A Land of Monopolists: From Portable Toilets to Mixed Martial Arts

Post by hash872 » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 5:23 PM UTC

LatteLazy wrote: post #18

Like so many articles in this space, there is a lot of assumption, claims without evidence and vague assertions. The author doesn't seem to know what Predatory Pricing is. He also dismisses economics of scale as an accounting fiddle. I sympathetize with his general position (as life gets complex, barriers to entry rise and markets of many small companies are replaced by one's of a few big companies. But then he gets…

Post by LatteLazy » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 5:25 PM UTC

hash872 wrote: post #22

LatteLazy wrote: post #18

Like so many articles in this space, there is a lot of assumption, claims without evidence and vague assertions. The author doesn't seem to know what Predatory Pricing is. He also dismisses economics of scale as an accounting fiddle. I sympathetize with his general position (as life gets complex, barriers to entry rise and markets of many small companies are replaced by one's of a few big companies. But then he gets…

If you're not broadly familiar with Matt Stoller- he's an ideologue. He is a far, far leftist on economic issues. >He also dismisses economics of scale as an accounting fiddle He proposed on Twitter to make bulk discounting illegal for the entire US economy, on the theory that any kind of discounting is just predatory pricing. In other words, whether you buy 1 computer server or 10,000, 2 avocados or 2 million, the p…

Post by AlexandrB » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 5:26 PM UTC

justaguyhere wrote: post #16

jeffreyrogers wrote: post #9

I worry about something like this happening with housing. PE firms are sitting on a bunch of cash currently and I can imagine a scenario in which the recent damage coronavirus + lockdowns have done to the economy leads to a bunch of foreclosures. If PE firms step in to buy these homes and to manage them at scale that will just lead to further concentration of housing wealth.

I forget the name, but there was one company that bought properties throughout the US after the 2008 market crash - we are talking about hundreds of thousands of properties here, massive scale. I remember (2014 or so) looking for apartments in some places in NYC - I went to multiple buildings before it struck me that they were all owned by the same company. I've been a renter all my life and the situation is not good…

Post by jeffreyrogers » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 5:28 PM UTC

clairity wrote: post #20

jeffreyrogers wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a few acquaintances in PE and my impression from them is that they are only interested in making a high ROI. It's a game for them. Sometimes on HN and elsewhere you get people saying how evil or malicious these people are. I don't think that's accurate at all. They just aren't focused on the second-order effects of their industry. In any case, the real problems are with the owners of these firms and with the p…

> "Sometimes on HN and elsewhere you get people saying how evil or malicious these people are." you're making a fundamental attribution error. few people say that people in PE are evil. most criticisms are leveled at the industry, its ruthless practices, and the willful ignorance of widespread harms while chasing marginal dollars to stuff in already abundant bank accounts.

Post by anonAndOn » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 5:48 PM UTC

ghufran_syed wrote: post #21

“private equity” is not a company, its an industry - so its not clear to me why only one private equity company at a tine would try to cash in on this opportunity? And if several such companies are trying to do the same thing, then its unlikely that any of them will become a monopoly. Its like worrying about “real estate investors” getting a “monopoly” on the ownership of houses - it’s not going to happen. Real estat…