4 ms·

It seems like this is becoming a problem across a lot of industries. At least oligopolies.

by thayne 1y ago

duxup 1y ago
Meanwhile the farmers in the stories are complaining to politicians likely owned by the entities who benefit from the oligopolies.
- reactordev 1y ago
  Yup, they get lip service and a promise, in return they get votes, and nothing changes because farmers don’t vote for their interests.
  - jondwillis 1y ago
    class and nationalist politics is really all there is at the end of the day, huh.
    - dmix 1y ago
      It’s just a natural side effect of state capitalism. When you constantly mix government with business you almost always get a government that props up large old companies and then those businesses directly fund the politicians to back them. National security is then used as a sales pitch to justify helping the big companies when normally it’d be a social angle for smaller ones (or a social angle for internal big company policies). The less government is in the business of subsidies, special tax carveouts, and bailouts the less it happens. Likewise with regulations and IP laws that are often designed by the top companies in their favour. I have a feeling CHIPS is going to a classic example in retrospect, a wealth transfer to stodgy oligopolies, not about market development. Likewise with inventing AI regulations in an immature market before the risks are fully understood.
estearum 1y ago
Almost as if capital naturally accrues to capital... hmm... If only these people would vote for folks who stand a chance of adding friction to this process.
- fungi 1y ago
  [flagged]
- like_any_other 1y ago
  Yeah, it's a mystery why they don't vote for those folks... The Biden Administration Is Still Banning White Farmers From Federal Aid - https://thefederalist.com/2021/09/20/the-biden-administration-is-still-banning-white-farmers-from-federal-aid/ https://thefederalist.com/2021/09/20/the-biden-administratio...
  - estearum 1y ago
    Yeah I can see how this leaves a bad taste. A few bullets I found interesting while looking into this: 1. It was repealed in (also the Biden admin's) IRA about a year later 2. The argument for special programs for racial minority farmers is that only 1% of COVID aid for farmers went to minority farmers, largely because such aid was dolled out based on existing holdings/historical output. Minority farmers have been excluded from USDA development programs for generations now, so their holdings/output left them unable to benefit from from the COVID aid Altogether seems like a reasonable problem to try to solve, but not a good way to solve it, and it's good that it got repealed ~14 months later for a race-blind version of the same program.
    - like_any_other 1y ago
      Oh they could probably swallow one specific program. The problem is that entire side of the political spectrum (not just the Democratic party itself) considers them somewhere between second-class citizen or outright enemy. Another example: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gz4GMoOW0AAC5M5.jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gz4GMoOW0AAC5M5.jpg
FollowingTheDao 1y ago
Cartels.
cosmicgadget 1y ago
I am not sure we are going to see anything change in the next few years.

It seems like this is becoming a problem across a lot of industries. At least oligopolies.

by thayne 1y ago

It seems like this is becoming a problem across a lot of industries. At least oligopolies.

Meanwhile the farmers in the stories are complaining to politicians likely owned by the entities who benefit from the oligopolies.

reactordev 1y ago
Yup, they get lip service and a promise, in return they get votes, and nothing changes because farmers don’t vote for their interests.
- jondwillis 1y ago
  class and nationalist politics is really all there is at the end of the day, huh.
  - dmix 1y ago
    It’s just a natural side effect of state capitalism. When you constantly mix government with business you almost always get a government that props up large old companies and then those businesses directly fund the politicians to back them. National security is then used as a sales pitch to justify helping the big companies when normally it’d be a social angle for smaller ones (or a social angle for internal big company policies). The less government is in the business of subsidies, special tax carveouts, and bailouts the less it happens. Likewise with regulations and IP laws that are often designed by the top companies in their favour. I have a feeling CHIPS is going to a classic example in retrospect, a wealth transfer to stodgy oligopolies, not about market development. Likewise with inventing AI regulations in an immature market before the risks are fully understood.

estearum 1y ago

Almost as if capital naturally accrues to capital... hmm... If only these people would vote for folks who stand a chance of adding friction to this process.

fungi 1y ago
[flagged]
like_any_other 1y ago
Yeah, it's a mystery why they don't vote for those folks... The Biden Administration Is Still Banning White Farmers From Federal Aid - https://thefederalist.com/2021/09/20/the-biden-administration-is-still-banning-white-farmers-from-federal-aid/ https://thefederalist.com/2021/09/20/the-biden-administratio...
- estearum 1y ago
  Yeah I can see how this leaves a bad taste. A few bullets I found interesting while looking into this: 1. It was repealed in (also the Biden admin's) IRA about a year later 2. The argument for special programs for racial minority farmers is that only 1% of COVID aid for farmers went to minority farmers, largely because such aid was dolled out based on existing holdings/historical output. Minority farmers have been excluded from USDA development programs for generations now, so their holdings/output left them unable to benefit from from the COVID aid Altogether seems like a reasonable problem to try to solve, but not a good way to solve it, and it's good that it got repealed ~14 months later for a race-blind version of the same program.
  - like_any_other 1y ago
    Oh they could probably swallow one specific program. The problem is that entire side of the political spectrum (not just the Democratic party itself) considers them somewhere between second-class citizen or outright enemy. Another example: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gz4GMoOW0AAC5M5.jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gz4GMoOW0AAC5M5.jpg

FollowingTheDao 1y ago

Cartels.

cosmicgadget 1y ago

I am not sure we are going to see anything change in the next few years.