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It's pretty simple. It's illegal for corporations to get together and decide the price of things. This destroys the free market's ability to choose the best p

by zedshaw 13y ago

It's pretty simple. It's illegal for corporations to get together and decide the price of things. This destroys the free market's ability to choose the best product at the best price since all the products, despite their quality, have the same price. This is the part of economics that says a free market only works as long as everyone involved has equal information. And remember, a free market means the consumer has a right to choose, not the corporation has a right to trick consumers into buying at fixed prices. In addition to price fixing products, companies also can't wage fix. If corporations were allowed to get together and decide the max they'll all pay certain employees then they can do...well exactly this. Also remember that these companies also refused to hire people who came to them, and also ratted out those employees to their original employer. That goes beyond basic wage fixing and into the realm of heinous employee rights violations. The main reason all of this is illegal though is because the consumers and the employees are not given all the information they need to decide. The key to this important detail is in how all these sleazy assholes went around telling each other to be quiet. If this action were something that was morally correct they wouldn't need to hide it. However they knew that if the employees knew they'd leave the company and it'd cost more to keep them. That's why the companies kept the information from the employees. More importantly though, if the consumers know about price fixing, they revolt and entire industries collapse in huge meltdowns and the consumers stop trusting the market. Politicians then react and pass laws against it so that there isn't a huge economic revolt, or worse, a political bloody one. Then again, programmers seem to worship corporations these days so I got no idea how this will play out. Personally I hope we all boycott the shit out of every company on this list, but that'll never happen as long as coders have their heads firmly planted up Ayn Rand's ass. The one thing that I'm enjoying coming out is how this is proving to programmers that they are valuable. I think before this coders just kind of thought of their value as just a typical cube farming wage slave. Now they see that they're so valuable that corporations will go to very great lengths to keep them from leaving and from paying them what they're worth. That is definitely going to be interesting to watch play out.

brisance 13y ago
>>It's pretty simple. It's illegal for corporations to get together and decide the price of things. << Is this not how LIBOR or the Fed rate is determined?
- epc 13y ago
  The L in LIBOR stands for London. Which is not in the US. And the theoretical basis for LIBOR was that the BBA called various banks to see what they'd offer. What we've since learned is that the various banks would chat with each other to see what they needed LIBOR to be and then conspired to set LIBOR. Which is why there's various prosecutions underway. The Fed rate is determined by the Fed. Which is a US Government entity. And is its responsibility. So not even remotely close to the same thing
  - brisance 13y ago
    Digressing a little, but since you are talking about jurisdiction then yes it's a fair point albeit splitting hairs. But from a morality point of view isn't it incompatible with the parent's view that certain values should be universal? The Fed is not a US Government entity. It operates within rules created by Congress but is not beholden to Congress or any branch of the US Government. The board holds meetings and the Chairman reports to Congress once in a while but they have more or less a free hand in running things. "As the nation's central bank, the Federal Reserve derives its authority from the Congress of the United States. It is considered an independent central bank because its monetary policy decisions do not have to be approved by the President or anyone else in the executive or legislative branches of government, it does not receive funding appropriated by the Congress, and the terms of the members of the Board of Governors span multiple presidential and congressional terms." http://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/about_14986.htm http://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/about_14986.htm
RodericDay 13y ago
The economic illiteracy of the people in HN is blowing my mind. I've seen multiple users suggesting that there was no ill will, that it's just a ploy to keep the team together so that the project could get done. I really hope this story doesn't die out too quickly, since it should be a crash course for most.

by zedshaw 13y ago

brisance 13y ago

>>It's pretty simple. It's illegal for corporations to get together and decide the price of things. << Is this not how LIBOR or the Fed rate is determined?

epc 13y ago
The L in LIBOR stands for London. Which is not in the US. And the theoretical basis for LIBOR was that the BBA called various banks to see what they'd offer. What we've since learned is that the various banks would chat with each other to see what they needed LIBOR to be and then conspired to set LIBOR. Which is why there's various prosecutions underway. The Fed rate is determined by the Fed. Which is a US Government entity. And is its responsibility. So not even remotely close to the same thing
- brisance 13y ago
  Digressing a little, but since you are talking about jurisdiction then yes it's a fair point albeit splitting hairs. But from a morality point of view isn't it incompatible with the parent's view that certain values should be universal? The Fed is not a US Government entity. It operates within rules created by Congress but is not beholden to Congress or any branch of the US Government. The board holds meetings and the Chairman reports to Congress once in a while but they have more or less a free hand in running things. "As the nation's central bank, the Federal Reserve derives its authority from the Congress of the United States. It is considered an independent central bank because its monetary policy decisions do not have to be approved by the President or anyone else in the executive or legislative branches of government, it does not receive funding appropriated by the Congress, and the terms of the members of the Board of Governors span multiple presidential and congressional terms." http://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/about_14986.htm http://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/about_14986.htm

RodericDay 13y ago

The economic illiteracy of the people in HN is blowing my mind. I've seen multiple users suggesting that there was no ill will, that it's just a ploy to keep the team together so that the project could get done. I really hope this story doesn't die out too quickly, since it should be a crash course for most.