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It feels like we aren't really in a capitalistic system as much as we used to. The moral hazard of zero percent interest seems to have infected the way we alloc

It feels like we aren't really in a capitalistic system as much as we used to. The moral hazard of zero percent interest seems to have infected the way we allocate capitol. One example is the We Company S1 where basically, like FB and Snap, investors no longer have a say in how the business is run because the founder(s) control all the voting shares. Basically in the past, capital was scarce and so investors could demand some seat at the table. The system now is so awash in cheap cash, it isn't hard to find funding for any half-decent idea in either tech or biotech. Maybe a competing system to what we have now will be one where capital becomes scarce again? Does that happen only when inflation starts to trickle into the products the average, non-investor buys on a daily basis?

DennisP 7y ago
Also, see the book Cornered by Barry C. Lynn, who argues that over the last couple decades, the U.S. economy has been mostly taken over by monopolies, so we don't have much open free market competition anymore. The monopolies generally aren't obvious. For example, we have three major car companies, but they all get their parts from the same suppliers. In 2009 Ford asked Congress to bail out Chrysler and GM, because if either of them went down, so would Ford's suppliers.
- DrAwdeOccarim 7y ago
  Interesting, that's a point I hadn't considered. So in a system that is awash in cheap credit and every major consumer stable is controlled by a duo/triopolpy, inflation can we controlled while the owners of production continue to gain wealth. It's interesting to look at the things "rich" people buy like houses, vacations/experiences, and high-end consumer goods--those things have all increased in price in the sense that they "now exist" where as in the past the spread between poor quality and high quality was probably tighter. The difference between a cheap car and an expensive car is dramatic in both quality and price, same with food, real estate location, clothes, etc. Does anyone offer a CPI for luxury goods? I bet inflation in that has been dramatic especially in the past decade.

DennisP 7y ago

Also, see the book Cornered by Barry C. Lynn, who argues that over the last couple decades, the U.S. economy has been mostly taken over by monopolies, so we don't have much open free market competition anymore. The monopolies generally aren't obvious. For example, we have three major car companies, but they all get their parts from the same suppliers. In 2009 Ford asked Congress to bail out Chrysler and GM, because if either of them went down, so would Ford's suppliers.

DrAwdeOccarim 7y ago
Interesting, that's a point I hadn't considered. So in a system that is awash in cheap credit and every major consumer stable is controlled by a duo/triopolpy, inflation can we controlled while the owners of production continue to gain wealth. It's interesting to look at the things "rich" people buy like houses, vacations/experiences, and high-end consumer goods--those things have all increased in price in the sense that they "now exist" where as in the past the spread between poor quality and high quality was probably tighter. The difference between a cheap car and an expensive car is dramatic in both quality and price, same with food, real estate location, clothes, etc. Does anyone offer a CPI for luxury goods? I bet inflation in that has been dramatic especially in the past decade.