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America has a monopoly problem

thenation.com

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Re: America has a monopoly problem

#171

Post by ianai »

beart wrote: post #147
ianai wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can think of at least one way to diminish companies power over legislatures. Pay representatives enough that they’re indifferent to corrupt forces. It’s not like there an expectation for representives to be broke.

Define "enough". I don't think this solution really works. For some folks, nothing is ever enough. Then you also need to consider that it is less about money for some and more about friends and power. Maybe I don't do what corporations ask because they are going to pay my campaign. Maybe I do it because it makes me feel like a big man being the person they all come to for favors. Maybe I do it to gain acceptance into…

I’m dismissing Trump as an example as he’s a clear outlier.

How much do you figure you would have to pay Bill Gates to babysit? Unless you’re in his immediate circle that’s going to cost quite a lot of money. People react to incentives in relation to their current wealth. A chartered flight or sweatheart real estate deal will mean a lot less to someone making plenty for their job of representing the people. They’ll also be much more sensitive to scandals.

Re: America has a monopoly problem

#172

Post by ianai »

thecombjelly wrote: post #143
ianai wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can think of at least one way to diminish companies power over legislatures. Pay representatives enough that they’re indifferent to corrupt forces. It’s not like there an expectation for representives to be broke.

At that point it seems you would have just promoted politicians in to the capital class without the middle-person, but again they now represent the capital class and all their non-politician capital class buddies at the cocktail parties, instead of representing those without much capital.

They’re already there. And in order to obtain and maintain that status they chose special interests over constituent needs. Lobbyists pay better than the people.

Re: America has a monopoly problem

#173

Post by scarface74 »

marinman wrote: post #141
scarface74 wrote: post #117

From the article Firms like Microsoft led in the innovation in creating new barriers to entry. How could one compete with a browser provided at a zero price. I think what happened to Microsoft is the perfect example of how to overcome a monopoly. 20 years ago, everyone thought that Microsoft’s monopoly was unassailable. Google barely existed, Facebook didn’t exist, Amazon was a bookseller and Apple was basically bank…

But importantly, the government went after Microsoft for anti-trust and actually won even if they didn't break them up. It's impossible to really know the counter-factual of what would have happened if it wasn't sued for anti-trust. But, you can safely say it wouldn't have thrown a lifeline to Apple with the investment and it may have been much more aggressive in these emerging spaces. I still think it was still not…

But, you can safely say it wouldn't have thrown a lifeline to Apple with the investment and it may have been much more aggressive in these emerging spaces.

Microsoft "saving" Apple is apocryphal at best. The $250 million that MS invested wouldn't have made a difference when Apple lost a billion the same quarter and spent $100 million buying out PowerComputings Mac license.

Microsoft tried aggressively to get into mobile, search, and the music business. They failed at execution.

Re: America has a monopoly problem

#174

Post by scarface74 »

nikolay wrote: post #152
scarface74 wrote: post #117

From the article Firms like Microsoft led in the innovation in creating new barriers to entry. How could one compete with a browser provided at a zero price. I think what happened to Microsoft is the perfect example of how to overcome a monopoly. 20 years ago, everyone thought that Microsoft’s monopoly was unassailable. Google barely existed, Facebook didn’t exist, Amazon was a bookseller and Apple was basically bank…

ISPs are monopolies in the purest form. Here in Orange County, California, you have no choice but go with Cox. And that's why an internet service, which costs less than $10 around the globe and is symmetrical and offers higher bandwidth, costs $100 here! Even worse when it comes to the business internet service! I had to find internet service for a church here in OC and the pricing starts at $200 for 10 Mbps!

Isn't there a chance that in the next few years that the last mile competition will eventually be solved by wireless?

Re: America has a monopoly problem

#175

Post by wiremine »

irrational wrote: post #129
wiremine wrote: post #88

American has an optimism problem. Or rather, optimism seems to be unequally distributed. Feels like we need some leadership to raise our eyes to all the opportunities out there, and how we can get to a better spot.

So, we need someone to show us how to make America great again?

No, I think the opposite: current leadership is driven a lot of FUD. We need some honest optimism.

