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> that's a better way to run markets. I'm highly skeptical that heavily restricting buying and selling of companies in general will be a better way to run a ma

> that's a better way to run markets. I'm highly skeptical that heavily restricting buying and selling of companies in general will be a better way to run a market when it seems your goal is to prevent monopolies (or put another way, ensure competition). Laser focused policies work for a short periods but tend to be worked around quickly as the thing they regulate falls out of favor in lieu of something functionally the same but different enough it doesn't match. Blanket policies tend to stifle the market in general, causing other problems. Rather than assuming that any specific law actually "solves" the problem, we'd probably be much better off setting criteria we're trying to match and and reassessing regulations regularly to try to meet that criteria. Anything unresponsive will be routed around. The real problem is that we have things that do that (the SEC and FTC) and they're broken. We should fix them, not swap to a sledgehammer as the only tool available.

fsckboy 3y ago
>I'm highly skeptical that heavily restricting buying and selling of companies in general will be a better way to run a market when it seems your goal is to prevent monopolies (or put another way, ensure competition) ah, the markets I am talking about are goods and services markets. Financial markets, they take care of themselves, and at the same time garner no sympathy from the majority who don't participate in them. if monopolies emerge some other way, sure, break 'em up just the same.
- kbenson 3y ago
  There are no "financial markets" and "goods and services markets" beyond arbitrary groupings people make to talk about sectors and types of commerce. It's all the same thing, and companies make use of various aspects of it as they see fit.
notfromhere 3y ago
That’s how antitrust enforcement worked before we decided to only care about consumer prices. It worked pretty well. But right now we let the market consolidate to the point where major industries have 2-4 major players with 80-90% market share between them.

fsckboy 3y ago

>I'm highly skeptical that heavily restricting buying and selling of companies in general will be a better way to run a market when it seems your goal is to prevent monopolies (or put another way, ensure competition) ah, the markets I am talking about are goods and services markets. Financial markets, they take care of themselves, and at the same time garner no sympathy from the majority who don't participate in them. if monopolies emerge some other way, sure, break 'em up just the same.

kbenson 3y ago
There are no "financial markets" and "goods and services markets" beyond arbitrary groupings people make to talk about sectors and types of commerce. It's all the same thing, and companies make use of various aspects of it as they see fit.

notfromhere 3y ago

That’s how antitrust enforcement worked before we decided to only care about consumer prices. It worked pretty well. But right now we let the market consolidate to the point where major industries have 2-4 major players with 80-90% market share between them.