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Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

nytimes.com

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Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#361

Post by sharkjacobs »

kafkaesq wrote: post #360
CPLX wrote: post #15

This isn't a problem with Google, it's a problem with the establishment left in the United States. There's no genuine, credible anti-corporate voice in American politics. The reasons why are many, but of course they typically distill down to the incredible power of money to influence people, of which this is an example. The side-effects of there being no credible labor party in our political system manifests, in part…

There's no genuine, credible anti-corporate voice in American politics. There are plenty, actually. They just don't get a lot of airplay in the... corporate media.

What's the difference between what they said and what you're saying?

Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#362

Post by forapurpose »

debacle wrote: post #115
CPLX wrote: post #15

This isn't a problem with Google, it's a problem with the establishment left in the United States. There's no genuine, credible anti-corporate voice in American politics. The reasons why are many, but of course they typically distill down to the incredible power of money to influence people, of which this is an example. The side-effects of there being no credible labor party in our political system manifests, in part…

> There's no genuine, credible anti-corporate voice in American politics. Ralph Nader? Noam Chomsky? These people have no voice because people refuse to turn off the TV.

> Ralph Nader? Noam Chomsky?

They are 83 and 88 years old, respectively. Where are the Naders and Chomskys of the next two generations? Do they have any influence?

Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#363

Post by forapurpose »

Tistel wrote: post #110

Google might want to look at the history of Standard Oil and the old US wide singular Bell Telephone. If you get so big that you can abuse your power, you will probably start to do so (power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely ...). They tend to get broken up into less powerful pieces. How you break up Google, I don't know. They are an ad tech company with the best search engine and a bunch of money loosing…

> Google might want to look at the history of Standard Oil and the old US wide singular Bell Telephone.

Those companies made their owners very, very wealthy, and the companies' decedents remain extremely wealthy and powerful. The CEO of one of the decedents, Exxon, is now the U.S. Secretary of State, for example.

Google may think that's a very acceptable downside risk.

Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#364

Post by forapurpose »

vonnik wrote: post #332

I don't find this very shocking or offensive. Pragmatic people don't bite the hand that feeds them. That means that every think tank will have at least one blind spot in the form of its major donor. This is also true of many media outlets. Bloomberg News is very careful when it reports about Michael Bloomberg. The same could be said of many other publications' relationship to their owners. If you don't like the peopl…

I don't find corruption (to a certain degree) shocking, but it is offensive and should be minimized and we should find ways to reduce it over time. Murder isn't shocking - it happens all the time - but absolutely should be minimized.

Do you think it's not a story, that the NY Times shouldn't have published it?

Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#365

Post by plussed_reader »

hsod wrote: post #333
dkonofalski wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're making noise but they're not being heard. No one with any ability to instigate change is listening to them. Just because they're talking doesn't mean anyone is taking them seriously. For the record, I definitely think they should be taken seriously.

Bernie Sanders (who is currently a United States Senator) nearly won the Dem nomination in the last election.

Something, something....horseshoes....hand grenades....

Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#366

Post by milcron »

afsina wrote: post #356
dbingham wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could also call it "Free Market Socialism" which is my person favorite term for it. Although "Democratic Economy" is also apt.

That term is an oxymoron.

The most well-known socialist economies were central command economies, it is true. But "socialism" isn't synonymous with central command. It's supposed to mean the economy is controlled by the workers, rather than by capitalists/shareholders.

In the USSR, the economy was controlled by the communist party on behalf of the workers. Under democratic socialism, enterprises are democratically managed by the people who work there.

Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#368

Post by [deleted] »

hwillis wrote: post #230
CPLX wrote: post #15

This isn't a problem with Google, it's a problem with the establishment left in the United States. There's no genuine, credible anti-corporate voice in American politics. The reasons why are many, but of course they typically distill down to the incredible power of money to influence people, of which this is an example. The side-effects of there being no credible labor party in our political system manifests, in part…

There's one anti-corporate idea that I've always thought was interesting but AFAIK isn't discussed by anyone: small-corporation libertarianism. In general libertarians are too concerned with government but almost all of them (plus neoliberals and many financially conservative folks) can agree that competition is at least one of their most important economic tenants. Competition is balanced against economies of scale…

[deleted]

Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#369

Post by jpster »

Denzel wrote: post #338
ep103 wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was the norm up until IIRC reagan, Bush 1. The reason we switched off of it, was around that time, the idea was the allow more consolidation at the expense of competition. The rationale was that the American marketplace was already significantly competitive, to the point that market growth was labor constrained, as opposed to today, where it is capital constrained. So by allowing more merges and decreasing overa…

Who explained this to you? Do you have any books, research papers, or documentaries I could look at on this topic? This has to be one of the most insightful comments I've read on the topic of large conglomerates and the American economy.

Not OP but here is an overview of the (now deceased) architect of current US antitrust policy, Robert Bork. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2012/12/20/antit...

Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#370

Post by eridius »

visarga wrote: post #315
freehunter wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you actually locked into those services? I decided to switch away from Google when they mixed up my inbox with someone else's and started sending my email to someone who quickly used the mistake to issue password resets on many of my accounts, and it was easier than I thought. With Gmail, I just forward my mail to my Outlook.com account, and I switched my email address on as many sites as I could to use my Outloo…

> The only Google service I use regularly is Google Translate, because there really is no comparison. There is one, since yesterday. Try https://www.deepl.com/translator

Unfortunately that appears to only support western European languages.
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