Re: America has a monopoly problem

#176

Post by CaptSpify »

wu-ikkyu wrote: post #65
athenot wrote: post #55

> We have become a rent-seeking society It just dawned on me while reading the article that this accurately describes the shift from licensed software to SaaS that has been happening in the past decade.

The digital landscape seems to be growing increasingly feudalistic. Users have increasingly less control over the products and services they use. -Instead of buying a movie or a song, you stream it -You don't own your data in the cloud -You don't own the music you buy from Apple -You can't even take the battery out of many newer model phones

I don't think he came up with the term, but: https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2012/12/feudal_sec.ht...

Re: America has a monopoly problem

#177

Post by nikolay »

scarface74 wrote: post #174
nikolay wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ISPs are monopolies in the purest form. Here in Orange County, California, you have no choice but go with Cox. And that's why an internet service, which costs less than $10 around the globe and is symmetrical and offers higher bandwidth, costs $100 here! Even worse when it comes to the business internet service! I had to find internet service for a church here in OC and the pricing starts at $200 for 10 Mbps!

Isn't there a chance that in the next few years that the last mile competition will eventually be solved by wireless?

Not that there's truly unlimited wired Internet in the US, but as far as I'm aware, most wireless Internet plans are limited, and throttled, so, those are not the same service to compare anyway. More than 10 years ago, some mesh wireless providers were offering some competition, but I don't think they exist anymore, so, Cox' only competition is the ridiculous AT&T DSL service.

Re: America has a monopoly problem

#179

Post by state_less »

grzm wrote: post #165
state_less wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think people have come to grips with the nature of manipulation. We talk about letting everyone vote in realtime, but that doesn't solve the problem, because it's not looking holistically enough. For example, Suppose on average 1% signup for the military in high school. Next suppose we add an intervention, we add a sign in the lunchroom for military recruiting (touching on all the right emotions). The average…

> "I don't think people have come to grips with the nature of manipulation." I agree that this is a big question. What are the divisions between manipulation, persuasion, coercion, influence, information, and education? Intent? Whether or not we agree with the position? I know that this can come off as flip, but it's not at all meant to. In the case of the poster, what if there were two posters, an additional one for…

For me it underscores the point, we are under the influence of external forces (manipulated), for better or worse. We are also told, by some actors, that this isn't the case. These folks would have us believe, we are free to choose to enter the military or join college. But...

In this new scenario, students read the signs, the messages are brought to their attention, and of all the possible things they might do, the odds of choosing one of these two things increased some degree. In other words, the external forces in their environment have shaped their future state (choice).

I'd be curious to see a table of interventions, and the degree they pull out the entropy of what a person might do next. We might then make some categories, like you mentioned above.

When we appreciate the power of manipulation, for better or worse, perhaps we'll give it more serious consideration. This ought to undergird our thinking and decision making, whatever we may CHOOSE. ;)

Re: America has a monopoly problem

#180

Post by scarface74 »

nikolay wrote: post #177
scarface74 wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't there a chance that in the next few years that the last mile competition will eventually be solved by wireless?

Not that there's truly unlimited wired Internet in the US, but as far as I'm aware, most wireless Internet plans are limited, and throttled, so, those are not the same service to compare anyway. More than 10 years ago, some mesh wireless providers were offering some competition, but I don't think they exist anymore, so, Cox' only competition is the ridiculous AT&T DSL service.

I have AT&T Fiber - $70 a month all in no extra fees are taxes. Gigabit up and down theoretically. I can get 600Mbps/600Mbps on a bad day wired and 900 u/d on a good day. It's unlimited.

I'm not saying that wireless is a good alternative for everyone but I know a lot of people that could get away with the "unlimited" plans that carriers offer. In the future it could provide real competition.

The plans aren't throttled any more - as soon as you reach limit they automatically cut you down to 2G speeds, you are "deprioritize". Meaning that if you are in a heavily congested area, your speed will be lowered to give lighter users full access.

When we were between renting and buying we were in a place with horrible internet and we used our phones on t-mobile for everything - including streaming to an Apple TV. We used 70-150Gb per month mostly at night with no noticeable speed issues.

For technical reasons, I'm more accepting of wireless data limits than wireline. No matter how much a wireless carrier spends, they can't beat physics. There is a limit of how much data can be delivered over a certain spectrum (Shannon-Hartley theorem?)

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