4 ms·

Funny, I thought the point of business was to exchange goods and services in mutually beneficial ways. The rest is rent seeking.

• unreal37 7y ago
  That quote is probably right out of a business school textbook. Any Apple customer will tell you they "benefit" from spending all their computer and phone money with Apple. Apple trying to build a moat around their ecosystem doesn't preclude mutual benefit.
  • projektfu 7y ago
    The vast majority of businesses are what I describe. The large economic profits are mostly rents accumulated by a small fraction of businesses, in a Pareto distribution. I argue we’d do fine with less of the rentiers.
  • oska 7y ago
    I think most Apple customers will tell you that Apple products are too expensive. Most 'moats' are not beneficial to the consumer. What's beneficial to the consumer is competition, and companies innovating, not building moats, to stay ahead of their competitors.