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Once again the "market" is abusing everyone in the pursuit of endless economic growth. Our economic system forces successful businesses into enemies of the cons

Once again the "market" is abusing everyone in the pursuit of endless economic growth. Our economic system forces successful businesses into enemies of the consumer once they can't keep momentum. Coupled with the concentrating monopolisation of the economy, this creates a phenomenon where helpless consumers are held at ransom: the ultimatum being that they either continue to be exploited in ever more devious ways, or to simply do without. Small businesses that spring up to fulfill the void are bought up quickly in order to squash any hope of real competition. This is not an economy that works for ordinary people. Ordinary people does include temporarily embarrassed millionaires (and real millionaires, and startups and micro-businesses for that matter) on Hacker News. The only people who are benefiting overall from these practices are major shareholders and those chasing endless quarterly growth targets.

blitz_skull 4y ago
Uh... Pretty sure the printer industry is holding literally no one hostage. As mentioned in several comments—this industry is dead.
- s0l1dsnak3123 4y ago
  My point is a general one - the printer market is doing exactly what all elastic markets do.
  - bostonsre 4y ago
    It's what they do if there is not a healthy market with lots of innovation and competition. It is a dieing (of maybe stagnant and on the decline) market where the few remaining are squeezing out the last remaining drops of revenue.
    - s0l1dsnak3123 4y ago
      Competition isn't allowed to flourish when the market leaders use their runaway profits to buy up any and all possible contenders. My point is that this exact process can be seen across our economy, because anti-competitive behaviour is inherent to the economic system we live in. This is not controversial.
      - bostonsre 4y ago
        Selfishness and greed are inherent to people,the baby should not be thrown out with the bathwater tho. We should push against the Facebooks of the world because other economic systems have proven to be worse.
  - blitz_skull 4y ago
    Well, without hyper-focusing on printers, I fail to see the call to action here. I don't understand why "this is not an economy that works for ordinary people". I consider myself pretty ordinary and my life is impacted almost 0 by the forces of elastic markets.
    - s0l1dsnak3123 4y ago
      Inequality is getting worse and worse across the west: https://equalitytrust.org.uk/scale-economic-inequality-uk https://equalitytrust.org.uk/scale-economic-inequality-uk Businesses are choosing to use their profits to perform stock buybacks instead of innovating or improving standards for their workers: https://hbr.org/2020/01/why-stock-buybacks-are-dangerous-for-the-economy https://hbr.org/2020/01/why-stock-buybacks-are-dangerous-for... Meanwhile the cost of living is going through the roof: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8585/ https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-... And pay is not catching up, further aggravated by inflation: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1272447/uk-wage-growth-vs-inflation/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1272447/uk-wage-growth-v... In the UK we also have a 54% increase in the residential cost of energy (within the context of extreme profiteering from energy manufacturers): https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/03/business/energy-prices-uk-cost-of-living/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/03/business/energy-prices-uk... And 9.1% inflation: https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other/uk-inflation-rate-hits-new-high-read-these-4-charts/ar-AAYPpPm https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other/uk-inflation-rate-hits-... This is true across the world. I'm not sure what your life is like, but it sure as hell doesn't match the lived experience of many.
      - benj111 4y ago
        So what was your story 2 years ago when energy was cheap and producers were closing down?
        BizarroLand 4y ago
        What was your story on May 18, 1980 when no one was prepared for Mt. St. Helens to explode and people died?
- benj111 4y ago
  It isn't dead. I use my printer now more than ever for printing postage labels. Will home printer usage decline? Probably yes, but just like I have a home phone that I barely use, people will probably keep a printer around just in case.
scarface74 4y ago
> Coupled with the concentrating monopolisation of the economy, There is no “monopoly” in the printer industry and it’s definitely not holding the economy “hostage”. We do not need the government to break up “Big Printer”.
- s0l1dsnak3123 4y ago
  Capitalism optimises for monopolies. Everyone agrees on this - this is why we have antitrust mechanisms. Unfortunately, they tend to facilitate and reinforce the problem instead of combat it. My comment is a general one on markets at large, hyper-focusing on the printer market is only valid as a rhetorical device.
  - scarface74 4y ago
    I shouldn’t be focused on the printer market when commenting on a post about printers? The printer market is a commodity market - the very opposite of a monopoly.
    - s0l1dsnak3123 4y ago
      Yes, when replying to my general comment, you shouldn't use the typical conservative rhetorical tactic of using the specific to ridicule the principle. I was making a general argument about the pattern one can see across the economy. The printer market is another example of the same pattern that we see all over the place. I don't claim that the printer market is a single entity that towers over all - my point is that our economic system optimises for this eventuality. Again: this isn't controversial, antitrust laws have been in place for a very long time.
      - scarface74 4y ago
        It’s not “being conservative”. It’s “commenting on the topic of the post” But which technology market is a legally defined “monopoly”? Before you mention the phone market, that was already adjudicated during the Epic trial and found not to be the case. As far as “everyone agreeing that capitalism optimizes for monopolies”. The car market has been around for over a century, is it a monopoly? The computer market? Exactly which market around technology is a legally defined “monopoly”?

