Do you think there is a difference between predatory capitalism and cooperative capitalism?
Do you think competition always benefits everyone, or do you think “zero sum game” thinking is destructive?
Discussion
Sustained perfect competition is actually highly inefficient with little innovation. All firms are price takers and will make no profit in the long run.
Only if there is no external source of innovation, information and transport costs are nil, and the products are perfectly interchangeable.
Not true even in commodity markets...
Somebody built a simulator to explore that train of thought
Zero sum thinking is destructive - if the only way I get ahead is by taking from you, then I want to take from you, and I regard anyone else's success as proof they took from me and justification for violent "redistribution".
This is the core issue with Marxism - labor theory of value creates zero-sum thinking. If values are reducible to a single value scale then all exchanges are more for less (exploitative) or equal for equal (pointless). Thus Marxists can't explain trade or cooperation.
The theory which eclipsed the classical/Marxists labor theory of value is subjective value. I value different things based on the use I can put them to, and so do you. I might value A above B and you might value B above A - and we can both be right! Therefore, voluntary exchange is mutually beneficial, neither exploitation nor pointless shuffling.
Rent-seeking will always be preferable to competition, as long as the market participants are large enough in size and few enough in number to collude efficiently.