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Private businesses are accountable to their customers, not only their shareholders. A business that loses all of its customers ceases to operate. A business tha

Private businesses are accountable to their customers, not only their shareholders. A business that loses all of its customers ceases to operate. A business that loses 10% of its customers will be held accountable by its shareholders. Government is far less accountable than that. Government can have the disapproval of over half the population and continue to operate.

jasonjayr 2y ago
If this is to be true, then there needs to be stronger protections against collusion and monopolies, otherwise things will end up in a very bad place. How do you escape a private business that is (a) big enough to buy up all the competitors, (b) uses IP law to prevent competition, (c) gives it's customers worse service and high prices?
- IG_Semmelweiss 2y ago
  theres antitrust for that . unfortunately, founders never envisioned a congress of career politicians, who would shy away from their duty to actually draft complete laws and enforce them , because politicians want to be friends with everyone. Lack of term limits, lack of randomness, lack of income caps in government (and post government!), have eroded a sense of duty in our congressional leaders , and have gotten us a congress that is solely in it for its enrichment at the expense of the voters
  - chongli 2y ago
    Antitrust is a bandaid fix and a last resort. By far the majority of monopolies are created by government regulation in the first place.
    - IG_Semmelweiss 2y ago
      I dont disagree at all. BUT parent was asking for a government solution to the problem of monopolies. I was merely pointing out that government solution already exists. And as you rightly point out, persistent monopolies are a government-created problem.
  - mattgrice 2y ago
    No there isn't. The first even slightly aggressive antitrust action in 25 years convinced silicon valley elites to sell out their friends, neighbors, and coworkers.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- krupan 2y ago
  The vast majority of successful monopolies are because of government regulation and tax breaks that favor big incumbent businesses. If we massively simplified tax laws and regulations we'd simultaneously kill this specific Intuit problem and several other problems at the same time.
  - darthwalsh 2y ago
    I can imagine the tax laws and regulations being 90% simpler but my mostly-simple taxes being mostly the same amount of work. We need the IRS to pre-fill tax forms.
    - const_cast 2y ago
      They do... with IRS direct file. I used it this year, it was great.
squigz 2y ago
> Government can have the disapproval of over half the population and continue to operate. Why don't citizens just move to a different city/state/country when they disapprove, like they do with businesses?
- chongli 2y ago
  They do. US Congress has very low approval rating in general. However each member of congress (house or senate) has a high approval rating in their district / state.
- em3rgent0rdr 2y ago
  The US still taxes you. There's also an expatriation tax.
yoyohello13 2y ago
LOL good one. As if customers care about the ethics of the faceless mega megacorp behind the scenes. I’m sure all the workers enslaved in company towns will be happy to know they are free from government meddling.
const_cast 2y ago
> Private businesses are accountable to their customers Lol no, not at all. They actively try to deceive consumers through propaganda campaigns (marketing) and deception. For example, did you know J&J knew about the asbestos problem in their baby powder in the mid 70s? They decided to just lie about it, because they knew cancer agents in their baby powder makes it unappealing to mothers and fathers. We didn't find out about this until 2020. That's 50 years of cancer baby powder. You don't have any insight into how companies operate. You don't vote on anything. You have zero guarantee they have your interests at heart. How, then, are they accountable? They can do whatever they want, whenever they want. > Government can have the disapproval of over half the population and continue to operate. Yeah, until the next election. I mean, how many people "approve" of the CEO of their company? Surely way fucking less than 50%. Most of the time these CEOs are blatantly evil and stupid. But they call all the shots and you don't get any vote at all.

jasonjayr 2y ago

If this is to be true, then there needs to be stronger protections against collusion and monopolies, otherwise things will end up in a very bad place. How do you escape a private business that is (a) big enough to buy up all the competitors, (b) uses IP law to prevent competition, (c) gives it's customers worse service and high prices?

IG_Semmelweiss 2y ago
theres antitrust for that . unfortunately, founders never envisioned a congress of career politicians, who would shy away from their duty to actually draft complete laws and enforce them , because politicians want to be friends with everyone. Lack of term limits, lack of randomness, lack of income caps in government (and post government!), have eroded a sense of duty in our congressional leaders , and have gotten us a congress that is solely in it for its enrichment at the expense of the voters
- chongli 2y ago
  Antitrust is a bandaid fix and a last resort. By far the majority of monopolies are created by government regulation in the first place.
  - IG_Semmelweiss 2y ago
    I dont disagree at all. BUT parent was asking for a government solution to the problem of monopolies. I was merely pointing out that government solution already exists. And as you rightly point out, persistent monopolies are a government-created problem.
- mattgrice 2y ago
  No there isn't. The first even slightly aggressive antitrust action in 25 years convinced silicon valley elites to sell out their friends, neighbors, and coworkers.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
krupan 2y ago
The vast majority of successful monopolies are because of government regulation and tax breaks that favor big incumbent businesses. If we massively simplified tax laws and regulations we'd simultaneously kill this specific Intuit problem and several other problems at the same time.
- darthwalsh 2y ago
  I can imagine the tax laws and regulations being 90% simpler but my mostly-simple taxes being mostly the same amount of work. We need the IRS to pre-fill tax forms.
  - const_cast 2y ago
    They do... with IRS direct file. I used it this year, it was great.

squigz 2y ago

> Government can have the disapproval of over half the population and continue to operate. Why don't citizens just move to a different city/state/country when they disapprove, like they do with businesses?

chongli 2y ago
They do. US Congress has very low approval rating in general. However each member of congress (house or senate) has a high approval rating in their district / state.
em3rgent0rdr 2y ago
The US still taxes you. There's also an expatriation tax.

yoyohello13 2y ago

LOL good one. As if customers care about the ethics of the faceless mega megacorp behind the scenes. I’m sure all the workers enslaved in company towns will be happy to know they are free from government meddling.

const_cast 2y ago

> Private businesses are accountable to their customers Lol no, not at all. They actively try to deceive consumers through propaganda campaigns (marketing) and deception. For example, did you know J&J knew about the asbestos problem in their baby powder in the mid 70s? They decided to just lie about it, because they knew cancer agents in their baby powder makes it unappealing to mothers and fathers. We didn't find out about this until 2020. That's 50 years of cancer baby powder. You don't have any insight into how companies operate. You don't vote on anything. You have zero guarantee they have your interests at heart. How, then, are they accountable? They can do whatever they want, whenever they want. > Government can have the disapproval of over half the population and continue to operate. Yeah, until the next election. I mean, how many people "approve" of the CEO of their company? Surely way fucking less than 50%. Most of the time these CEOs are blatantly evil and stupid. But they call all the shots and you don't get any vote at all.