41–50 of 51 posts
It's not really the UFC's fault that multiple MMA promotions have also been attempted, and failed as businesses. No non-UFC promotion (Bellator, ONE, Rizin, KSW, Cage Warriors, LFA, etc.) has turned even a dime in profits in the last decade. And Bellator has signed multiple famous UFC fighters (former champs like Benson Henderson), including some (Phil Davis, Ryan Bader) at the height of their career. I don't think t…
When saying this is bad, what is the author optimizing for?
This market consolidation should decrease consumer prices, as long as actual monopolies are not in place and price fixing doesn't occur. At the same time the individual owners are getting buy-outs they are happy with. Seems fine to me.
What am I missing?
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…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
> 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. Is this a real thing? I follow Stoller on Twitter, and have never heard him say anything like that. Just that predatory pricing is often snuck in under the guise of "discounting" (which is true). He's definitely a centrist on economic policy, which turns a lot of p…
“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…
While we may never see a monopoly on owning the house itself, we are well on our way to seeing at least one monopoly in the home buying process. [0][1] [0] https://www.alta.org/business-tools/title-insurance-mergers.... [1] https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2019/09/ftc-c...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
While we may never see a monopoly on owning the house itself, we are well on our way to seeing at least one monopoly in the home buying process. [0][1] [0] https://www.alta.org/business-tools/title-insurance-mergers.... [1] https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2019/09/ftc-c...
Or we would if the FTC didn’t try and block it - isn’t this the way an antitrust regulator should work?
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.
Warren Buffet has had a near monopoly on new mobile home construction, sales and leasing.
https://publicintegrity.org/inequality-poverty-opportunity/w...
"If the only tool you have is a hammer, it's tempting to treat everything as if it were a nail."
While monopolies are bad, I don't see what's listed in this article as monopolies. I see a series of small businesses that are more profitable when economies of scale are utilized. So, the small businesses are being bought up by a few larger players. When saying this is bad, what is the author optimizing for? This market consolidation should decrease consumer prices, as long as actual monopolies are not in place and…
That is literally the definition of monopolizing...
> market consolidation
Again, that's just another word for monopolizing...
It reminds me of people who say "I, as a man, like having sex with other men — but no, I am not gay or bisexual"
It's like society has become 'definition phobic'? Or maybe some words have lost their old definitions and have taken on new ones? Or it's just Doublespeak and everyone is fragmented and we lack decent complex adaptive systems?
The rules for what consists of a monopoly are somewhat arbitrary anyway. I think we should have worker coops everywhere, instead of this American/English-style Neoliberal Corporatism, which often takes away people's autonomy and creates a whole array of bureacratic corporate hierarchies. A company in the Netherlands called Buurtzorg is having a lot of success organizing themselves very differently than the hyper-consolidation that we have seen the healthcare systems in the West become victim to. [1]
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> What am I missing?
I don't even know where to start...
Have you been in therapy or sought professional help? Many therapists now have to work within one size fits all models. For example: in some countries patients get therapy sessions in blocks of 12. Regardless of wether they would benefit from just 2-3 sessions. Or maybe around 25, spread out over a year, is what would best support them. This cookie-cutter standardization approach completely destroys equitable and personalized healthcare options, and takes away the autonomy of therapists.
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/nov/20/radical-plan...