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It is just a matter of the maturity of the industry. Beginning in the late 1890s there were about 3000 automobile companies in the US. After a few decades there

It is just a matter of the maturity of the industry. Beginning in the late 1890s there were about 3000 automobile companies in the US. After a few decades there were the big three and a few also rans. The IT industry is undergoing a similar consolidation as it matures.

buzzkillington 7y ago
The 'big three' were eaten alive by cars from abroad after a few decades of stagnation and were only saved because we paid for their bailouts. Time and time again. Break up Facebook and Google, use the government to keep the market efficient by not allowing any market distorting entities from forming.
- neilk 7y ago
  Your comment convinced me that I’ll live to see the day when the government bails out Google.
- adventured 7y ago
  > The 'big three' were eaten alive by cars from abroad GM wasn't eaten alive by foreign competition, nor was Ford. GM was eaten alive by extraordinarily bad financial decisions by management, not due to a collapse of their business. The bankruptcy put them back to profitability for a reason: they weren't in fact eaten alive. If the business had been destroyed by competition, they would neither exist nor have produced $30 billion in operating income the prior four years. Why did the bankruptcy get them back to sound profitability? Because they were able to crawl out from under layers of bad financial decisions from the past, not due to competition (the competition didn't end with the bankruptcy). GM + Ford = $300 billion in sales. That's what eaten alive looks like? Two of the largest automakers on the planet.
  - buzzkillington 7y ago
    I'm talking about the 70s.
- temp20160423 7y ago
  The key factor that doomed the big 3 car makers in US is the unions. They forced a high cost structure and no one was able or willing to fix this (automation that reduced labor costs meant less jobs). The big 3 were forced to make giant SUV's/trucks that had higher margins, but sales evaporated when gas prices went up in 2000's. This is documented in Paul Ingrassia's Crash Course. As long as the tech companies don't unionize, I don't think they will require government bailouts. In fact, we've already seen the pattern; tech companies that pass their peak undergo layoffs.
  - buzzkillington 7y ago
    And yet Germany is making better cars with better unions.
anongraddebt 7y ago
Couldn't one tell a bit of a different story? Namely, that there is a difference between the pure software industry and the utilization of software in old and entirely new industries that have yet been built. In this story, it's true that the automobile industry went from fragmentation to consolidation within a handful of decades. But, what was interesting at the time of consolidation was a new industry (IT) that was born.

buzzkillington 7y ago

The 'big three' were eaten alive by cars from abroad after a few decades of stagnation and were only saved because we paid for their bailouts. Time and time again. Break up Facebook and Google, use the government to keep the market efficient by not allowing any market distorting entities from forming.

neilk 7y ago
Your comment convinced me that I’ll live to see the day when the government bails out Google.
adventured 7y ago
> The 'big three' were eaten alive by cars from abroad GM wasn't eaten alive by foreign competition, nor was Ford. GM was eaten alive by extraordinarily bad financial decisions by management, not due to a collapse of their business. The bankruptcy put them back to profitability for a reason: they weren't in fact eaten alive. If the business had been destroyed by competition, they would neither exist nor have produced $30 billion in operating income the prior four years. Why did the bankruptcy get them back to sound profitability? Because they were able to crawl out from under layers of bad financial decisions from the past, not due to competition (the competition didn't end with the bankruptcy). GM + Ford = $300 billion in sales. That's what eaten alive looks like? Two of the largest automakers on the planet.
- buzzkillington 7y ago
  I'm talking about the 70s.
temp20160423 7y ago
The key factor that doomed the big 3 car makers in US is the unions. They forced a high cost structure and no one was able or willing to fix this (automation that reduced labor costs meant less jobs). The big 3 were forced to make giant SUV's/trucks that had higher margins, but sales evaporated when gas prices went up in 2000's. This is documented in Paul Ingrassia's Crash Course. As long as the tech companies don't unionize, I don't think they will require government bailouts. In fact, we've already seen the pattern; tech companies that pass their peak undergo layoffs.
- buzzkillington 7y ago
  And yet Germany is making better cars with better unions.

anongraddebt 7y ago

Couldn't one tell a bit of a different story? Namely, that there is a difference between the pure software industry and the utilization of software in old and entirely new industries that have yet been built. In this story, it's true that the automobile industry went from fragmentation to consolidation within a handful of decades. But, what was interesting at the time of consolidation was a new industry (IT) that was born.