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Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

bigtechnology.substack.com

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Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#291

Post by Thorentis »

mtVessel wrote: post #185
nerdponx wrote: post #117

Somewhat OT, but I love how this "kitchen sink" idiom has become so warped over the last several years. As far as I know (native AmE), the original expression was "everything but the kitchen sink", which evokes the idea of taking everything in the kitchen and using it all in a recipe, only stopping short of dismantling the kitchen itself. Whether through mishearing or laziness, the "everything but the" part has been…

I agree. One does not "throw the kitchen sink". I think the author is conflating it with the "throw the book" idiom.

They combined them. Throwing the kitchen sink means you're literally using everything you have, since you're even going to throw the sink too. Combine this with the "throwing the book at them" idiom, and you arrive at "throwing the kitchen sink".

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#292

Post by schoolornot »

crazygringo wrote: post #155
fhrow4484 wrote: post #4

> Jeff Bezos, this one’s for you. This provision aims at Amazon’s practice of using data it collects from third-party merchants to enhance its own private label offerings. If it passes, the practice would be blatantly illegal. Would it equally apply to physical stores like Safeway, Kroger, Costco's private labels like "Private Selection", "Simple Truth", "Kirkland", ... What makes Amazon different in this regard? Is…

It's the monopoly aspect. Amazon is a quasi-monopoly for sellers in the sense that many sellers can only be profitable selling on Amazon, they have no choice. If Amazon has data on their entire customer base, clones their product and puts them out of business, you can view that as monopoly abuse of power. On the other hand, Ruffles sells their potato chips to hundreds if not thousands of national grocery store chains…

It's not clear to me how Amazon is even a "quasi-monopoly" as you put it. What are they doing to suppress competition? They aren't forcing exclusivity.

A few rich guys put together Jet.com ~7 years ago. A totally independent operation from Amazon and they sold all sorts of crap before being acquired by Walmart. So what am I missing?

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#293

Post by shusson »

Thorentis wrote: post #291
mtVessel wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. One does not "throw the kitchen sink". I think the author is conflating it with the "throw the book" idiom.

They combined them. Throwing the kitchen sink means you're literally using everything you have, since you're even going to throw the sink too. Combine this with the "throwing the book at them" idiom, and you arrive at "throwing the kitchen sink".

> Throwing the kitchen sink means you're literally using everything you have

If that is true, the article is still misusing the expression because congress is in no way using everything that they have to regulate big tech.

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#294

Post by fb13 »

cookiengineer wrote: post #289
fb13 wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I want to build a legacy, not some zuck or besos weekend shopping item. Yeah, keep that view and you'll succeed. Beware of: children, relationships that expect things from you, anyone that isn't within your reality distortion field. I'm with you. I guess your in your twenties. Me, early thirties. It does get harder to say no to everything everyone around you is doing successfully, for moral reasons. Zuck/bezos and…

> Yeah, keep that view and you'll succeed. Beware of: children, relationships that expect things from you, anyone that isn't within your reality distortion field. Why the sarcasm? Did I offend you? If I don't stand up for my own values, am I not a fraud when I try to teach a kid what's good and what not? Would you rather live in a world where everyone gave up because the hurdles were too hard to overcome or live in a…

Wasn't sarcasm. More like an effort to prepare for worst, while still hoping for the best. Sorry I didn't make it evident that I actually do agree with all of your sentiment.

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#295

Post by mike_d »

akiselev wrote: post #35
newsclues wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Grocery retail is much more complicated. They may charge shelf space rent.

They take on the vast majority of the inventory risk, which is the fundamental detail everyone seems to miss. They own what they sell. The complications come from trying to manage that risk - manufacturers who have better products or marketing can afford to pay for prime shelf space which also means it'll move faster.

> They own what they sell.

No they don't. Standard terms are suppliers get paid 90 days after Walmart takes delivery of the product. You also pay rent from the time a pallet arrives until it is broken down for delivery to stores - so if you deliver too many snow shovels in the middle of summer you might end up owing them money.

There is a whole industry of "supplier financing" that helps smaller players with bridge loans until the product sells.

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#296

Post by User23 »

heavyset_go wrote: post #282
Robotbeat wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some weird thing about Facebook is it now is basically the default web page for a LOT of small businesses. If you nuked Facebook, you'd nuke the webpages of millions of small businesses. ...not that you'd miss much, as they're usually spartan, but it's worth mentioning. It's kind of annoying, because an actual webpage is much better IMO, but it is what it is.

The business listing side of Facebook should be broken off as a separate business.

Marketplace is huge too.

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#297

Post by [deleted] »

andreilys wrote: post #205
ethbr0 wrote: post #54

I've come around and landed more on the opinion that we're now enabling our jailors. Light tech regulation was exactly the correct approach in the 1990s (and arguably the 2000s). It enabled mind-boggling rapid and stunning innovation. ... However, the massive corporate fortunes built by the winners of those times are now primarily enabling rent seeking. Google and Facebook's other work is interesting in the same way…

IMHO, everyone will be better off if Facebook, Google, and Amazon are shattered into small enough independent pieces that (1) "get bought" is no longer the startup win condition & (2) they have peer level competitors in all markets in which they participate. I’m sure Chinese Tech co’s would absolutely love to have their Western competition knee-capped by their own governments. Will make it a lot easier for them to do…

[deleted]

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#298

Post by kmeisthax »

bobthepanda wrote: post #287
andreilys wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why wouldn't an international tech co just be able to acquire domestic companies and/or launch products at a significant loss to gain market share in the US? For example, break up Amazon and you now create an opening for Alibaba to expand into the US. Spending billions in order to get customers to shift to Alibaba instead of Amazon.

This is probably overblown if only because practice has borne out that the Asian platform model has ported very poorly to the US. Americans don't seem to be interested in using massive platform apps that contain the kitchen sink; WeChat is available but not popular, same for LINE, and Messenger never successfully became that. Right now the most successful overseas strategy for a software company has been Tencent's ga…

>Americans don't seem to be interested in using massive platform apps that contain the kitchen sink

I mean, Facebook's app is basically exactly that.

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#299

Post by Robotbeat »

User23 wrote: post #296
heavyset_go wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The business listing side of Facebook should be broken off as a separate business.

Marketplace is huge too.

Marketplace is basically a Craigslist competitor, taking advantage of their place on Facebook’s platform. I wouldn’t miss it if it were broken off (I’ve got a soft spot for Craigslist).

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#300

Post by [deleted] »

klaudius wrote: post #174
joejerryronnie wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’ve also got to read the room. The mood in the US is not in favor of hard charging mavericks of industry. This approach today would likely backfire spectacularly. Big Tech should be locating large employment centers in strategic locations around the country. And by strategic I don’t mean where the talent, resources, or customers are located but rather where influential Congresspeople, Senators, and Governors are l…

Big Tech should be locating large employment centers in strategic locations around the country. And by strategic I don’t mean where the talent, resources, or customers are located but rather where influential Congresspeople, Senators, and Governors are located. I thought this was one of the problems of a Soviet style command economy. They would locate production not where it was more efficient and made economic sense…

[deleted]
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