Declining worker power vs. rising monopoly power: explaining recent macro trends

Post by pydry » Wed, Jun 03, 2020, 3:48 PM UTC

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #44

pydry wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes of course they'd want that, but compromise is often a necessity to prevent things from spiraling totally out of control. The French and Russian revolutions are a testament to what happens when the ruler tries to effect the appearance of compromise without actually doing it (e.g. Constitution of 1906). It ended very badly for the rulers in both of those cases. They fucked up a lot more than just that, but that was…

The difference is in the times of the French revolution, the elite lived only mere miles away from the angry poor, within striking reach of their wrath whereas now the elites can move to super safe heavens, isolated from the mess they created and suffer no consequences from the angry masses. Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett can move with their families to some private island in the Caribbean and wait while things cool d…

Post by take_a_breath » Wed, Jun 03, 2020, 3:49 PM UTC

jakozaur wrote: post #45

In almost all USA industries, there is increasing amount of consolidation. The top 4 companies' in almost any industry has a larger share of the total market: https://www.economist.com/briefing/2016/03/26/too-much-of-a-... Some consolidation is natural, but a huge part is caused by mergers and acquisitions (M&A) fulled by Private Equity. The M&A benefits the shareholders of participating companies at the expense of c…

Post by rfulop » Wed, Jun 03, 2020, 3:51 PM UTC

lanevorockz wrote: post #59

Trying to break the conditioning here but government should always tax in a way that it incentive WORK. The way things are Wealth is no longer being produced, so those who have it will be on top because income will never be enough to prop you up. Therefore we should want a Growth market so that more wealth is produced and risk averse people will still be rich but more people will become as rich as them. To resolve In…

Post by lotsofpulp » Wed, Jun 03, 2020, 3:53 PM UTC

take_a_breath wrote: post #74

jakozaur wrote: post #45

In almost all USA industries, there is increasing amount of consolidation. The top 4 companies' in almost any industry has a larger share of the total market: https://www.economist.com/briefing/2016/03/26/too-much-of-a-... Some consolidation is natural, but a huge part is caused by mergers and acquisitions (M&A) fulled by Private Equity. The M&A benefits the shareholders of participating companies at the expense of c…

There are fewer publicly traded companies and the ones that do exists are larger than ever. From Bloomberg: ==About 3,600 firms were listed on U.S. stock exchanges at the end of 2017, down more than half from 1997.== https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-04-09/where-...

Post by twic » Wed, Jun 03, 2020, 3:54 PM UTC

rmrfstar wrote: post #63

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #27

The big issue is supply and demand. With increasing automation and global supply chains, there is a huge amount of labor available relative to the need. In the past, a union strike at a plant would see a generous long-term contract and benefits for the workers. Now, it is likely for the plant to be moved or workers replaced with automation.

Larry Summers is simply not credible. This is an "oh fuck things are about to get out of hand, let's try to insert ourselves into the debate so we don't get locked out" paper. Here is Larry Summers from his 1998 speech "The Challenges of Success". " The world looks very different than it did at the beginning of this decade, a time when America was said to be in decline. It is now clear that America will grow faster i…