Why don't we just nationalize the compute power? There is a billion dollar barrier to entry to offer services like Youtube for free. Nobody is going to do it because they don't have a giant Ad company to subsidize it.
We Need to Nationalise Google, Facebook and Amazon
21–30 of 237 posts
Re: We Need to Nationalise Google, Facebook and Amazon
#22I totally agree that Google, Facebook and Amazon have too much power and too little accountability. However they're all global companies and as bad as they are, I trust all of them more than I trust the US government (I am not American). Can you even imagine how their business would work when these are state entities? You're no longer buying ad placements from a marketing company, you're buying them from the US gover…
They are american companies first and you should trust them even less because they are open to corruption by the US government.
Re: We Need to Nationalise Google, Facebook and Amazon
#23Nah.
Just rip them apart and start going after them for anti-trust reasons. Instead of going after Apple for harming consumers with their ebook BS (actually, in addition to) go after Amazons monopoly on the space.
Re: We Need to Nationalise Google, Facebook and Amazon
#24That's the _worst_ idea I've heard this week. First of all, "Nationalizing" corporations is not something that free societies do. Second, the effect of this would be to further stifle competition from smaller businesses. Which is also not something that free societies do. I question the motives of the author.
> First of all, "Nationalizing" corporations is not something that free societies do.
Sure it is.
America does not hold a monopoly on freedom.
Re: We Need to Nationalise Google, Facebook and Amazon
#25Why don't we just nationalize the compute power? There is a billion dollar barrier to entry to offer services like Youtube for free. Nobody is going to do it because they don't have a giant Ad company to subsidize it.
Why nationalize what we can distribute? There is no reason a future youtube has to be centralized and many good reasons that it shouldn't be.
Re: We Need to Nationalise Google, Facebook and Amazon
#26That's the _worst_ idea I've heard this week. First of all, "Nationalizing" corporations is not something that free societies do. Second, the effect of this would be to further stifle competition from smaller businesses. Which is also not something that free societies do. I question the motives of the author.
Agreed 100%. Does this mean if you ever built a company, and it gets too big, it will get nationalized? And what will keep the law from evolving to nationalizing slightly smaller businesses as time goes.
Look, a temporarily embarrassed unicorn founder.
This is the same logic that people use to argue against the Estate tax.
Re: We Need to Nationalise Google, Facebook and Amazon
#27How about a monopoly tax for market dominating companys, whos money is rerouted into VC or Darpa projects?
Re: We Need to Nationalise Google, Facebook and Amazon
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
Regulation, e.g. of utilities, in the in U.S. is sort of a form of nationalization. Technically they are not nationalized, but since they have all kinds of requirements, including needing to apply for rate changes, they aren't exactly normal, either. And if you don't have control of your prices, do you really have a capitalistic business? But aside from that, 3 people at Google get to effectively dictate what the wor…
>This sounds a lot like a dictatorship, and is this what a free society does? Rediculous, nobody is forcing you to use Google or Facebook.
It's extremely difficult for a regular user to use the web without bouncing into something provided by one of those two groups.
Re: We Need to Nationalise Google, Facebook and Amazon
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Regulation, e.g. of utilities, in the in U.S. is sort of a form of nationalization. Technically they are not nationalized, but since they have all kinds of requirements, including needing to apply for rate changes, they aren't exactly normal, either. And if you don't have control of your prices, do you really have a capitalistic business? But aside from that, 3 people at Google get to effectively dictate what the wor…
>This sounds a lot like a dictatorship, and is this what a free society does? Rediculous, nobody is forcing you to use Google or Facebook.
Everything is forcing you to use Google and Facebook. The market, the public who voted with there feet. You recive invitations to classes via facebook.
There is no freedom of choice in a monopoly where opting out equals social death.
Re: We Need to Nationalise Google, Facebook and Amazon
#30Imagine there would only be only one car company where you could by good, affordable cars for some reason. Now image this car company would not be an American one. I'd say there were national regulations, taxations and tariffs in about zero seconds.
There are already national regulations and taxes that apply to Google, Facebook and Amazon. Hell, there's a story on the front page right now about that.
The big three have reached escape velocity when it comes to laws there.