281–290 of 457 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
- they compete with local taxi firms - they compete with other modes of transport - prices have risen substantially after the VC land grab tailed off
[flagged]
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are two Americas, the one that HN folks inhabit and the underclass. The former is doing great. The latter has grown and shifted. I grew up in a rural community that was in the process of unraveling from a prosperous farming and light industrial area to a rural slum. There are zero operational farms in that area today. The one I worked for as a teen was in continuous operation since the Dutch colonial period. Th…
> That’s an example of why the nihilism of MAGA is so appealing. The world is collapsing around many people. And this is what I don't get about current US politics. MAGA = Republicans. The Republican party is the party of generational wealth transfer. The Republican party is the party of elite businessmen lording over the working class. The Republican party is the party of all the economic forces that are unraveling…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That works against a large new entrant. No industry is going to lower their massive collective profit just to shoo away a small new entrant.
Lumbermills are a local industry since transportation is a very significant fraction of the final cost. No one is shipping wood from Oregon to a mill on the East coast to sell to a construction company in California, so every mill is very much sensitive to local competitors. Ironically it's the larger mills that are insensitive to this dynamic, since they supply huge national customers like the big box stores or expo…
And I don't know that Home Depot and Lowes have that much of the market. They are not the ones that serve large construction projects. But if they did, it would be enough of a long term market that they could influence prices by funding new mills in exchange for more say into the price, a share of any profit, both, whatever. If they had this capacity, they could solve this funding issue.
Four. That's the magic number. There have to be four competitors of significant size before prices go down. There are both EU and US studies substantiating this. It's been seen in cellular phone networks, ISPs, drugstores, and banks. Drop below the threshold of four, and the magic happens. Prices go up, margins go up, and consumers lose. Four should be the basis of antitrust policy. Less than four, and there are two…
Speaking generally, not to you specifically, it seems like a ton of people see the problems created by capitalism and decide the solution is even more capitalism . I don't think there's a magical number of competitors that fixes things. We see an interesting phenomenon in commercial landlords where we have a ton of players but they all use the same software [1], which creates an effective monopoly even though it's no…
Actually, it is. When telephone systems were invented, lots of telephone companies sprang up and ran wires everywhere. The barrier to this happening with broadband is regulation. Regulators work hard to ensure there is no broadband competition.
> it seems like a ton of people see the problems created by capitalism and decide the solution is even more capitalism.
I find that rather funny, as most people see the solution to failed government programs is expanding those programs. Anyone who wants to cut back such failures cannot get elected.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The estate tax doesn’t mean too much. “Generational wealth” is generally a myth. The second and third generations burn through any inheritance and sprint back to middle class rather quickly.
> “Generational wealth” is generally a myth. The second and third generations burn through any inheritance and sprint back to middle class rather quickly. Ref? That was definitely not my impression from listening to "Capital in the 21st Century".
In reality, wealth tends to cluster around people who are good stewards of it. They allocate capital efficiently and we are all better off.
The government is NOT a good steward of wealth. They allocate inefficiently (because no accountability) so we should minimize what we give them.
Here is a quick and dirty reference discussing how lazy kids of rich people blow it: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/generational-wealth-curse-cau...
What I find odd about the article is that it does very little to substantiate its core claim - that the reason the economy is broken are small monopolists-but-not-really-monopolists who are trying to fleece you. It opens with the example of rising construction costs. The only remotely relevant example here is Autodesk, but by the article's own admission, "the cost of these products remains relatively minor". And that…
Inflation is a general price increase caused by an increase in the supply of money relative to the value of goods and services in the economy. It's simple supply & demand - more money chasing the same number of goods => general price increases. Inflation prices never going down is a clear indicator that this is the cause.
A general price increase could be cause by something like supply chain disruptions. But when the disruption eases, the prices will go back down. (We see this in the cost of a gallon of gas over time.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Economic theory asserts that where there is profit to be made you will find entrants. So unless something stops entrants for mills (ie funding availability) we should anticipate economic profits to decrease.
Eventually maybe but the Capitol investment is high and only a few firms are in the market place who are capable of playing. If they enter they expand they will decrease their own margins and that’s generally not desirable. Why take risks if you don’t have to and you can live out your tenure as ceo collect big bucks and Retire without any. Everyone wants to run their business slowly into the ground US steel and K-mar…
Four. That's the magic number. There have to be four competitors of significant size before prices go down. There are both EU and US studies substantiating this. It's been seen in cellular phone networks, ISPs, drugstores, and banks. Drop below the threshold of four, and the magic happens. Prices go up, margins go up, and consumers lose. Four should be the basis of antitrust policy. Less than four, and there are two…
How many more humans would be needed to support 4 of every company type?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
When I have to spend 10 minutes finding a store employee to unlock a case for me to buy underwear and socks at Target when I didn't have to five years ago, I conclude that crime has gotten worse. When I see videos on the internet all the time of criminals just walking into stores and grabbing whatever they want while the security guard looks on and does nothing because the police will side with the criminal if he tou…
Where do you live? It sounds quite bad. Has SF got that bad? I haven't been there since I worked there in 2015, but I read the authorites gave up on some crime? I noticed neither any crime or homeless at that time. But people now seem swear it has gotten to be a big problem.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>real (inflation-adjusted) wages lol. The whole point of this discussion is that our metrics are not properly measuring things. The reported inflation number is a joke. See: anything in life that matters like - a house - a car - an education - health care - raising a kid - basically any life-milestone but TVs and electronic toys have never been cheaper so it's all okay! Hedonic adjustment!
| an education The community college in the area I briefly lived growing up was $17 a credit hour in 1997. Inflation adjusted that's $31.67 a credit hour. It's now nearly $140 a credit hour. Almost 4.5x more than inflation. For a community college.