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This explains the stagnation in the airline industry pretty well. They don't make the planes so there isn't a lot they can change about the in-flight experience

by choxi 5y ago

This explains the stagnation in the airline industry pretty well. They don't make the planes so there isn't a lot they can change about the in-flight experience, and they don't run the airports so there isn't much they can do about the onboarding experience. There's a Planet Money episode where they talk about an airline that made more money selling oil futures than flying planes.[1] Maybe any sufficiently outsourced company becomes indistinguishable from a finance company. 1. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/140954343 https://www.npr.org/transcripts/140954343

novok 5y ago
The stagnation of experience is totally a choice made by humans. We could let it be like boarding a shinkansen in japan, where your mom can hug you at the fare gate, you can bring bottled water and you don't have to take off your shoes or anything out of your bags, but we chose not to. We could do CGP grey style boarding, but we do not: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e5Jn2gG8Eg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e5Jn2gG8Eg
- Clubber 5y ago
  Our process does 3 things: 1. Fools enough people to think the government has their shit together and is protecting people. 2. Surveillance. 3. Make work jobs program. The whole shoe thing is because of Richard Reid, the shoe bomber. There was a later foiled "underwear bomber," I'm glad the government didn't have the same reaction to him as they did Richard Reid. Actually now that I think about it, they have full body scanners. I haven't been on a plane since probably 2006.
clairity 5y ago
we’ve collectively chosen to let financialization ruin societies by allowing money to be the only viable yardstick of worth and value. unconstrained capitalism reduces this way through its natural instabilities, and not without unintended (and intended) consequences. it can only foster better society if we level the playing field and rigorously ensure competition.
- vishnugupta 5y ago
  I recently read an excellent short book on this topic, titled “Capitalizing in crisis” [1] in which the author traces the path that lead to today’s situation where a large portion of profit across all companies in the US is through financial activities. It’s an excellent read, albeit repetitive at times. [1] https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674066199 https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674066199
  - HourglassFR 5y ago
    The more radical theory I've comme across is that Capitalism is always in crisis. It is not bad step or a shortcoming of some kind but rather a fundamental feature. Capitalism works best in crisis because it is more inventive an flexible, it re-invents itself to endure the chaos it creates, may that be social unrest, environmental degradation, financial collapse, wars, etc.. This was Marx mistake (well, one of them at least), Capitalisme will not crumble because of its internal contradictions. The contradictions lead to crisis which only gives it more strength. In that sense, finance is but one of the problem, which might have a central position in the current run of crisis in technical terms but only insofar as that it is the the most powerfull tool the capitalist has to extend its reach. Even if the financial system were to be sanitized overnight, it would not imply the end of crisis for Capitalism.
    - clairity 5y ago
      i don't think instability (aka crisis) is a fundamental feature of capitalism, but rather, of complex (human) systems in general. early writers on capitalism like adam smith and marx had identified the likeliest first-order instabilities pretty clearly, and provided reasonable safeguards against them. but these were not popular with wealthholders/powerseekers, so were weakly instantiated to begin with and weakened over time so that we now have a corporate fascist form of capitalism taking hold in countries like the US. for capitalism to work, we need to put all of our regulatory energies into creating fair and transparent markets incentivized toward productive activity and against rent-seeking (these are among the most important of those first-order instability guards for capitalism).
benhurmarcel 5y ago
It's also quite a common idea in that industry that aircraft manufacturers make more money financing aircraft than selling them.

by choxi 5y ago

novok 5y ago

The stagnation of experience is totally a choice made by humans. We could let it be like boarding a shinkansen in japan, where your mom can hug you at the fare gate, you can bring bottled water and you don't have to take off your shoes or anything out of your bags, but we chose not to. We could do CGP grey style boarding, but we do not: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e5Jn2gG8Eg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e5Jn2gG8Eg

Clubber 5y ago
Our process does 3 things: 1. Fools enough people to think the government has their shit together and is protecting people. 2. Surveillance. 3. Make work jobs program. The whole shoe thing is because of Richard Reid, the shoe bomber. There was a later foiled "underwear bomber," I'm glad the government didn't have the same reaction to him as they did Richard Reid. Actually now that I think about it, they have full body scanners. I haven't been on a plane since probably 2006.

clairity 5y ago

we’ve collectively chosen to let financialization ruin societies by allowing money to be the only viable yardstick of worth and value. unconstrained capitalism reduces this way through its natural instabilities, and not without unintended (and intended) consequences. it can only foster better society if we level the playing field and rigorously ensure competition.

vishnugupta 5y ago
I recently read an excellent short book on this topic, titled “Capitalizing in crisis” [1] in which the author traces the path that lead to today’s situation where a large portion of profit across all companies in the US is through financial activities. It’s an excellent read, albeit repetitive at times. [1] https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674066199 https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674066199
- HourglassFR 5y ago
  The more radical theory I've comme across is that Capitalism is always in crisis. It is not bad step or a shortcoming of some kind but rather a fundamental feature. Capitalism works best in crisis because it is more inventive an flexible, it re-invents itself to endure the chaos it creates, may that be social unrest, environmental degradation, financial collapse, wars, etc.. This was Marx mistake (well, one of them at least), Capitalisme will not crumble because of its internal contradictions. The contradictions lead to crisis which only gives it more strength. In that sense, finance is but one of the problem, which might have a central position in the current run of crisis in technical terms but only insofar as that it is the the most powerfull tool the capitalist has to extend its reach. Even if the financial system were to be sanitized overnight, it would not imply the end of crisis for Capitalism.
  - clairity 5y ago
    i don't think instability (aka crisis) is a fundamental feature of capitalism, but rather, of complex (human) systems in general. early writers on capitalism like adam smith and marx had identified the likeliest first-order instabilities pretty clearly, and provided reasonable safeguards against them. but these were not popular with wealthholders/powerseekers, so were weakly instantiated to begin with and weakened over time so that we now have a corporate fascist form of capitalism taking hold in countries like the US. for capitalism to work, we need to put all of our regulatory energies into creating fair and transparent markets incentivized toward productive activity and against rent-seeking (these are among the most important of those first-order instability guards for capitalism).

benhurmarcel 5y ago

It's also quite a common idea in that industry that aircraft manufacturers make more money financing aircraft than selling them.