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It's not a crime if we do it with an app

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Re: It's not a crime if we do it with an app

#81

Post by pants2 »

Eextra953 wrote: post #23

Does anybody know whats stopping ethical and slightly less greedy companies from outcompeting these conglomerates? Its a question I keep coming back to because if the market were efficient then competitors should be able to use that same data to undercut big potato (or big whatever). This never seems to happen.

Perhaps, given economies of scale, it's difficult for smaller more ethical companies to compete even with the price-fixed conglomerate product.

There are some more ethical companies, too. In N Out french fries are $2.30, certainly due to the fact that they own their supply chain and cut potatoes in house.

Re: It's not a crime if we do it with an app

#82

Post by thiagoharry »

Eextra953 wrote: post #23

Does anybody know whats stopping ethical and slightly less greedy companies from outcompeting these conglomerates? Its a question I keep coming back to because if the market were efficient then competitors should be able to use that same data to undercut big potato (or big whatever). This never seems to happen.

My take: at scale, "more ethical" and "less greedy" are illusions. Corporation are not people, they are systems where, to succeed at large scale, being less greedy and more ethical is detrimental. Therefore, these good corporations are filtered out. Add to this the fact that each time, you need more and more initial investment to enter a market: you need to operate in larger scale with more and more technological investments. So, as the time passes, it is also harder to have ethical corporations operating in a market.

Re: It's not a crime if we do it with an app

#84

Post by swiftcoder »

Eextra953 wrote: post #23

Does anybody know whats stopping ethical and slightly less greedy companies from outcompeting these conglomerates? Its a question I keep coming back to because if the market were efficient then competitors should be able to use that same data to undercut big potato (or big whatever). This never seems to happen.

Monopolies. They may not all have the 100% marketshare to convince regulators they legally constitute a monopoly, but in practice one can't compete on price with vertically-integrated conglomerates that already own the lion's share of the market, and have an existing relationship with all of your potential suppliers/logistics/retailers...

Re: It's not a crime if we do it with an app

#85

Post by bovermyer »

crawfordcomeaux wrote: post #69
hermannj314 wrote: post #32

This is the way our world works. If you steal a potato, you will be arrested immediately and the case will be resolved in a few weeks or months. If you illegally fix the price of potatoes and steal billions from the market, you will be allowed to operate for years in the open while a lengthy civil procedure eventually may ask you to give 1 or 2% of what you stole back in fines. Don't blame the potato theives or potat…

Don't blame anymore because blame is an act of supremacy. Responsibility says it's shared to varying degrees through various classes of equivalence among all. The thieves are trying to eat or feed people in the context of oppression that capitalism is. Capitalism is a system of oppression that requires poverty to work, so is an economic system of oppression. "Crimes" committed in the context of oppression are require…

Hypothesizing for the moment that all of that is true and accurate, what do you propose the solution is?

Re: It's not a crime if we do it with an app

#86

Post by ajmurmann »

MaxikCZ wrote: post #64
Eextra953 wrote: post #23

Does anybody know whats stopping ethical and slightly less greedy companies from outcompeting these conglomerates? Its a question I keep coming back to because if the market were efficient then competitors should be able to use that same data to undercut big potato (or big whatever). This never seems to happen.

Discoverability. Theres no money in promoting free stuff, so compact free solutions never make it to your suggestions.

What do you mean "free stuff". This isn't about giving potatoes away for free but about reducing margins and competing on price. "Your margin is my opportunity" seems to work well in many cases

Re: It's not a crime if we do it with an app

#87

Post by layer8 »

Eextra953 wrote: post #23

Does anybody know whats stopping ethical and slightly less greedy companies from outcompeting these conglomerates? Its a question I keep coming back to because if the market were efficient then competitors should be able to use that same data to undercut big potato (or big whatever). This never seems to happen.

I’m just guessing, but it likely requires scale in order to become profitable. Building up the necessary network, infrastructure and logistics, while getting up to speed on all the regulatory requirements, would require a lot of difficult work. VCs also wouldn’t fund something that merely becomes profitable, without a chance of making stupid amounts of money. The number of “founders” who would want to make this their carrier is constrained by that limited prospect as well, in addition to “selling potatoes” not being very sexy. And the price-fixing cartel would try to thwart you at every step.

Re: It's not a crime if we do it with an app

#88

Post by confidantlake »

hermannj314 wrote: post #32

This is the way our world works. If you steal a potato, you will be arrested immediately and the case will be resolved in a few weeks or months. If you illegally fix the price of potatoes and steal billions from the market, you will be allowed to operate for years in the open while a lengthy civil procedure eventually may ask you to give 1 or 2% of what you stole back in fines. Don't blame the potato theives or potat…

The potato thieves and the politicians are the same team.

Re: It's not a crime if we do it with an app

#89

Post by [deleted] »

Eextra953 wrote: post #23

Does anybody know whats stopping ethical and slightly less greedy companies from outcompeting these conglomerates? Its a question I keep coming back to because if the market were efficient then competitors should be able to use that same data to undercut big potato (or big whatever). This never seems to happen.

[deleted]

Re: It's not a crime if we do it with an app

#90

Post by eesmith »

miohtama wrote: post #62
maiar wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. The entire point of corporations is to shield individuals from penalties, but they don’t work. Business failure in good faith, where the shielding makes sense, is not really protected because bank loans require personal liability and because it’s impossible these days to recover from a damaged reputation unless you come from a family rich enough to hire its own PR firm. On the other hand, when it comes to letti…

Corporations are owned by people. Profit is distributed back to the society thru dividends. The largest shareholder category is pension funds, not billionaires. So effectively boomers are robbing younger generations.

I hate that ever since I was a teen in the 80's I've been encouraged by government policy to put my retirement into pension funds which invest in the stock market, thus justifying all manner of immoral and unethical business practices in the name of protecting pensioner savings.

I am complicit in a rigged system with no escape.

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