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Missouri Attorney General launches investigation of Google

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Re: Missouri Attorney General launches investigation of Google

#71
post #41
post #39

There are so many actual monopolies that seemly get ignored. Maybe google needs to buy I mean donate to more politicians.

They should learn from Comcast, which manages to bribe government in banning their competiton :)

If you're talking AT&T/Time Warner, then consider Time Warner own CNN's parent company.. I doubt Comcast's bribes are necessary for the current government.

Re: Missouri Attorney General launches investigation of Google

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bing at least claims to be. Is Bing enough worse that it isn't a usable alternative?

I've been daily-driving Bing for a few years now, and the only time I switch to Google is for searches on obscure programming errors. I've otherwise had no issues finding anything.

This is what killed Bing for me. I work at a .NET heavy company and it seemed like Bing was pushing (possibly not intentionally) MSDN and MS forums pretty hard. That generally was not where the answers to my questions were, and after a while I just gave up on it.

Re: Missouri Attorney General launches investigation of Google

#73
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are leading in the niche, but that's besides the point: market power refers to the ability to raise prices above what is truly competitive, which they certainly have to some extent while not being a monopoly.

> ... market power refers to the ability to raise prices above what is truly competitive, which they certainly have to some extent while not being a monopoly. Have they really, though? I mean, a Maserati is also priced very highly. Certainly much higher than what is "truly competitive" for a luxury vehicle. But I don't think anyone would call them a monopoly. Likewise, Tesla is selling a unique product within a class…

The typical argument in that favour is that a product comes with certain intangible benefits, be it social signalling or personal actualisation that helps explain why firms with strong brand identity can push higher margins in otherwise competitive markets. This is a partial explanation to the extent that it doesn't play nicely with another prevailing theory that mindshare and niche dominance enables market power through greater information asymmetry. The presence of a larger car market curtails how market power can be exercised, to the extent that your hydrocarbon cars are substitute goods for electric ones.

I have no real issue with Tesla from a competitive perspective. I'm simply making two fairly seperate points, that monopolies are always bad, and Tesla has accrued many more benefits from the state than penalties, on account of its size.

Re: Missouri Attorney General launches investigation of Google

#74
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've found a good competitor to Google search?

This question is loaded. Google does not index search results of other search providers and it never has, because it would create a really bad and potentially buggy user experience (Click through 10 search results to get the real link (if you don't go in a full loop!)) However if you search "Google Search Alternatives" on Google, it displays a large, pronounced box at the top, declaring "Here are 12 alternatives to e…

The poster above was claiming to not have trouble "finding a good competitor" to Google's services. I simply asked if they found one to Google's most synonymous service: search.

Re: Missouri Attorney General launches investigation of Google

#75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't. I use a mix of Google services and non-Google services, and I've never had a hard time finding a good competitor for a Google tool.

I'd love an actually decent competitor to Youtube.

It's as if twitch, amazon, and 5 million porn sites didn't exist.

Re: Missouri Attorney General launches investigation of Google

#76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't. I use a mix of Google services and non-Google services, and I've never had a hard time finding a good competitor for a Google tool.

I'd love an actually decent competitor to Youtube.

Nobody is going to mention DailyMotion?

Re: Missouri Attorney General launches investigation of Google

#77
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Monopolies are inherently bad because not being subject to competitive forces means they can charge what the market can bear, rather than the rate set by competition. This is bad for the consumer, bad for competition, and bad for the economy (fewer people are making transactions than at the market clearing price, slowing down economic growth). If that makes you sound like a libertarian it speaks poorly to their gener…

> Monopolies are inherently bad Yeah but is Tesla a tiny car company or a monopoly electric car company?

I'm just saying determination of market is hard, it is responsible for endless arguments in trade and tax law.

I used to think we should have a form of progressive taxation based on market power. Incent, but do not mandate, smaller firms. Tax anticompetitive potential to siphon rents.

I still like the theory but now worry it would be unmanageable because market determination is an unsolved problem.

Re: Missouri Attorney General launches investigation of Google

#79

Yay! I am happy about this. I feel as if there are a ton of monopolies and trusts today that stifle competition. Does anyone else feel similar?

I don't. I use a mix of Google services and non-Google services, and I've never had a hard time finding a good competitor for a Google tool.

[deleted]

Re: Missouri Attorney General launches investigation of Google

#80
post #14

Translation: We need money and we are watching the EU take incredible amounts of money in fines, and it occurred to someone “Why can’t we do that?!”

The EU doesn't fine to fund itself. Fines are not a good funding source.

You obviously don't understand the state of public finance in Missouri. They haven't changed their income tax brackets since the 1930s. They recently constitutionally banned sales taxes from being applied to services which guts their future ability to broaden their overly narrow sales tax base. They've basically cut their taxes in all the wrong ways so that actually funding their state is increasingly a problem.
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