4 ms·
Competition is what keeps private corporations well behaved. Governments are monopolies and thus unchecked.
by nickpp 6y ago
Competition is what keeps private corporations well behaved. Governments are monopolies and thus unchecked.
- bsanr2 6y agoGovernments are checked by the wavering legitimacy of any given representative within the government. In our system, we have a direct check on that legitimacy through elections. Meanwhile, corporations frequently do not have to compete, having either become a monopoly or having agreed upon "standards" without which they insist solvency in their given area would be impossible (as they rake in untold riches in profit). The only check on that power is indirectly through refusing to transact with them en masse. However, as long as their credit is good, they can continue to exist and operate with impunity. In the end, the question is of the accumulation of which currency determines who is "good" enough to run your life: political clout or money. Franklu, people who have to be nice to me tend to do better by me than people who just happen to have a lot of money.
- n4r9 6y agoGovernments are checked by the democratic process. And competition is not working as well as it should. There are plenty of corporate monopolies, Varsity being one of the most obvious at the present time.
- nickpp 6y agoNeither is perfect but we can easily see that private competition works better by far by comparing the results: all the modern life products and services vs the mess that governments and governmental services are in various parts of the world.
- n4r9 6y agoThe question is not which is more efficient, but which is more responsible with power.
- nickpp 6y agoGovernments have incomparably more power and thus their abuses are incomparably worse: famines, pogroms, wars, asset confiscation, incarceration, murder. Companies are controlled by the market, it's governments we need to worry about and find ways to control and regulate.
- n4r9 6y agoStill, the question is not which currently have more power, but which is more responsible with that power in a democratic society. Companies are remarkably good at finding ways to control the market. That's why antitrust legislation is needed to protect consumers.
- nickpp 6y agoThe only unbeatable way companies control the market is through government-granted monopoly. Any other way is eventually defeated by the market itself. Every government intervention in the market will benefit established players and will hinder startups and thus the markets's self-regulating mechanisms.
- n4r9 6y agoThis is an extreme counterexample, but doesn't the fact that the government will prosecute large companies that order hit squads to assassinate startup employees count as an "intervention"? There are many other cases where I'd be very uncomfortable trusting these so-called "self-regulatinf mechanisms", e.g. the abolition of slavery, child labour, and racial/sexual employment discrimination.
- nickpp 6y agoAll that is illegal behavior. Markets require the rule of law too and nobody is disputing the role of governments to implement and uphold the law.