Its interesting I didn’t see any nuance in the initial response.
But yes I don’t disagree consumers shoot themselves in the foot constantly for various reasons, mostly ignorance.
Brand loyalty, propaganda marketing, etc etc
The problem with your latter half is things like… Effective monopolies on required goods, small businesses going down because a Walmart opened up then jacked up prices, cable companies agreeing to not compete in geographical areas, regulatory capture in various industries, etc etc.
Effective monopolies on required goods, small businesses going down because a Walmart opened up then jacked up prices, cable companies agreeing to not compete in geographical areas, regulatory capture in various industries
These are things that are mostly a non-issue in europe, so idk. Food and water are regulated, so is internet access to even mobile network access, and I heard about the walmart story, that was something that walmart even tried in germany like 20 years ago to force other discounters to fold, but got slapped by the “kartellamt” (basically a government antitrust body) so bad it had to stop.
So yes, I agree that on important goods, especially the goods that people have no real choice in buying because they need them, like food, water, medicine, housing etc, you need regulation. But many problems in our modern world aren’t because of these sectors. They happen because people keep using big tech companies instead of thinking about alternatives that might make your life a bit less comfortable in the short term, but will profit you long term.
Its interesting I didn’t see any nuance in the initial response.
But yes I don’t disagree consumers shoot themselves in the foot constantly for various reasons, mostly ignorance.
Brand loyalty,
propagandamarketing, etc etcThe problem with your latter half is things like… Effective monopolies on required goods, small businesses going down because a Walmart opened up then jacked up prices, cable companies agreeing to not compete in geographical areas, regulatory capture in various industries, etc etc.
It’s not as easy as “market self corrects”
My “initial response” was basically a meme, fuck you.
These are things that are mostly a non-issue in europe, so idk. Food and water are regulated, so is internet access to even mobile network access, and I heard about the walmart story, that was something that walmart even tried in germany like 20 years ago to force other discounters to fold, but got slapped by the “kartellamt” (basically a government antitrust body) so bad it had to stop.
So yes, I agree that on important goods, especially the goods that people have no real choice in buying because they need them, like food, water, medicine, housing etc, you need regulation. But many problems in our modern world aren’t because of these sectors. They happen because people keep using big tech companies instead of thinking about alternatives that might make your life a bit less comfortable in the short term, but will profit you long term.