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That they got away with the term "blitzscaling" still offends me. We had a plenty-adequate term for it before: dumping. When your business model is "profit mar

That they got away with the term "blitzscaling" still offends me. We had a plenty-adequate term for it before: dumping. When your business model is "profit margins are for after we've killed or neutered all competitors", you don't have a business and that fundamentally shouldn't be permitted for a healthy economy.

pydry 3y ago
Predatory pricing is the the general term. Dumping is predatory pricing done in the context of international trade. IIRC theres a page on the FTC website which condescendingly explains that while predatory pricing can theoretically exist in practice it's vanishingly rare and you can basically just assume it doesnt happen. So there you go. Hear no evil see no evil.
- eropple 3y ago
  I used the term dumping specifically, because (to my understanding, and hectored at by an econ professor once who made it stick) it refers to trade out-of-your-home-market rather than purely "international trade"--and what 'home market' is is, itself, a thing for debate. If you parachute in with enormous sacks with dollar signs on them from Silicon Valley and engage in deep predatory pricing in other cities and states both within your country and without, I'm comfortable calling it dumping. Your other point wrt the FTC is, well...womp womp.
  - pydry 3y ago
    Every definition ive ever seen including the wikipedia page is pretty clear about it being specific to international trade and thats how Ive always understood it.
- hgsgm 3y ago
  Your memory is hyperbolic. https://www.ftc.gov/advice-guidance/competition-guidance/guide-antitrust-laws/single-firm-conduct/predatory-or-below-cost-pricing https://www.ftc.gov/advice-guidance/competition-guidance/gui...
  - pydry 3y ago
    Yep thats the page and no, it absolutely isnt hyperbolic: >Can prices ever be "too low?" The short answer is yes, but not very often. >courts, including the Supreme Court, have been skeptical of such claims. I can think of about 5 examples just off the top of my head (not just Uber) where it was clear and obvious and they got away with it. The courts are as skeptical as the FTC. Judge Jeffrey S. White tossed the suit against Uber despite how blindingly obvious it is that they do it.
hgsgm 3y ago
Blitzscaling means growing quickly. Using capital to fund growth is good for everyone. That's how we got spacecraft and nuclear bombs (ehhh...). Dumping is a tactic that can be used whether you are blitzscaling or not. Multiple competitors can blitscale. Blitzscaling or not, the problem is when a market has no competition. This is century old solved economic and legal theory.
- eropple 3y ago
  > Blitzscaling means growing quickly. Blitzscaling, when dressed up by the VC class, is more along the lines of "prioritizing growth over efficiency". And all the halo projects from its advocates pretended or are pretending that profit margins don't exist until everyone else is dead; your focus on efficiency can wait until everyone else has been strangled because they can't pretend that making money is optional. I feel that you are attempting to thinly slice some very wispy hairs.
- sealeck 3y ago
  We got spacecraft and nuclear bombs through government investment, not private capital!
  - AndrewKemendo 3y ago
    In fact, nearly all of the things that people point to as driving flourishing in society has come through govt efforts Also the worst things in society What it tells you about govt is that it’s an important organizational process that has deep implications.
- DirkH 3y ago
  It is not a problem that has been solved if I understand your last sentence correctly. It is a problem that many people have different solutions to and each group proudly proclaims they have solved it.
- phone8675309 3y ago
  > Using capital to fund growth is good for everyone. That's how we got spacecraft and nuclear bombs (ehhh...) Capital growth did not give us the spacecraft and nuclear bombs. Massive government spending in the face of a geopolitical and ideological rival did.

pydry 3y ago

Predatory pricing is the the general term. Dumping is predatory pricing done in the context of international trade. IIRC theres a page on the FTC website which condescendingly explains that while predatory pricing can theoretically exist in practice it's vanishingly rare and you can basically just assume it doesnt happen. So there you go. Hear no evil see no evil.

eropple 3y ago
I used the term dumping specifically, because (to my understanding, and hectored at by an econ professor once who made it stick) it refers to trade out-of-your-home-market rather than purely "international trade"--and what 'home market' is is, itself, a thing for debate. If you parachute in with enormous sacks with dollar signs on them from Silicon Valley and engage in deep predatory pricing in other cities and states both within your country and without, I'm comfortable calling it dumping. Your other point wrt the FTC is, well...womp womp.
- pydry 3y ago
  Every definition ive ever seen including the wikipedia page is pretty clear about it being specific to international trade and thats how Ive always understood it.
hgsgm 3y ago
Your memory is hyperbolic. https://www.ftc.gov/advice-guidance/competition-guidance/guide-antitrust-laws/single-firm-conduct/predatory-or-below-cost-pricing https://www.ftc.gov/advice-guidance/competition-guidance/gui...
- pydry 3y ago
  Yep thats the page and no, it absolutely isnt hyperbolic: >Can prices ever be "too low?" The short answer is yes, but not very often. >courts, including the Supreme Court, have been skeptical of such claims. I can think of about 5 examples just off the top of my head (not just Uber) where it was clear and obvious and they got away with it. The courts are as skeptical as the FTC. Judge Jeffrey S. White tossed the suit against Uber despite how blindingly obvious it is that they do it.

hgsgm 3y ago

Blitzscaling means growing quickly. Using capital to fund growth is good for everyone. That's how we got spacecraft and nuclear bombs (ehhh...). Dumping is a tactic that can be used whether you are blitzscaling or not. Multiple competitors can blitscale. Blitzscaling or not, the problem is when a market has no competition. This is century old solved economic and legal theory.

eropple 3y ago
> Blitzscaling means growing quickly. Blitzscaling, when dressed up by the VC class, is more along the lines of "prioritizing growth over efficiency". And all the halo projects from its advocates pretended or are pretending that profit margins don't exist until everyone else is dead; your focus on efficiency can wait until everyone else has been strangled because they can't pretend that making money is optional. I feel that you are attempting to thinly slice some very wispy hairs.
sealeck 3y ago
We got spacecraft and nuclear bombs through government investment, not private capital!
- AndrewKemendo 3y ago
  In fact, nearly all of the things that people point to as driving flourishing in society has come through govt efforts Also the worst things in society What it tells you about govt is that it’s an important organizational process that has deep implications.
DirkH 3y ago
It is not a problem that has been solved if I understand your last sentence correctly. It is a problem that many people have different solutions to and each group proudly proclaims they have solved it.
phone8675309 3y ago
> Using capital to fund growth is good for everyone. That's how we got spacecraft and nuclear bombs (ehhh...) Capital growth did not give us the spacecraft and nuclear bombs. Massive government spending in the face of a geopolitical and ideological rival did.