| ▲ | andsoitis 3 hours ago |
| Wealth is not a zero sum game. There’s more wealth in the world today than 50 years ago, 500 years ago, 5000 years ago. |
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| ▲ | bccdee 26 minutes ago | parent | next [-] |
| Power is a zero-sum game. We all live in the same space, exist in the same media ecosystem, and have the same number of hours in the day. The media consumed by the public, the structure of our cities, the investments we make in science, the sources we use for energy, the laws we pass and the way they are interpreted, stewardship of our environment, and the degree to which our tax money is used to drop bombs on civilians are ALL zero-sum. I am so sick of the pretense that GDP growth means inequality is somehow illusory. Yes, TVs used to be expensive and now they are cheap. Big whoop. |
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| ▲ | exceptione 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| A free market is not a zero sum game indeed. Monopolies turn it into a zero sum game. To keep a market free, you have to regulate it. Wealth concentration is dangerous for democracy, the markets and society. |
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| ▲ | mothballed 3 hours ago | parent [-] | | I think you have it backwards. Regulation is what enables monopolies. There is no monopoly for any of the major industries like cow herding or cellular telephone service in Somalia despite almost no effective regulation. There is not even a monopoly of pirates despite them willing to use violence to try and enforce a monopoly. If you look at the history of the US, for instance, railroad regulation was brought forth largely by the railroads because they found it impossible to form a cartel to keep up prices (due to "secret" discounting) so instead they created regulation that outlawed the kind of discounting that breaks cartels apart. A similar thing happened in banking where the banks asked for a central bank to cartelize the interest ranks to stabilize their oligopoly. And the same in pharma industry -- big pharma loves high regulatory barriers because it keeps competitors out. A large portion of the regulation in the US was brought about as regulatory capture by corporations to increase the monopolizing effects and destroy the free market. | | |
| ▲ | bccdee 15 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | > Regulation is what enables monopolies That's patently false. AT&T was a monopoly and they were broken up by antitrust regulation. The absolute most you can say is that some regulations enable monopoly. I contend that we simply should pass the good kind of regulations instead. Monopoly is enabled by market forces such as economies of scale. Monopolization is a natural market process which happens on its own unless it is actively prevented. > big pharma loves high regulatory barriers because it keeps competitors out The FDA, for all the flaws of its current incarnation, is the archetype of necessary regulation. Pre-FDA, the free market did nothing whatsoever to prevent nauseating practices like the adulteration of milk with powdered plaster, lead, and cow brains. The history there is fun but quite gross. > Somalia What is notable about Somalia is not its lack of regulation, but the fact that it is perhaps THE least stable country on the planet. It is not the basis for any useful comparison here. | |
| ▲ | exceptione 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | This is not a personal opinion of mine, it is pretty much established science. I think only think-tank backed sources would claim the opposite. One should understand the phenomenon as a common pattern of dynamics in unregulated markets. Not every snapshot will showcase an end state of monopolist dominated markets. You bring up a valid point though. Regulatory capture is a indeed a weapon in the hands of anti-competitive players to prevent incumbents. Good policy usually applies differently to different strata: the small players are exempt from certain rules, or have to deal with less stringent ones than big players do, to prevent killing the market. At the risk of sounding like an llm: it is not just about policy, it is about good policy. | |
| ▲ | pixl97 an hour ago | parent | prev [-] | | > major industries like cow herding The food industry is filled with regional monopolies. > cellular telephone service in Somalia Ah yes, excellent example, all you have to do is completely destabilize your nation and you too can have free market capitalism. Investors love monopolies, they fix prices and profits so their investments are not at risk. Investors hate too much competition, it lowers profits and puts their investments at risk. Free markets need investors. Investors hate free markets. I hope you see the problem here. |
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| ▲ | saubeidl 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Wealth is intently relative. Absolute growth of wealth is just inflation. |
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| ▲ | mothballed 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| There are a lot of zero-sum things that are being chased by money, and maybe even the most sought after ones. Like political power, sexual partners, and chasing the top % of credentials for your offspring to position them with better access to zero sum things. |
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| ▲ | lm28469 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| That's why we cured hunger in 2012, cured poverty in 2017, fixed healthcare in 2020, working as intended indeed |
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| ▲ | saubeidl 3 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | You might not be living in the same reality as me if you believe any of those claims. | | | |
| ▲ | OrionNox an hour ago | parent | prev [-] | | Literal toddler economics understanding of the world, lmao even |
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