One thing to remember: as soon as you find a way to make a profit on an item (when your costs of production are less than the revenues you receive for the item on the marketplace), someone will try to make that item cheaper and steal your market share. This will continue until they become Microsoft, and nobody else is left.

Curiously, one of the few examples of a true free enterprise system is the black market (drugs, slaves, pornography, etc). Needless to say governments the world over take a dim view of such untrammelled egalitarianism, and forcibly offer the perpetrators substantial periods of free accommodation.

I think everyone (including myself) is agreed that the first sentance needs help! Thanks for stopping by U.S.!

Thanks for the input, but I'll be careful to leave out the bit about Mr. Gate's corporate monster! While I am a disciple of Jobs and follow the Apple as well, I don't kick rabid dogs who have lots of time, money and lawyers!

Good show, Jimi X. This is a tough subject to get the reader all the way through - in fact, it is a tough subject to get a reader to start on. If this was the first article on the run instead of the last, I might have never started....

....but then the article ends up being worth it after all. A much better read than I expected, and very straightforward as well. I agree with all the grammar suggestions, but will not waste time repeating them.

I'm trying to think of something more constructive to post....it seems like you could spice this article up with some more detail, but I'll be darned if I can think of any way to do it. Sorry that isn't very helpful, but supply and demand doesn't exactly throw lots of creative thoughts in my head....

score: 7.5

I like it a lot. Personally, I think there are too many people trying to write pages that are funny over being informative. You've made me realise that it's better to tell someone something that they don't already know that tell the a joke they haven't heard. PLUS I liked the point about the black market

Thanks for reading!!

Sorry Frink!

I somehow missed that you'd stopped by!
Thanks for the review and please excuse my intolerable lack of tact!!

And congrats on your promotion, Jimi.

Gee thanks!! Now I can feel overwhelmed like Mark, Anna, Peta, et al.

It's a great feeling when you get your first batch of articles for subediting and the backlog goes down. Then when you log on the next day it's higher than it was before you started!

We will work to get it down to a few dozen! I promise!! Even if I have to quit my job to do it!!! OK, maybe not but it sounded good on my application and it must have worked at least once!

*chuckles* Good strategy! Always promise more than you can deliver, then become so entangled in the system they don't know you're sleeping in the stockroom after the three-martini lunches!

Sheesh! Was it that obvious?!?

*hums and peers upwards*

What an ugly shade they paint the ceilings around here! At least now we know where the colours for the goo come from!

But it does look much nicer in the goo, I imagine.