5 ms·
Yes, it's purely based on artificial scarcity. Which historical never lasts. PanAm went bust because they banked on price fixed airline tickets. USPS benefite
by huffmsa 9y ago
Yes, it's purely based on artificial scarcity. Which historical never lasts.
PanAm went bust because they banked on price fixed airline tickets.
USPS benefited from national mail logistics only being available to government level endeavors.
DeBeers is about to get crushed by artificial diamonds which are both cheaper and "better diamonds" than the massive stockpile they've accumulated.
The rocket industry has long labored under the delusion that massive government contracts underwriting their $100m launch prices keep them safe. But their bubble is popping one $60m Falcon 9 launch at a time.
And finally, the government will support whatever brings in the most taxes and f̶r̶e̶e̶ ̶s̶p̶e̶c̶i̶a̶l̶-̶i̶n̶t̶e̶r̶e̶s̶t̶ lobbyist dinners.
- rhino369 9y agoDeBeers already got crushed by Canadian mines. Their cartel fell apart 10+ years ago.
- huffmsa 9y agoWell then said Canadian mine owners had better buckle up.
- rwc 9y agoLobbyist dinners are low on a politician's list, particularly because at the federal level ethics rules have become so ridiculous about what elected officials and staff can accept as gifts. Much more interesting to a politician is supporting the policies of well-organized trade/association groups that have the power, through their PACs or membership, to invest the resources necessary to make a difference in a campaign.
- huffmsa 9y agoDinners was a joking metaphor for organized support.
- eeZah7Ux 9y ago> it's purely based on artificial scarcity. Which historical never lasts. Never? Money are based on artificial scarcity as well.
- huffmsa 9y agoHeard of the blockchain recently? Money used to be backed by naturally scarce resources. An ounce of gold is an ounce is an immutable portion of some finite limit of gold until we get alchemy rolling. But yes, fiat currencies based on the promise of government protection are very susceptible to being popped.
- occamrazor 9y agoBlockchain is based on artificial scarcity too.
- Cthulhu_ 9y agoBlockchain itself no, that's based on hashing algorithms and such. You're confusing it with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which are based on supply / demand forces.
- huffmsa 9y agoYes, and it's replacing the other fiat systems we currently have. Full faith and credit of the Venezuelan government? No thanks.
- cptskippy 9y ago> USPS benefited from national mail logistics only being available to government level endeavors. What Kool-Aid are you drinking? The Post Office didn't benefit from anything, it was mandated because no such service yet existed. Prior to the Office of the Postmaster General being established, postal service was disjointed and limited at best in the colonies. In the 1600s you had 2 routes in the colonies, Boston to England and Boston to New York City. It was prohibitively expensive and limited largely to business and government communications. In the 1700s the Imperial Postal Service was extended to the colonies with fixed rates and taxes included, and it was incredibly unreliable. The Post Office was born out of frustration, one of the founding fathers ran a news paper and the Imperial Post couldn't even deliver papers reliably. The Post Office was mandated by the founding fathers under the principle that everyone has the right to secure, efficient, reliable, and affordable mail service. With the advent of the Interstate Highway System and many other technological advances over the prevailing 200 years, the Post Office was actually able to reduce costs and turn a profit. During the civil rights movements of the 50s and 60s, the postal workers began protesting and striking because work conditions and compensation. They eventually won the right to unionized. In response to unionization the Postal Reorganization Act (PRA) of 1970 abolished the Post Office Department and turned the Post Office into an independent agency that was excluded from the US Budget. One could argue that the PRA was the start of union busting tactics employed by the conservative government in power to bankrupt the post office. It doesn't help that every conservative government since then has enacted some sort of constraint upon the USPS that isn't mandated on private services. The most recent being the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 which required the USPS to switch from a Pay-As-You-Go to a Pre-Funded model for it's retirement plans. That's akin to your mortgage company calling you up and saying you'll need to pay off 100% of your principal next year.
- Avshalom 9y agoActually the most recent is when congress lowered the price of stamps juuust as USPS had finally built up the pre-fund. Which of course points to one of the many problems the USPS has which is that they're expected to be self sustaining but have almost no control over their business model (and yet miraculously they manage to make it work for the most part).
- 9y ago
- geodel 9y agoRegarding DeBeers I heard they already control most of production capacity for artificial diamonds. So the price difference is not as much as many hoped between natural and artificial diamonds.
- Cthulhu_ 9y agoIs that also those chinese ones which were in the new recently? IIRC the old artificial diamonds were mostly for industrial purposes.