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Instead of a non-profit, it should simply be nationalized and run as a utility. This not only eliminates the "tax on transactions", it would also transfer Visa'
by john_brown_body 7y ago
Instead of a non-profit, it should simply be nationalized and run as a utility. This not only eliminates the "tax on transactions", it would also transfer Visa's enormous power to structure markets (by cutting entities out of the payment processing system) from a private corporation to a body with at least some democratic accountability.
- MSD1976 7y agoWhy should Visa be treated as a utility but not a company like google for example?
- wffurr 7y agoThat is an excellent question. Why isn't internet search also treated like a public utility?
- MSD1976 7y agoDon’t know. Where and how do you draw the line?
- wffurr 7y agoI would certainly draw it much closer to the public interest that it is now by most countries. In particular, "platform" businesses like Visa, Google, Amazon, etc. should at a bare minimum restricted from competing with the users of their platform. Ideally, the social value of the platform would be made public by a government buyout (aka nationalization) instead of flowing to the hands of the few select shareholders of the platform or subject to the whims of the platform company's executives.
- wffurr 7y agoHere's a more concrete proposal from someone much closer to the ability to affect this sort of change. https://medium.com/@teamwarren/heres-how-we-can-break-up-big-tech-9ad9e0da324c https://medium.com/@teamwarren/heres-how-we-can-break-up-big.... It includes a definition of a "platform utility".
- malka 7y agoIt should. And facebook as well.
- lucb1e 7y agoI'm guessing you're from the USA, expect the USA to run it, and expect nobody else to mind.