21–30 of 199 posts
Peter Thiel (who works with YC) will tell you that monopolies are good for the world.
America has a corruption problem. The ability for companies to vertically integrate and essentially make smaller businesses non-competitive can only occur when you don't have to pay the taxes your smaller competitors have to pay and don't have to obey the same laws your competitors have to obey. We have a systemic corruption problem (manifested in lobbying) coupled with greed on scales we've never seen before. Everyt…
Peter Thiel (who works with YC) will tell you that monopolies are good for the world.
There may be an interesting discussion here somewhere, but as constructed your comment is less likely to produce such. Do you have specifics regarding Thiel’s position and how it compares with that of the article? As is, it appears you’re looking to provoke a reaction rather than promote a productive discussion.
Peter Thiel (who works with YC) will tell you that monopolies are good for the world.
They often are, because companies in highly competitive industries don’t have the excess profits to reinvest in research. Computing as we know it is largely the story of monopolies. Bell Labs bankrolled by the AT&T monopoly. Xerox PARC bankrolled by the Xerox copier monopoly. The Internet bankrolled by the ultimate monopoly (the military). The modern web bankrolled by the Google/Apple duopoly.
Government regulations that mandate some return (think telecommunications services for those in rural areas, pollution standards, etc.) can provide an incentive for monopolists/oligopolists to perform better according to some criteria. The problem is those mandates are not what we would always consider "innovative". By definition, they are often designed to incrementally improve on the status quo.
The game of politics has an important role. When there are oligopolies in many industries it is not unusual to see regulators getting jobs at the very companies they regulate. Think of the ties between the SEC and finance, CRTC in Canada and the communications sector, etc. Monopolists have a way of cementing their position in the economy and reducing the mandates that governments place on them.
Peter Thiel (who works with YC) will tell you that monopolies are good for the world.
They often are, because companies in highly competitive industries don’t have the excess profits to reinvest in research. Computing as we know it is largely the story of monopolies. Bell Labs bankrolled by the AT&T monopoly. Xerox PARC bankrolled by the Xerox copier monopoly. The Internet bankrolled by the ultimate monopoly (the military). The modern web bankrolled by the Google/Apple duopoly.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They often are, because companies in highly competitive industries don’t have the excess profits to reinvest in research. Computing as we know it is largely the story of monopolies. Bell Labs bankrolled by the AT&T monopoly. Xerox PARC bankrolled by the Xerox copier monopoly. The Internet bankrolled by the ultimate monopoly (the military). The modern web bankrolled by the Google/Apple duopoly.
>companies in highly competitive industries don’t have the excess profits to reinvest in research. On the flip side, monopolies often have little incentive to invest in improving their products/services, and find they can profit from making their products cheaper/worse.
America has a corruption problem. The ability for companies to vertically integrate and essentially make smaller businesses non-competitive can only occur when you don't have to pay the taxes your smaller competitors have to pay and don't have to obey the same laws your competitors have to obey. We have a systemic corruption problem (manifested in lobbying) coupled with greed on scales we've never seen before. Everyt…
Peter Thiel (who works with YC) will tell you that monopolies are good for the world.
They often are, because companies in highly competitive industries don’t have the excess profits to reinvest in research. Computing as we know it is largely the story of monopolies. Bell Labs bankrolled by the AT&T monopoly. Xerox PARC bankrolled by the Xerox copier monopoly. The Internet bankrolled by the ultimate monopoly (the military). The modern web bankrolled by the Google/Apple duopoly.
I wonder what could make something like Comcast into a "good monopoly" though.
Another aspect is that commercial competition, while generally accepted as a system that in the end delivers superior results, seems woefully inefficient in terms of waste of resources, as opposed to something like academic competition, were people freely reuse competitors' previous work.
Peter Thiel (who works with YC) will tell you that monopolies are good for the world.
Argument consists of: Appeal to Authority fallacy Grade: F (see me after class)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They often are, because companies in highly competitive industries don’t have the excess profits to reinvest in research. Computing as we know it is largely the story of monopolies. Bell Labs bankrolled by the AT&T monopoly. Xerox PARC bankrolled by the Xerox copier monopoly. The Internet bankrolled by the ultimate monopoly (the military). The modern web bankrolled by the Google/Apple duopoly.
Yet all of those monopolies either imploded, had their markets simply dry up, were out-innovated by smaller competitors, or investors just moved onto hotter fads. The crashing and burning of a big monopoly may very well be a healthy event; but oh the damage they do before then...