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Biden launches action on "Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Ag" – can it be real?

mattstoller.substack.com

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Re: Biden launches action on "Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Ag" – can it be real?

#111

Post by arrosenberg »

colordrops wrote: post #71
deregulateMed wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does Ag do? "Efficiency Is Everything" eats for $500/year. Compare that to medical which is a minimum of a few thousand dollars a year if you are perfectly healthy and $20000 if you have a 1 day stay at a hospital.

Big Ag is responsible for horrible factory farming practices growing the wrong crops and producing food lacking nutrients while destroying the environment and torturing animals. They take huge subsidies and use them to support these unsustainable practices.

Not to mention the fragile state of supply chains for food, the food deserts, absurd water usage.

Re: Biden launches action on "Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Ag" – can it be real?

#112

Post by BurningFrog »

maxk42 wrote: post #75
throwawayboise wrote: post #28

"Hearing aids cost thousands of dollars apiece, for no other reason than there is a cartel established by government that prevents firms from selling hearing aids without a prescription." An example of how many (most?) monopolies are able to exist because of some sort of legal authorization or protection. Regulatory capture. There are dozens of companies who would no doubt start making inexpensive hearing aids tomorr…

The only problem I see with allowing anyone to offer hearing aids is the hypothetical problem that a malfunctioning product may harm someone's hearing further. That's a real issue to be addressed, but generally I agree that making it easier for people to help other people is better than throwing up obstacles.

In the pre-regulatory system, you could sue the manufacturer in those cases.

I think that was better for most cases.

Re: Biden launches action on "Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Ag" – can it be real?

#113

Post by heavyset_go »

oliv__ wrote: post #42
ISL wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Queue "overpowered OTC aids destroyed my hearing" pushback...

Queue private agency testing, evaluating and rating products on the market

Credit rating agencies and the subprime crisis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_rating_agencies_and_the...

Re: Biden launches action on "Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Ag" – can it be real?

#114

Post by disgruntledphd2 »

8ytecoder wrote: post #76
lotsofpulp wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For example, most of the big tech monopolies do not exist because of regulatory capture. They exist because the government never put in enough effort to stop the monopolies from forming. Is it possible they exist because the immense economies of scale and near zero marginal cost that software provides makes for a winner take all market? As a customer, why would one use the 2nd best option, when the best option is a…

That assumption doesn’t go well with what we saw in the case of Instagram and then Snapchat. Both took significant share out of Facebook but Facebook was able to buy Instagram and copy Snapchat to retain its monopoly. The Instagram acquisition shouldn’t have been possible is what the parent seems to be alluding to.

Instagram had 10mn users and a one week old Android app at the time it was acquired.

Their ad system was pretty much ported from FB, one assumes, and their ads were sold by FB reps as part of a package.

I honestly don't know if they would have made it independently (and we'll never know, I guess).

The snapchat thing was different. Snap had a policy of focusing on iOS, while FB, IG and Whatsapp (all of which cloned their core feature) were available on Android. I personally think Snapchat shot themselves in the foot with bad product strategy.

And look at TikTok. They are definitely the biggest competitor FB have ever faced, so I'd imagine that the future competitive landscape for them looks much more difficult than the past.

Re: Biden launches action on "Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Ag" – can it be real?

#115

Post by qeternity »

laurent92 wrote: post #78
qeternity wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And to put the nail in big tech's coffin, congress should pass a law forbidding the sharing of any personal information on any resident of the US for any commercial reason whatsoever. At this point, a huge number (majority?) of Facebook et al users know what Facebook are doing. They value their own data less than Facebook do and are happy to trade it in return for free social media service. You may not like it, but…

Some people buy an iPhone just because Apple imposes draconian rules on Facebook. People do put a price on privacy, thousands of dollars probably. When you reduce the value of interconnecting people to a linear scale, it’s unfair. How much value do you put on a friendship? How much value do you extract from belonging to a Facebook group? It’s probably a million dollars per person. It doesn’t mean the privacy part isn…

> thousands of dollars probably.

> How much value do you extract from belonging to a Facebook group? It’s probably a million dollars per person.

No idea what you’re on about. The average person doesn’t buy Apple products, they have a small percentage of market share. You’re just throwing absurd numbers around.

You’ve argued my point: people value socialization (millions, according to you) more than they value privacy (mere thousands, again according to you).

Nobody forces anybody to use Facebook. Yet billions use it. It boggles my mind when people feel they should dictate other people’s personal choices.

Re: Biden launches action on "Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Ag" – can it be real?

#116

Post by s1artibartfast »

colordrops wrote: post #71
deregulateMed wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does Ag do? "Efficiency Is Everything" eats for $500/year. Compare that to medical which is a minimum of a few thousand dollars a year if you are perfectly healthy and $20000 if you have a 1 day stay at a hospital.

Big Ag is responsible for horrible factory farming practices growing the wrong crops and producing food lacking nutrients while destroying the environment and torturing animals. They take huge subsidies and use them to support these unsustainable practices.

What part of that is big ag, opposed to ag in general. I don't see the difference on those topics personally.

Re: Biden launches action on "Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Ag" – can it be real?

#117

Post by BurningFrog »

throwawayboise wrote: post #28

"Hearing aids cost thousands of dollars apiece, for no other reason than there is a cartel established by government that prevents firms from selling hearing aids without a prescription." An example of how many (most?) monopolies are able to exist because of some sort of legal authorization or protection. Regulatory capture. There are dozens of companies who would no doubt start making inexpensive hearing aids tomorr…

I assume there are countries where you can already buy hearing aids without prescription?

Re: Biden launches action on "Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Ag" – can it be real?

#118

Post by jdavis703 »

tomc1985 wrote: post #104
alisonkisk wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hearing is not required to safely operate a vehicle. And why wouldn't someone be able to sue successfully?

What? Driving with headphones is forbidden where I am. And at minimum you need to be able to hear a carhorn.

And emergency sirens/bullhorns, motorcycles, train horns at unguarded railroad crossing gates, etc.

Re: Biden launches action on "Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Ag" – can it be real?

#119

Post by qeternity »

jeffreygoesto wrote: post #32
qeternity wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And to put the nail in big tech's coffin, congress should pass a law forbidding the sharing of any personal information on any resident of the US for any commercial reason whatsoever. At this point, a huge number (majority?) of Facebook et al users know what Facebook are doing. They value their own data less than Facebook do and are happy to trade it in return for free social media service. You may not like it, but…

It is infringing other's peoples rights. Shadow profiles are and even if you paid for subscriptions everywhere in the net, you could not get away untracked and being targeted for ads you neither want nor need.

I’m not saying I agree with it, but what rights are being violated by shadow profiles?

Re: Biden launches action on "Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Ag" – can it be real?

#120

Post by throwawayswede »

pjc50 wrote: post #88
throwawayswede wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lockdowns are useless.

Evidence? Also, motivation?

One of the principles of public health is that you can't just look at one disease isolated, you have to look at public health as a whole. With lockdowns there's been a lot of collateral public health damages: Cancer treatments and scanning that were not provided, worse cardiovascular disease outcomes, diabetes not being properly taken care of, tragic mental health situation, education of kids going to school, and other unintended side effects. One of the things known from the beginning is that, even though anyone can get infected with covid, there's a 1000 fold difference in the risk of mortality.
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