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> The question isn't which abstract model is better, the question is how we build some sort of conventions that work better than what is happening now. Oh, sur
by ucaetano 9y ago
> The question isn't which abstract model is better, the question is how we build some sort of conventions that work better than what is happening now.
Oh, sure, there's potential for improvement. But so far there hasn't been a model that works better, and every single time that government-protected monopolies were tried, they failed with disastrous results.
Every single new model tried has failed miserably.
But that also doesn't mean there aren't ways to improve the current model.
- dv_dt 9y agoChinese steel's gov't granted monopoly is apparently so efficient our private markets can't compete... a core support given there is long term capital investment horizons - which gov't monopolies can end up enabling. I'm not saying that always works out for the better, but there's something there in that if your viewpoint is long enough you can win in efficiency, be it steel in China, or Standard Oil in a largely unregulated industrial market.
- Kalium 9y agoChinese steel? It's an interesting definition of "efficient" that is used to describe a whole sector that is kept alive and overproducing only by virtue of burning through massive subsidies.
- dv_dt 9y agoSo here's a question. If there were a cheaper way for China the nation to acquire the steel it needed during it's expansion phase why did China decide to subsidize? Is there an total system cost that they're maximizing beyond the accounting for just the balance sheet of the steel companies?
- ucaetano 9y agoYes, it's called dumping.
- dv_dt 9y agoAre VC funded ventures like Uber dumping into the Taxi industry?
- hueving 9y agoNo, Uber says it's profitable in the US. Also, the two products aren't really interchangeable because the main reason I use Uber/Lyft is that they fix the scamming nature of cabs (lying about broken credit card reader, inefficient routes, etc).