3 ms·

"But we need to do X first!" is not a good reason to not do Y, a different-but-still-good thing. All of these companies need to be broken up, and the Department

by kevmo 8y ago

"But we need to do X first!" is not a good reason to not do Y, a different-but-still-good thing. All of these companies need to be broken up, and the Department of Justice Anti-Trust division has enough employees to do it. These monolithic companies are sucking up all of the power in our economy and have destroyed the competitive markets. As the Economist recently said "Profits are too high. America needs a giant dose of competition." https://www.economist.com/briefing/2016/03/26/too-much-of-a-good-thing https://www.economist.com/briefing/2016/03/26/too-much-of-a-... Capitalism without competition isn't really capitalism, but feudalism.

pitaj 8y ago
Splitting up "monopolies" won't create competition, especially in the case of vertical integration. What would help competition is intellectual property reforms, deregulation, tax simplification, occupational licensing reforms, etc. But almost everyone weaving the "evil monopoly corporations" narrative explicitly ignores practical policies that address those.
- SovietDissident 8y ago
  I agree that the primary cause of all this is government interference regarding barriers to entry. However, did the regulation help insulate these companies against competition in the first place or did they use their money and power once established to pass laws that would keep competitors at bay? Lobbying reaps disproportionate rewards---those CEOs who stick by their non-rent-seeking principles are leaving big money on the table and will likely be replaced by shareholders. (Econ Talk had a good podcast on this recently.) Regarding trust busting, it is worth noting that these tech giants give an immense amount of money and support to the left. Might as well give Warren some bipartisan support so we can thrash them a bit---it would be sweet poetic justice to attack these statist zealots with the very government power they worship.

by kevmo 8y ago

pitaj 8y ago

Splitting up "monopolies" won't create competition, especially in the case of vertical integration. What would help competition is intellectual property reforms, deregulation, tax simplification, occupational licensing reforms, etc. But almost everyone weaving the "evil monopoly corporations" narrative explicitly ignores practical policies that address those.

SovietDissident 8y ago
I agree that the primary cause of all this is government interference regarding barriers to entry. However, did the regulation help insulate these companies against competition in the first place or did they use their money and power once established to pass laws that would keep competitors at bay? Lobbying reaps disproportionate rewards---those CEOs who stick by their non-rent-seeking principles are leaving big money on the table and will likely be replaced by shareholders. (Econ Talk had a good podcast on this recently.) Regarding trust busting, it is worth noting that these tech giants give an immense amount of money and support to the left. Might as well give Warren some bipartisan support so we can thrash them a bit---it would be sweet poetic justice to attack these statist zealots with the very government power they worship.