4 ms·

At one point I made a list of biggest expenses a person faces in their lives and was shocked to realize that pretty much everywhere there is either a company o

At one point I made a list of biggest expenses a person faces in their lives and was shocked to realize that pretty much everywhere there is either a company or consortium that has captured the market and manages 'access' to it. This is not surprising. in fact I would imagine that as more and more automation takes hold & marginal cost to produce real goods falls to near zero you'll see only the players left standing will be the ones either with some kind of an "in" or monopolies. If you probe further you'll realize the companies with largest margins (basically ripoffs or to use Mr Buffets's lingo 'moats') will be (are?) the ones with most resources to spare on marketing and media. so the inevitable outcome will be massive corruption of public discourse and loss of clarity for common man. sounds familiar?

barry-cotter 8y ago
> At one point I made a list of biggest expenses a person faces in their lives and was shocked to realize that pretty much everywhere there is either a company or consortium that has captured the market and manages 'access' to it. None of healthcare, education or housing have even as high a concentration as online retail unless you’re going to count government provision of primary and secondary education. I struggle to imagine what other spending categories you could be referring to, certainly not food or clothing.
- DesiLurker 8y ago
  Sorry I was offline for a bit so couldnt respond. But I find it surprising that you picked 3 most messed up sectors in america as basis to refute my argument. Anyways, Lets start with housing. Every housing transaction hold about 10% [of sale price] of commissions on both buyer & seller side. [If you dont know] you'll be surprised to learn that the govt taxes & fees are a minimal portion of that. its mostly realor commissions & bank fees. why can they do that, its because they have had a monopoly on MLS listing service forever. to have access to the MLS you need to be a realtor. if anything these commissions should be fixed cost rather than a percentage cost. to give you a sense of the severity of the situation, on an average people stay in a house for 7 years due to labor mobility & other reasons. so over a carries of 30+ years its likely you'd do 4 such transactions. That essentially means you've worked for realtors & bank for about 40% of your carrier (assuming shiller is right in concluding that it takes 30yrs of work to build/own a house). Now Healthcare, why do you think nothing Martin skerelli had done was illegal? recall that he wasnt indicted for price gouging on the meds. I actually think he did a service to america by exposing the flaws of pricing system. Also regarding medical professionals AMA works hard to maintain control of certification process and not flood the market with doctors. believe me they are not that hard to make. infact they have been fighting efforts to allow RMPs to practice basic healthcare in rural areas just to maintain the scarcity. there is a reason healthcare and college education sectors are the most inflation heavy sectors in america over last to decades. its by impeding price discovery and free market.

barry-cotter 8y ago

> At one point I made a list of biggest expenses a person faces in their lives and was shocked to realize that pretty much everywhere there is either a company or consortium that has captured the market and manages 'access' to it. None of healthcare, education or housing have even as high a concentration as online retail unless you’re going to count government provision of primary and secondary education. I struggle to imagine what other spending categories you could be referring to, certainly not food or clothing.

DesiLurker 8y ago
Sorry I was offline for a bit so couldnt respond. But I find it surprising that you picked 3 most messed up sectors in america as basis to refute my argument. Anyways, Lets start with housing. Every housing transaction hold about 10% [of sale price] of commissions on both buyer & seller side. [If you dont know] you'll be surprised to learn that the govt taxes & fees are a minimal portion of that. its mostly realor commissions & bank fees. why can they do that, its because they have had a monopoly on MLS listing service forever. to have access to the MLS you need to be a realtor. if anything these commissions should be fixed cost rather than a percentage cost. to give you a sense of the severity of the situation, on an average people stay in a house for 7 years due to labor mobility & other reasons. so over a carries of 30+ years its likely you'd do 4 such transactions. That essentially means you've worked for realtors & bank for about 40% of your carrier (assuming shiller is right in concluding that it takes 30yrs of work to build/own a house). Now Healthcare, why do you think nothing Martin skerelli had done was illegal? recall that he wasnt indicted for price gouging on the meds. I actually think he did a service to america by exposing the flaws of pricing system. Also regarding medical professionals AMA works hard to maintain control of certification process and not flood the market with doctors. believe me they are not that hard to make. infact they have been fighting efforts to allow RMPs to practice basic healthcare in rural areas just to maintain the scarcity. there is a reason healthcare and college education sectors are the most inflation heavy sectors in america over last to decades. its by impeding price discovery and free market.