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Word. That cartel needs to be broken up. Along with airlines, finance, insurance, and a lot of other industries.
by game_the0ry 3y ago
Word. That cartel needs to be broken up. Along with airlines, finance, insurance, and a lot of other industries.
- robertlagrant 3y agoIndustries aren't cartels.
- atmartins 3y agoI think they were being poetic
- TheCoelacanth 3y agoThey are if they collude with each other instead of competing. Visa and Mastercard both raising fees at the same time is extremely suspect.
- datavirtue 3y agoAmex and Discover are next.
- jasode 3y ago>Visa and Mastercard both raising fees at the same time is extremely suspect. Competitors making similar price adjustments based on seeing each other's public statements and strategy is legal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacit_collusion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacit_collusion Same reason that competitors' gas stations across the street from each other have the same prices. They can simply see each others' prices posted on the street signs and match them. Likewise with Apple Music being $9.99 to match Spotify's $9.99. Now they've both increased to $10.99/month. Same "legalized tacit collusion" situation happens when one leading law firm announces salary increases and other law firms immediately match it: https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/large-law-firms-rush-match-cravaths-salary-hikes-associates-2022-03-01/ https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/large-law-firms-... No secret agreements in hidden emails or conspiracies required. Just match the visible pricing your competitors have. The loophole is competitors can't hide prices because consumers need to know what the prices are to pay them.
- LadyCailin 3y agoBut that isn’t competition. If it were competition, then apple raising their price because of greed would be a boon to Spotify, because now Spotify can say “we’re cheaper than apple, be our customer!” Whether or not this meets the legal definition today isn’t relevant, when discussing potential legislation. This is suspect behavior, unless some underlying factor changed that affects the companies, this is 100% anti-competitive behavior.
- _v7gu 3y agoTacit collusion is legal only if they are no plus factors: > Courts have held that no violation of the antitrust laws occurs where firms independently raise or lower prices, but that a violation can be shown when plus factors occur, such as firms being motivated to collude and taking actions against their own economic self-interests. It is not as clear-cut you are making it seem and collusion even when tacit is highly anti-competitive.
- bkovacev 3y agoThey sure act as one.
- pivo 3y agocar-tel: Noun. An association of manufacturers or suppliers with the purpose of maintaining prices at a high level and restricting competition.
- mschuster91 3y agoNominally not, but at least finance, insurance and air travel suffer from heavy market concentration.
- game_the0ry 3y agoI take it that you don't mind when your flight is canceled and you need to hassle the airline just to get voucher, and not even a refund. Or you enjoy over-paying for bad cell service, bc your only choice is Verizon and maybe T mobile. Or you don't mind when your wifi goes down at 8PM, bc spectrum is the only provider that services your home.
- kayamon 3y agoThere are secure open-source ways to send payments around the world.
- game_the0ry 3y agoBitcoin? Fair, I am a proponent of the tech, but there should be an institutional, government backed (by a non-corrupt government, not our current one) with processes in place to handle problems. I lose my keys, I lose my coins. I can't go to the local BTC bank branch and I also don't have FDIC insurance on my cold wallet.
- capableweb 3y agoWith alternative currencies, yes. But with (normal / common used) USD or EUR?