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The "cartel", if it really was that, fell apart in a few years. Compare that to government failures like the 17th amendment that has eroded states' rights for

by crusso 12y ago

The "cartel", if it really was that, fell apart in a few years. Compare that to government failures like the 17th amendment that has eroded states' rights for almost a century, the high-carb low-fat diets they pushed that caused an epidemic of obesity that they still haven't copped to, the Vietnam war that killed a million people, and I could go on all day. We all know that government and corporations fail. The problem is the way that they fail and the methods for addressing failure. Corporations go out of business, making way for competitors. Governments only change through a painfully slow election cycle process that heavily favors incumbents (in the US). Even then, much of the government like the Bureaucracy and Judges are there for life, yielding very little redress for their incompetence.

cygx 12y ago
The "cartel", if it really was that, fell apart in a few years. Personally, I'd consider 15+ years a pretty good run. And yes, it really was a cartel.
- cygx 12y ago
  I wonder about the downvote: The Pheobus cartel is quite literally a textbook case. An interesting side note: The US government got involved in 1942 (leading to the conviction in 1953 I already linked to) because the cartel tried to provide Wolfram to its German members. Also note that there's speculation that the International Electrical Association (suppusedly disbanded in 1989) was essentially Phoebus 2.0
nemo 12y ago
"if it really was that" What definition of the word 'cartel' are you using where the group of bulb manufacturers secretly conspiring to keep bulb prices up for their profit doesn't fit perfectly? "Compare that to government failures like the 17th amendment" Senators being democratically elected seem to be the least of our problems, in general it's been a great blessing to the country, since the body elected to serve it cares more about the national interest, than provincial ones.
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  > Senators being democratically elected seem to be the least of our problems, in general it's been a great blessing to the country, since the body elected to serve it cares more about the national interest, than provincial ones. How does being elected directly by the people of a particular state make Senators more concerned about "national issues" and less about "provincial ones" than the prior process?
  - nemo 12y ago
    It's hard to say why it happened, though I'd guess it was in part that the selection of Senators by state legislatures made them more beholden to those bodies than the people of the state or the country. Since state legislatures of the time were notoriously corrupt, they regularly sold off Senatorial seats and used their Senators as puppets for their agenda. State Legislatures of the time were also vastly overrepresented by rural districts, which may have played into Senators having more indifference to national interests over provincial ones.

by crusso 12y ago

cygx 12y ago

The "cartel", if it really was that, fell apart in a few years. Personally, I'd consider 15+ years a pretty good run. And yes, it really was a cartel.

cygx 12y ago
I wonder about the downvote: The Pheobus cartel is quite literally a textbook case. An interesting side note: The US government got involved in 1942 (leading to the conviction in 1953 I already linked to) because the cartel tried to provide Wolfram to its German members. Also note that there's speculation that the International Electrical Association (suppusedly disbanded in 1989) was essentially Phoebus 2.0

nemo 12y ago

"if it really was that" What definition of the word 'cartel' are you using where the group of bulb manufacturers secretly conspiring to keep bulb prices up for their profit doesn't fit perfectly? "Compare that to government failures like the 17th amendment" Senators being democratically elected seem to be the least of our problems, in general it's been a great blessing to the country, since the body elected to serve it cares more about the national interest, than provincial ones.

dragonwriter 12y ago
> Senators being democratically elected seem to be the least of our problems, in general it's been a great blessing to the country, since the body elected to serve it cares more about the national interest, than provincial ones. How does being elected directly by the people of a particular state make Senators more concerned about "national issues" and less about "provincial ones" than the prior process?
- nemo 12y ago
  It's hard to say why it happened, though I'd guess it was in part that the selection of Senators by state legislatures made them more beholden to those bodies than the people of the state or the country. Since state legislatures of the time were notoriously corrupt, they regularly sold off Senatorial seats and used their Senators as puppets for their agenda. State Legislatures of the time were also vastly overrepresented by rural districts, which may have played into Senators having more indifference to national interests over provincial ones.