blitz_skull 4y ago

Uh... Pretty sure the printer industry is holding literally no one hostage. As mentioned in several comments—this industry is dead.

s0l1dsnak3123 4y ago
My point is a general one - the printer market is doing exactly what all elastic markets do.
- bostonsre 4y ago
  It's what they do if there is not a healthy market with lots of innovation and competition. It is a dieing (of maybe stagnant and on the decline) market where the few remaining are squeezing out the last remaining drops of revenue.
  - s0l1dsnak3123 4y ago
    Competition isn't allowed to flourish when the market leaders use their runaway profits to buy up any and all possible contenders. My point is that this exact process can be seen across our economy, because anti-competitive behaviour is inherent to the economic system we live in. This is not controversial.
    - bostonsre 4y ago
      Selfishness and greed are inherent to people,the baby should not be thrown out with the bathwater tho. We should push against the Facebooks of the world because other economic systems have proven to be worse.
- blitz_skull 4y ago
  Well, without hyper-focusing on printers, I fail to see the call to action here. I don't understand why "this is not an economy that works for ordinary people". I consider myself pretty ordinary and my life is impacted almost 0 by the forces of elastic markets.
  - s0l1dsnak3123 4y ago
    Inequality is getting worse and worse across the west: https://equalitytrust.org.uk/scale-economic-inequality-uk https://equalitytrust.org.uk/scale-economic-inequality-uk Businesses are choosing to use their profits to perform stock buybacks instead of innovating or improving standards for their workers: https://hbr.org/2020/01/why-stock-buybacks-are-dangerous-for-the-economy https://hbr.org/2020/01/why-stock-buybacks-are-dangerous-for... Meanwhile the cost of living is going through the roof: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8585/ https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-... And pay is not catching up, further aggravated by inflation: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1272447/uk-wage-growth-vs-inflation/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1272447/uk-wage-growth-v... In the UK we also have a 54% increase in the residential cost of energy (within the context of extreme profiteering from energy manufacturers): https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/03/business/energy-prices-uk-cost-of-living/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/03/business/energy-prices-uk... And 9.1% inflation: https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other/uk-inflation-rate-hits-new-high-read-these-4-charts/ar-AAYPpPm https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other/uk-inflation-rate-hits-... This is true across the world. I'm not sure what your life is like, but it sure as hell doesn't match the lived experience of many.
    - benj111 4y ago
      So what was your story 2 years ago when energy was cheap and producers were closing down?
      - BizarroLand 4y ago
        What was your story on May 18, 1980 when no one was prepared for Mt. St. Helens to explode and people died?
benj111 4y ago
It isn't dead. I use my printer now more than ever for printing postage labels. Will home printer usage decline? Probably yes, but just like I have a home phone that I barely use, people will probably keep a printer around just in case.

scarface74 4y ago

> Coupled with the concentrating monopolisation of the economy, There is no “monopoly” in the printer industry and it’s definitely not holding the economy “hostage”. We do not need the government to break up “Big Printer”.

s0l1dsnak3123 4y ago
Capitalism optimises for monopolies. Everyone agrees on this - this is why we have antitrust mechanisms. Unfortunately, they tend to facilitate and reinforce the problem instead of combat it. My comment is a general one on markets at large, hyper-focusing on the printer market is only valid as a rhetorical device.
- scarface74 4y ago
  I shouldn’t be focused on the printer market when commenting on a post about printers? The printer market is a commodity market - the very opposite of a monopoly.
  - s0l1dsnak3123 4y ago
    Yes, when replying to my general comment, you shouldn't use the typical conservative rhetorical tactic of using the specific to ridicule the principle. I was making a general argument about the pattern one can see across the economy. The printer market is another example of the same pattern that we see all over the place. I don't claim that the printer market is a single entity that towers over all - my point is that our economic system optimises for this eventuality. Again: this isn't controversial, antitrust laws have been in place for a very long time.
    - scarface74 4y ago
      It’s not “being conservative”. It’s “commenting on the topic of the post” But which technology market is a legally defined “monopoly”? Before you mention the phone market, that was already adjudicated during the Epic trial and found not to be the case. As far as “everyone agreeing that capitalism optimizes for monopolies”. The car market has been around for over a century, is it a monopoly? The computer market? Exactly which market around technology is a legally defined “monopoly”?