In Ersatz Economics, prices start by “skyrocketing.” When “sellers outnumber buyers” prices fall from “exorbitant or “gouging” levels, down through “fair” and “just.” If this “vicious cycle” goes on too long, though, they fall to “unfair” and “cutthroat,” the result of “dumping.” Likewise, the woman in the street believes she knows that union and corporations have more “bargaining power” than do their victims, and therefore can “exploit” them. A consumer can “afford” medical care, maybe only “barely afford” it, “needs” housing, and views food as a “basic necessity.” Business people maintain their “profit margins,” probably “obscene” or “unwarranted,” by “passing along” a higher wage, which causes workers to demand still higher wages, in a “spiral.” The protection of the American worker’s “living wage” from “unfair competition” by “cheap foreign labor” should be high on the nation’s list of “priorities,” as should be the “rebuilding” of our
“collapsing” industrial “base.”

在代用 经济学中， 价格起始于直冲云霄的火箭式猛涨。当卖家比买家多的时候，价格就会降低，从过高或是欺诈的水平趋向于公平合适的程度。如果这种恶性循环继续过长时间的话，那么价格就会降低到不公平和割喉贱卖的程度，最后的结果就是倾销。同样的，连大街上的女人都相信她知道工会和公司比它们的受害者（职员）更具有讨价还价的能力，因此可以剥削他们。一个消费者可以承担自己的医药保障，也仅仅只能承担到几乎不能承担的程度，因为人们的基本需求是房屋和食物。商人通过给予更高的工资给员工，从而导致他们需要更高的工资这样的螺旋上升的形式来维持他们的边际利益，也许是令人生厌、没有根据的。同样，对于美国本土工人最低生活工资的保障不是要把对付不公平竞争的廉价的外劳列在国内最优先解决问题上，而是应该重建我们正在崩溃的工业化基础上。