What is the reason that individual producers in a perfectly competitive market have no influence over prices?

Answer 1

Many things contribute to consumer prices. Many economist believe that demand drives the prices of consumer goods, although true to a degree, this is only after many other factors are considered. Trade policy, energy policy and taxation are just a few things that have influence on prices, which a producer has no control over no matter how "perfectly" competitive your market is. Some economist believe that a perfect competitive market is absolute free trade and as they put it; "get the government out of the way". As history shows us that the predatory banking elite, among others with large capitol, that manipulation of the markets are as easy as taking candy from a baby, making regulation a must, unless a consolidated corporate fascist state is what you desire. An example of disastrous deregulation was the reversal of Glass-Steagall Act, which is the main cause of the systematic world wide economic collapse and decent into a new dark age we are witnessing now. Producers in this case have no control over the billions every day being injected into the markets to keep them from collapse, but are effected greatly from the dollar loosing purchasing power, a decline in real wealth of consumers and dozens of other effects from printing money out of thin air. Prior to the virtual take over of any alternative economic thought/education and the now populous movement of Austrian economics, Hamiltonian, non-fractional reserve banking was popular and has proven to work very well for the general welfare, as discussed and enshrined in the US Constitution. This system is now being discussed more as the usurious global banking system collapses and is being improved upon by economist like Lyndon Larouche. (see Larouche Triple Curve Collapse Function and Energy Flux Density)