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Why Did Congress Just Vote to Break Up Big Tech?

mattstoller.substack.com

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Re: Why Did Congress Just Vote to Break Up Big Tech?

#51

Post by djrogers »

cryptica wrote: post #40
WalterBright wrote: post #25

Notably absent of is any recognition that we live today in a very global marketplace. FAANG companies are all American. If they are broken into pieces by the US government, what if that just provides opportunity for non-US companies to now fill those ecological niches? The end result will be the US anti-trust action accomplished nothing but enabling foreign replacements.

Because this tired old argument has been made far too many times. These companies have become bloated and become a liability to the US and the dollar... Soaking up all the newly printed money and wasting it on bureaucracy whilst depriving everyone else from capital. Monopolizing user attention for the benefit of other aging, rotten, decrepit, bureaucratic corporations. They were producing big nominal gains through ho…

> . Soaking up all the newly printed money and wasting it on bureaucracy whilst depriving everyone else from capital

The total market cap of all of these companies is far less than the 6-8T that’s been printed in the past year alone, so I don’t see any evidence of that assertion.

Re: Why Did Congress Just Vote to Break Up Big Tech?

#52

Post by Workaccount2 »

UncleOxidant wrote: post #30
ehnto wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone would want to work at a FAANG company either. I have quietly hoped for a redistribution of software resources for a while, it's not a practically thought out hope. I just feel like the worlds software talent could do better work in more interesting and varied fields. I also think it would lead to more innovation. How many engineers aren't working on their own ideas because the insane salaries at big tech…

As someone who has never worked for a FAANG company, nor wants to (FB recruiter email I got this morning will go unanswered) the mind boggles at these $200K-$500K salaries. If I were making a salary in that range I'd think it would be possible to retire after about 5 years if one was frugal. > I just feel like the worlds software talent could do better work in more interesting and varied fields. Agreed, but I'm not s…

>If I were making a salary in that range I'd think it would be possible to retire after about 5 years if one was frugal.

We have our fair share of 30 something's on here already eyeing their exit. Nice mountain home, fun side projects, and perhaps some consulting here or there.

Re: Why Did Congress Just Vote to Break Up Big Tech?

#53

Post by dnissley »

iammisc wrote: post #42
wittycardio wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google and Facebook are amongst the most important sponsors of scientific research in the world. Why would you want to destroy that. The internet is a winner take all industry , all things considered the current winners are pretty good. Why ruin that for narrow political goals

> all things considered the current winners are pretty good Quite literally, the representatives of >50% of the country disagree with you.

How much consideration do you think the average representative put into their decision?

Re: Why Did Congress Just Vote to Break Up Big Tech?

#55

Post by LarryEt »

fmajid wrote: post #43
mrDmrTmrJ wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strongly agree. We're seeing legislation target the sector of the economy with some of the highest productivity ever seen in human history. Congress needs to look at the sectors with the lowest productivity growth! Home construction, infrastructure, health care, and eduction. Here's a great place for congressional investigators to start: https://pedestrianobservations.com/2019/03/03/why-american-c... Though, in reali…

The Tech monopolists are not the entire Tech sector, in fact they are a very small portion of tech employment (and thus productivity). Their rent-seeking behavior stifles innovation and competition, and they coast on the hard work of non-monopolists, e.g. Apple's outrageous 30% cut on app developer revenues.

IMO "monopoly" is possibly an outdated idea.

The real problem here is the natural preferential attachment that emerges with tech companies at this scale.

"A preferential attachment process is any of a class of processes in which some quantity, typically some form of wealth or credit, is distributed among a number of individuals or objects according to how much they already have, so that those who are already wealthy receive more than those who are not."

I don't know how we deal with this in the modern world. IMO we need to at least start with network science on the table and realize we do not have the answers if using outdated ideas.

Re: Why Did Congress Just Vote to Break Up Big Tech?

#56

Post by paulddraper »

WalterBright wrote: post #25

Notably absent of is any recognition that we live today in a very global marketplace. FAANG companies are all American. If they are broken into pieces by the US government, what if that just provides opportunity for non-US companies to now fill those ecological niches? The end result will be the US anti-trust action accomplished nothing but enabling foreign replacements.

> accomplished nothing but enabling foreign replacements.

Couldn't the US President just decide that they should be banned if they don't sell to an American company?

https://www.npr.org/2020/09/21/915043052/trumps-tiktok-deal-...

Re: Why Did Congress Just Vote to Break Up Big Tech?

#57

Post by deegles »

WalterBright wrote: post #25

Notably absent of is any recognition that we live today in a very global marketplace. FAANG companies are all American. If they are broken into pieces by the US government, what if that just provides opportunity for non-US companies to now fill those ecological niches? The end result will be the US anti-trust action accomplished nothing but enabling foreign replacements.

This sounds like a great conspiracy theory. Unfortunately, I think this is one of those cases where incompetence is a better explanation than malice.

Re: Why Did Congress Just Vote to Break Up Big Tech?

#58

Post by wittycardio »

iammisc wrote: post #42
wittycardio wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google and Facebook are amongst the most important sponsors of scientific research in the world. Why would you want to destroy that. The internet is a winner take all industry , all things considered the current winners are pretty good. Why ruin that for narrow political goals

> all things considered the current winners are pretty good Quite literally, the representatives of >50% of the country disagree with you.

Yeah for the political reasons outlined by the original posters. I happen to think those are bad reasons , me being in the minority does not necessarily make me wrong

Re: Why Did Congress Just Vote to Break Up Big Tech?

#59

Post by SkyMarshal »

Targeting the FANGs and not the banking system and telecoms is super annoying.

The amount of damage the banking system can do to the economy is orders of magnitude greater than FANGs can, as we recently witnessed.

And the telecom regional monopolies that suppress competition and block municipal broadband have much stronger competitive moats than the FANGs do.

The government needs to address those first, but they seem better at lobbying than the FANGs are.

Re: Why Did Congress Just Vote to Break Up Big Tech?

#60

Post by jvanderbot »

SkyMarshal wrote: post #59

Targeting the FANGs and not the banking system and telecoms is super annoying. The amount of damage the banking system can do to the economy is orders of magnitude greater than FANGs can, as we recently witnessed. And the telecom regional monopolies that suppress competition and block municipal broadband have much stronger competitive moats than the FANGs do. The government needs to address those first, but they seem…

This is a distraction / what-about.

The focus is not on damage to economy from FAANGs.

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