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This failure is primarily due to regulatory capture, rather than a failed free market approach, for what it’s worth.

bigyabai 1y ago
You're going to need some actual citations for that narrative before anyone buys into it. The US refused serious regulation out of fear of stifling a fully-financialized economy. Now that America has no manufacturing capacity and a weak grasp on raw materials, our only lucrative businesses embrace exploitative subscription services, lock-in and planned obsolescence. Every economist in the US could have surmised that this would be an issue following the aforementioned oil/steel rackets. It just switched from the secondary sector to the tertiary sector of the economy.
- kulahan 1y ago
  I think you might have a slightly off-kilter view of what I mean. Regulation is not inherently good. Large corporations will often work through lobbyists (I don’t think anyone can deny the incredible access powerful lobbyists have in the US) to enact laws purely to stifle competition. An example of this is major groups like Meta directly requesting regulations on major topics, because when a law is in place, you know exactly how to skirt around it and you find all the loopholes you can. A short overview with some examples on how the US differs from other regions in this respect: https://www.numberanalytics.com/blog/regulatory-capture-us-law https://www.numberanalytics.com/blog/regulatory-capture-us-l...
- rpdillon 1y ago
  > Now that America has no manufacturing capacity This is a meme that doesn't have any bearing in reality. The U.S. remains the world's second-largest manufacturer behind China, with real output reaching an all-time high of $2.5 trillion in 2021. Manufacturing's contribution to U.S. GDP in 2023 was approximately 10.2%, or $2.3 trillion. The reason the meme persists, I think, is that fewer and fewer folks work in manufacturing, due to a massive increase in automation. In essence, the U.S. didn't offshore manufacturing as much as they automated it. So it seems to have disappeared from an employment perspective, even though in continues to drive the economy. Automation has significantly boosted productivity and efficiency, enabling higher output, but it has also contributed to the long-term decline in manufacturing employment. The notion that the U.S. subsists on "exploitative subscription services, lock-in and planned obsolescence" is, while part of the everyday consumer experience, not a good reflection of what is really driving the economy.
Eddy_Viscosity2 1y ago
The market was free to capture the regulators, so they did.

You're going to need some actual citations for that narrative before anyone buys into it. The US refused serious regulation out of fear of stifling a fully-financialized economy. Now that America has no manufacturing capacity and a weak grasp on raw materials, our only lucrative businesses embrace exploitative subscription services, lock-in and planned obsolescence. Every economist in the US could have surmised that this would be an issue following the aforementioned oil/steel rackets. It just switched from the secondary sector to the tertiary sector of the economy.

kulahan 1y ago
I think you might have a slightly off-kilter view of what I mean. Regulation is not inherently good. Large corporations will often work through lobbyists (I don’t think anyone can deny the incredible access powerful lobbyists have in the US) to enact laws purely to stifle competition. An example of this is major groups like Meta directly requesting regulations on major topics, because when a law is in place, you know exactly how to skirt around it and you find all the loopholes you can. A short overview with some examples on how the US differs from other regions in this respect: https://www.numberanalytics.com/blog/regulatory-capture-us-law https://www.numberanalytics.com/blog/regulatory-capture-us-l...
rpdillon 1y ago
> Now that America has no manufacturing capacity This is a meme that doesn't have any bearing in reality. The U.S. remains the world's second-largest manufacturer behind China, with real output reaching an all-time high of $2.5 trillion in 2021. Manufacturing's contribution to U.S. GDP in 2023 was approximately 10.2%, or $2.3 trillion. The reason the meme persists, I think, is that fewer and fewer folks work in manufacturing, due to a massive increase in automation. In essence, the U.S. didn't offshore manufacturing as much as they automated it. So it seems to have disappeared from an employment perspective, even though in continues to drive the economy. Automation has significantly boosted productivity and efficiency, enabling higher output, but it has also contributed to the long-term decline in manufacturing employment. The notion that the U.S. subsists on "exploitative subscription services, lock-in and planned obsolescence" is, while part of the everyday consumer experience, not a good reflection of what is really driving the economy.

Eddy_Viscosity2 1y ago

The market was free to capture the regulators, so they did.