141–150 of 299 posts
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Could you explain this more? If the corp vets are price gouging, why are consumers choosing them over the smaller vets?
Because there are no smaller vets. Or they suck equally hard, there’s no guarantee that being smaller == better.
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A veterinarian cannot open a practice without doing a bunch of licensing and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in education. Meanwhile, the PA next to him has what it takes from years of training but she will never open a vet clinic of his/her own. Thats not capitalism.
what do you mean? That's exactly capitalism, it favors inequality heavily. The Vet made it to the top of the heap, and is now utilizing the PA as an exploitable workforce. Tech example, BigCo A gets first mover advantage, equally good BiggishCo B is a bit behind (for whatever reason), BigCo A leverages their position to prevent B from being able to compete long term - usually by acquisition, they work for us now.
The term "end stage capitalism" (or the more palatable "late capitalism") I've heard a lot recently and things like this really make me wonder. The voracious and insatiable appetite for profit has led to some really disgusting practices for example: - Goldman Sachs driving up food prices, which quite literally kills people, for profit [1] - Hedge funds buying up trailer parks and jacking up the rates [2] - Medical pr…
Couple of comments. Hedge Funds don't invest in trailer parks, if they did they wouldn't be hedge funds they would be PE firms or REIT's. While the US Industrial Complex is a cancer to the system I don't think they're to blame for Russia invading Ukraine. Instead, the US government needs to stop non-bid contracts and paying these companies "cost + Percentage" contracts. Also the FP article misses out on a lot of nuan…
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Nope. Barriers to entry in the market (securing capital for initial expenditures, rising rents, rising malpractice liabilities) will make providers take positions at the PE-owned practices. Monopolization works in both directions.
As profit increases, those barriers become increasingly more worth it to climb. Increasing profits does not make start up costs worse.
The term "end stage capitalism" (or the more palatable "late capitalism") I've heard a lot recently and things like this really make me wonder. The voracious and insatiable appetite for profit has led to some really disgusting practices for example: - Goldman Sachs driving up food prices, which quite literally kills people, for profit [1] - Hedge funds buying up trailer parks and jacking up the rates [2] - Medical pr…
Couple of comments. Hedge Funds don't invest in trailer parks, if they did they wouldn't be hedge funds they would be PE firms or REIT's. While the US Industrial Complex is a cancer to the system I don't think they're to blame for Russia invading Ukraine. Instead, the US government needs to stop non-bid contracts and paying these companies "cost + Percentage" contracts. Also the FP article misses out on a lot of nuan…
The only answer to this issue (and make no mistake, its happening in medical care for humans too) is to not restrict conpetition. With yields so low, and the stock market still above 2019 highs, PE firms are diving into the few areas of the economy where there is value due to lack of competition and it is also not completely overheated. However, take out the permit and licensing requirements and you would plummet PE…
Remove permitting, licensing, and educational requirements from people selling surgical procedures for animals?
No thanks. I don't actually see occupational licensing as a bottleneck for a job that requires significant education and training to do properly anyway
We don't have a backlog of veterinarians out there who completed all of their years of training but then got stuck getting licensing.
We also don't really want amateurs vets opening up clinics and just winging it with people's pets.
Vet clinics became very popular private equity targets recently. One of the people I know in PE described their profit margins as being surprisingly high even before PE roll-ups. They said that some PE firms were on a mission to acquire all of the vet firms in metro areas and then drive prices up even further because the demand is so inelastic. There was a secondary rush where people were trying to acquire vet clinic…
Dentists will go down the same route.
Vet clinics became very popular private equity targets recently. One of the people I know in PE described their profit margins as being surprisingly high even before PE roll-ups. They said that some PE firms were on a mission to acquire all of the vet firms in metro areas and then drive prices up even further because the demand is so inelastic. There was a secondary rush where people were trying to acquire vet clinic…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
A veterinarian cannot open a practice without doing a bunch of licensing and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in education. Meanwhile, the PA next to him has what it takes from years of training but she will never open a vet clinic of his/her own. Thats not capitalism.
Interestingly enough, a couple of states allow interested people to become lawyers by apprenticeship instead of the university route. Wonder if that would ever be feasible for veterinarians.
Vet clinics became very popular private equity targets recently. One of the people I know in PE described their profit margins as being surprisingly high even before PE roll-ups. They said that some PE firms were on a mission to acquire all of the vet firms in metro areas and then drive prices up even further because the demand is so inelastic. There was a secondary rush where people were trying to acquire vet clinic…
This is how markets function - rising profits for vets will encourage more providers to enter the market. e: Sorry, sometimes forget what kind of science denialism is cool now. Climate denial out, economics denial in.