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People are significantly more exposed to the stock market these days than in 1910. Considering tons of people's 401k's are basically made up of the biggest com

People are significantly more exposed to the stock market these days than in 1910. Considering tons of people's 401k's are basically made up of the biggest companies in the US thanks to index funds there is a lot of incentive to not fuck with those companies. If any leaders gets really serious about breaking up some of the Big Tech companies you'll see enormous pressure to get them out of office ASAP.

maxwell 5y ago
Google's brand protection racket [1] and manipulation of ad exchanges [2] has resulted in lost economic activity. Apple's crippling of the iOS ecosystem [3] has resulted in lost economic activity. Breaking them up should raise overall economic activity, nationally and globally, along with actually increasing the value of the Baby Googs and Apple Seeds, as previously with Standard Oil and, until allowed to reassemble in '96 [4], AT&T. I would think that index funds vs. individual stocks would translate to investors caring less about particular firms and more about economic activity and the resulting increases in asset values. Pressured out of office? Most U.S. politicians have now spoken out against Big Tech, the Department of Justice and several states have active antitrust suits, a House report concluded that Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Google have monopoly power and should be split up [5], etc. 1. https://altitudemarketing.com/blog/competitors-buying-my-name-google-ads https://altitudemarketing.com/blog/competitors-buying-my-nam... 2. https://www.wired.com/story/google-antitrust-ad-market-lawsuit https://www.wired.com/story/google-antitrust-ad-market-lawsu... 3. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU05/20190716/109793/HHRG-116-JU05-20190716-SD036.pdf https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU05/20190716/109793/HHRG... 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996#Claims_made_in_opposition_to_the_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996... 5. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/10/house-amazon-facebook-apple-google-have-monopoly-power-should-be-split https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/10/house-amazon-fac...
xnyan 5y ago
>People are significantly more exposed to the stock market these days than in 1910 >Considering tons of people's 401k's I'm surprised to hear this, because my understanding is the opposite. Something like 60% of Americans have a 401k, but the numbers for how much they have in them is grim. Almost everyone is underfunded, less than 20% of Americans made a contribution last year, and overall 9/10 stocks are owned by about 1/10th of the population (and rising). >If any leaders gets really serious about breaking up some of the Big Tech companies you'll see enormous pressure to get them out of office ASAP. Even if it did tank 401ks, I don't think you can be so sure about the public reaction to it. I can't claim to perfectly understand human behavior, but I'm very confident that it not well predicted simply by applying a value-based analysis.
dragonwriter 5y ago
> People are significantly more exposed to the stock market these days than in 1910. [citation needed] > Considering tons of people's 401k's are basically made up of the biggest companies in the US When defined benefit (pension) funds dominated private retirement, guess what they held? (And if you say “but people weren't exposed to risk, because ‘defined benefit’”, guess what happened when funds failed...)

maxwell 5y ago

Google's brand protection racket [1] and manipulation of ad exchanges [2] has resulted in lost economic activity. Apple's crippling of the iOS ecosystem [3] has resulted in lost economic activity. Breaking them up should raise overall economic activity, nationally and globally, along with actually increasing the value of the Baby Googs and Apple Seeds, as previously with Standard Oil and, until allowed to reassemble in '96 [4], AT&T. I would think that index funds vs. individual stocks would translate to investors caring less about particular firms and more about economic activity and the resulting increases in asset values. Pressured out of office? Most U.S. politicians have now spoken out against Big Tech, the Department of Justice and several states have active antitrust suits, a House report concluded that Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Google have monopoly power and should be split up [5], etc. 1. https://altitudemarketing.com/blog/competitors-buying-my-name-google-ads https://altitudemarketing.com/blog/competitors-buying-my-nam... 2. https://www.wired.com/story/google-antitrust-ad-market-lawsuit https://www.wired.com/story/google-antitrust-ad-market-lawsu... 3. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU05/20190716/109793/HHRG-116-JU05-20190716-SD036.pdf https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU05/20190716/109793/HHRG... 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996#Claims_made_in_opposition_to_the_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996... 5. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/10/house-amazon-facebook-apple-google-have-monopoly-power-should-be-split https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/10/house-amazon-fac...

xnyan 5y ago

>People are significantly more exposed to the stock market these days than in 1910 >Considering tons of people's 401k's I'm surprised to hear this, because my understanding is the opposite. Something like 60% of Americans have a 401k, but the numbers for how much they have in them is grim. Almost everyone is underfunded, less than 20% of Americans made a contribution last year, and overall 9/10 stocks are owned by about 1/10th of the population (and rising). >If any leaders gets really serious about breaking up some of the Big Tech companies you'll see enormous pressure to get them out of office ASAP. Even if it did tank 401ks, I don't think you can be so sure about the public reaction to it. I can't claim to perfectly understand human behavior, but I'm very confident that it not well predicted simply by applying a value-based analysis.

dragonwriter 5y ago

> People are significantly more exposed to the stock market these days than in 1910. [citation needed] > Considering tons of people's 401k's are basically made up of the biggest companies in the US When defined benefit (pension) funds dominated private retirement, guess what they held? (And if you say “but people weren't exposed to risk, because ‘defined benefit’”, guess what happened when funds failed...)