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Sad to see such a low-quality article being upvoted on Hacker News. Kinda like that other massively upvoted low-quality article on AI. Anyway, it's a strange ar
by nawitus 13y ago
Sad to see such a low-quality article being upvoted on Hacker News. Kinda like that other massively upvoted low-quality article on AI. Anyway, it's a strange article. It says the problem is rent-extraction, which seems to be a nother name for rent seeking. Rent seeking is these days defined to mean corrupting regulators, yet the article claims that the solution is even more regulation.
In an efficient market without monopolies there's no such thing as rent seeking. Anyway, the biggest problem with this article is it's naievity and blaming rich people in a populistic fashion. Advocating for nationalization of banking? Come on.
- gopher1 13y agoPlease explain, how do you get an efficient market without monopolies if you don't have anti-trust regulation?
- jpadkins 13y agoPlease name a natural* monopoly or cartel? *not created by the government or by government regulations. The most monopolistic sectors of the economy (FIRE, healthcare, energy, defense) are also the most regulated.
- alex_young 13y agoPlease name a company which thrives without a government or government regulations.
- nikatwork 13y agoThe monopolies create regulations through lobbying (aka bribery). You anti-regulation people have it nearly right but stop short of the deeper truth. The problem is not the concept of regulations, the problem is a corrupt-by-design government that accepts cash payments to create unfair regulations.
- dctoedt 13y ago> In an efficient market without monopolies there's no such thing as rent seeking. That's a variation on the assume-a-can-opener fallacy [1]. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assume_a_can_opener http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assume_a_can_opener
- wffurr 13y agoThat's not what they mean by "rent-extraction". One of the problems with articles on Jacobin (which they try to combat but still fall short) is assuming too much prior context. It limits the mass appeal of their writing. Those with capital are extracting rent for the use of their capital, much like a landlord with property charges rent for the use of the property. Rentiers (there's a term you can look up on Wikipedia for lots more) as a class are parasitical on actual producers. That's what's meant by the title - "the rent is too damn high". Not that the use of capital or property is worthless, but that the rent charged for its use is brutal and immoral.
- brohee 13y ago> In an efficient market without monopolies there's no such thing as rent seeking Seriously, read Zombie Economics (http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9270.html http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9270.html)