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Amazon famously operated (may still, couldn't care less) at a loss. As someone noted above, both can be true- govt can be incredibly inefficient but so can bus
by effingwewt 4y ago
Amazon famously operated (may still, couldn't care less) at a loss.
As someone noted above, both can be true- govt can be incredibly inefficient but so can businesses.
My mother hated working with/for the govt as it made 'firing someone an act of congress'. As if to say neigh impossible.
I'd argue we have all incentives misaligned and that is what causes both govt and private business to become shit-shows.
We have government agencies maxing out their spending every year to keep their budgets growing. We have businesses engaging in moral hazard knowing the government (taxpayers) will bail them out.
We need reform from the top down, inside and out.
- WalterBright 4y ago> Amazon famously operated (may still, couldn't care less) at a loss. What's wrong with that? Companies trying to get started and establish themselves operate at a loss, burning their investors' capital. Most companies take many years before eking out a profit.
- effingwewt 4y agoYou said private companies have a profit motive- if not, they die. I used Amazon as a counter-point. Uber still isn't profitable. So if companies can run for over a decade without making a profit, I'd again say the entire system is broken. Zombie companies burning capital while driving out possibly profitable competitors is a symptom of rot, not a successful financial system. Again, my point is that for profit companies are every bit as bad if not worse than government agencies who at least pretend to have oversight.