4 ms·

The issue we have is allowing privatization to control currently critical aspects of modern society with limited to no oversight or public alternative. It’s not

The issue we have is allowing privatization to control currently critical aspects of modern society with limited to no oversight or public alternative. It’s not limited to banking, there are a lot of cases where private policy becomes the equivalent of law simply because they are necessary to function in daily life. In my mind, such critical services need to be called out and have public democratic policy oversight. On the one hand you become a victim of your own success: your private endeavor became so successful it became an essential part of daily life and you control most of the market. In theory, competition between private entities allows people to “pick and choose” the set of policies they agree with, shopping around for their system of law. And in theory, competition will rise up and allow policy options for every case. In practice a lot of private businesses arrive at similar conclusions on policies that optimize their profitability and that optimization becomes what dictates policy, and then most competition duplicates or arrives at the same or similar consensus on policy. So, instead of being ruled by democratic policies, we get ruled by business profitability policies. Sometimes these are harmless, often times they’re not, so people suck it up and just accept them just like they do law in the land, even though one at least tries to be democratic. So I definitely empathize with these crypto groups getting “debanked” on that front, even though I don’t agree with many of their business models in general.

spwa4 1y ago
You mean to say, it IS the government's duty to ensure that every citizen can participate in trade and ... in the country. The US (feds or states) do not do this, by not providing bank accounts for everybody. A number of European countries, though certainly not all of them, do that: they have a state-owned enterprise provide "bank accounts of last resort", like the post office. If you want one, even if you're on death row, you can open one. These bank accounts suck, just to be clear, but they do provide a means to get paid and transfer money for, for example, paying your taxes.
- TheNewsIsHere 1y ago
  And some of them don’t suck and are quite well run, it’s worth noting. Personally I think the postal service housing critical services is an elegant solution. It needn’t be the only option, but postal services by their nature have offices throughout their respective lands, and that can make sometimes-high-touch functions easier to facilitate. You already have the brick and mortar space, public servants who have presumably passed some measure of vetting, and infrastructure, all right there.
ranger_danger 1y ago
Well said. I feel a similar sense of frustration when I cannot access half of the Internet due to CloudFlare's endless captcha loops.
- chneu 1y ago
  To be fair, those captchas keep a decent amount of websites up because they prevent both/AI DDossing, to a degree.
  - ranger_danger 1y ago
    Got a source for that claim?
cadamsdotcom 1y ago
There’s a compromise: a government subsidized entity competing with free market providers can, through competition, keep levels of service from dipping below a bar. Two examples in Australia: Qantas (airline) and the “Triple J” FM radio station. Qantas has nice things on your 13-15 hour flight to LA or SF. Wine, meals, movies, water, coffee.. all free. United and Virgin compete on this route so have to match Qantas. Theres more to this for sure - but Qantas’ existence as AU national carrier keeps the rest from enshittifying too much.. Triple J radio is government funded. They pay for actual human beings in an actual studio. They support up and coming artists. If your FM station wants to compete with Triple J you gotta also hire humans. End result: in Australia FM radio can be quite pleasant. By contrast, FM radio in many US cities is garbage robot-radio stations with more ads than music.
- chneu 1y ago
  Triple J literally got me to fly to Australia because their music was so much fun.
  - cadamsdotcom 1y ago
    Come visit! If you're interested in a few less well known Aussie musos.. these are all top choices to check out: Pendulum, Butterfingers, Art vs Science, Client Liaison, Flight Facilities, Missy Higgins, and Tame Impala!
    - chneu 1y ago
      I've already been! Art Vs Science fucking rules.

spwa4 1y ago

You mean to say, it IS the government's duty to ensure that every citizen can participate in trade and ... in the country. The US (feds or states) do not do this, by not providing bank accounts for everybody. A number of European countries, though certainly not all of them, do that: they have a state-owned enterprise provide "bank accounts of last resort", like the post office. If you want one, even if you're on death row, you can open one. These bank accounts suck, just to be clear, but they do provide a means to get paid and transfer money for, for example, paying your taxes.

TheNewsIsHere 1y ago
And some of them don’t suck and are quite well run, it’s worth noting. Personally I think the postal service housing critical services is an elegant solution. It needn’t be the only option, but postal services by their nature have offices throughout their respective lands, and that can make sometimes-high-touch functions easier to facilitate. You already have the brick and mortar space, public servants who have presumably passed some measure of vetting, and infrastructure, all right there.

ranger_danger 1y ago

Well said. I feel a similar sense of frustration when I cannot access half of the Internet due to CloudFlare's endless captcha loops.

chneu 1y ago
To be fair, those captchas keep a decent amount of websites up because they prevent both/AI DDossing, to a degree.
- ranger_danger 1y ago
  Got a source for that claim?

cadamsdotcom 1y ago

There’s a compromise: a government subsidized entity competing with free market providers can, through competition, keep levels of service from dipping below a bar. Two examples in Australia: Qantas (airline) and the “Triple J” FM radio station. Qantas has nice things on your 13-15 hour flight to LA or SF. Wine, meals, movies, water, coffee.. all free. United and Virgin compete on this route so have to match Qantas. Theres more to this for sure - but Qantas’ existence as AU national carrier keeps the rest from enshittifying too much.. Triple J radio is government funded. They pay for actual human beings in an actual studio. They support up and coming artists. If your FM station wants to compete with Triple J you gotta also hire humans. End result: in Australia FM radio can be quite pleasant. By contrast, FM radio in many US cities is garbage robot-radio stations with more ads than music.

chneu 1y ago
Triple J literally got me to fly to Australia because their music was so much fun.
- cadamsdotcom 1y ago
  Come visit! If you're interested in a few less well known Aussie musos.. these are all top choices to check out: Pendulum, Butterfingers, Art vs Science, Client Liaison, Flight Facilities, Missy Higgins, and Tame Impala!
  - chneu 1y ago
    I've already been! Art Vs Science fucking rules.