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Typically in capitalism, if there is any profit, the race is towards zero profit. The alternative is a race to bankrupt all competitors at enormous cost in orde
by FranklinJabar 9mo ago
Typically in capitalism, if there is any profit, the race is towards zero profit. The alternative is a race to bankrupt all competitors at enormous cost in order to jack up prices and recoup the losses as a monopoly (or duopoly, or some other stable arrangement). I assume the latter is the goal, but that means burning through like 50%+ of american gdp growth just to be undercut by china.
Imo I would be extremely angry if I owned any spacex equity. At least nvidia might be selling to china in the short term... what's the upside for spacex?
- WalterBright 9mo ago> The alternative is a race to bankrupt all competitors at enormous cost in order to jack up prices and recoup the losses as a monopoly I don't know of an instance of this happening successfully.
- kuschku 9mo agoWalmart? It's certainly more successful in physical markets
- WalterBright 9mo agoSee Amazon
- kuschku 9mo agoAre you saying that Amazon is a successful monopoly, or that Amazon is even with massive expenses still not a full monopoly?
- WalterBright 9mo agoWalmart competes with Amazon.
- FranklinJabar 9mo agoDifferent markets entirely—I can't walk into amazon, and I don't order online from Walmart.
- WalterBright 9mo agoYou can order online from Walmart: https://www.walmart.com/ https://www.walmart.com/ Amazon can ship it to a location near you.
- FranklinJabar 8mo agoAgain, different markets, because I'm not going to do either of those things—if I'm ordering online amazon has better selection, and if I want to walk somewhere to pick something up I'm not going to wait for shipping.
- jabron 9mo agoAmazon
- WalterBright 9mo agoSee Walmart
- FranklinJabar 9mo agotaxi apps, delivery apps, social media apps—all of these require a market that's extremely expensive to build but is also extremely lucrative to exploit and difficult to unseat. You see this same model with big-box stores displacing local stores. The secret to making a lot of money under capitalism is to have a lot of money to begin with.
- WalterBright 9mo agoTaxis are a government created monopoly. None of the big-box stores have created a monopoly. Amazon unseated behemoth Walmart with a mere $300,000 startup capital. Musk founded his empire with $28,000.
- FranklinJabar 8mo ago> Taxis are a government created monopoly. Taxi apps—uber & lyft. They moved into an area (often illegally); spent a shit-ton of money to displace local legal taxis, and then jacked up prices when the competition ceased to exist. Now I can't hail a taxi anymore if I don't have a phone. > None of the big-box stores have created a monopoly. They do in my region. Mom and pop shops are gone. > Amazon unseated behemoth Walmart with a mere $300,000 startup capital. We've been over this—they occupy different markets. > Musk founded his empire with $28,000. Sure. It would have been far easier to do with more capital.
- WalterBright 8mo agoUber and Lyft compete with each other. The higher prices resulted from government mandates on pay for the drivers. Amazon and Walmart do compete with each other. Neither has a monopoly. Nor have I noticed jacked up prices from them.