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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?

#71

Post by colordrops »

deregulateMed wrote: post #50
ratsmack wrote: post #3

I can understand them going after Ag and Pharma in a big way, but I'm skeptical about the Tech part. There is just too much to lose in political support from that industry for any politician to attack them too aggressively.

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.

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

#72

Post by Supermancho »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #46
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…

Facebook shares lots of data about people who have never signed up for a Facebook account. Everyone is a Facebook "user" whether they want to be or not.

> Facebook shares lots of data about people who have never signed up for a Facebook account. Everyone is a Facebook "user" whether they want to be or not.

Same with Twitch/AMZ, YouTube/GOOG, Target, Wall Street Journal, etc. It's basically the state of digital advertising today, which is not remotely limited to or monopolized by FB. I've worked on the adservers, across multiple companies, for over 15 years now.

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

#73

Post by ErikVandeWater »

SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #2

Perhaps we would look at the donations to see if this is likely or not?

Don't know why your downvoted for asking a basic question.

Career politicians do not betray those who fund their campaigns, especially in the highest office.

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

#74

Post by specialist »

jeffbee wrote: post #13
mathisonturing wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elaborate? Out of the loop

It's a game of "Spot the Fox News viewer". If you're a fan, you believe the largest ethical quandary facing the nation in the last quarter-century is that a person related to the President of the United States is selling a painting in an anonymous auction. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/obama-ethics-chief-hunter-b...

I vividly remember when Billy Beer was a scandal. Simpler times.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Beer

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

#75

Post by maxk42 »

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.

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

#76

Post by 8ytecoder »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #70
slg wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>An example of how many (most?) monopolies are able to exist because of some sort of legal authorization or protection. Regulatory capture. To be clear this "legal authorization or protection" is not necessarily over regulation. Depending on the market, sometimes monopolies are the result of too much government regulation and sometimes they are the result of not enough government regulation. For example, most of the…

> 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.

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

#77

Post by giantg2 »

tayo42 wrote: post #68
giantg2 wrote: post #41

Sort of good, but we'll see how it plays out without other policies supporting it. Frankly, many consolidations are not malicious but necessary for survival. Economies of scale and verticle integration are required to complete with foreign companies with lower costs. Look at domestic steel production. No way the market can support numerous domestic options that can compete with the low cost of foreign imports. Then t…

What are some uses for honey by the pound? Off topic but curious, I only ever put it in tea rarely or simmiliarly rarely use it as a sugar alternative when cooking.

Price per pound is mostly just a standardized measure used to compare prices regardless of container size. The most common container size is a one pound jar, but 8oz jars are fairly common too. You would buy a jar and use it in tea, other drinks, on waffles, etc. You can buy larger quantities to do things like baking, making candy, making mead, etc.

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

#78

Post by laurent92 »

qeternity wrote: post #20
bilbo0s wrote: post #5

Finally, they've started attacking big tech on the privacy front. The whole "monopoly" and "anti-trust" thing was going nowhere. But privacy orders like this are a step in the right direction. 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. With draconian penalties assessed per user…

> 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’t extracted by coercion, taking friendships as hostage, threatening to remove you from participation to a lot of the social life if you revoke your Facebook account.

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

#79

Post by slg »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #70
slg wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>An example of how many (most?) monopolies are able to exist because of some sort of legal authorization or protection. Regulatory capture. To be clear this "legal authorization or protection" is not necessarily over regulation. Depending on the market, sometimes monopolies are the result of too much government regulation and sometimes they are the result of not enough government regulation. For example, most of the…

> 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…

Well yes, that is the "Depending on the market" part I mentioned in the sentence before the one you quoted. Some markets have traits that are more likely to lead to natural monopolies. A government acting in the best interest of its citizens would usually work on creating regulation in these markets to discourage monopolies.

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

#80

Post by tayo42 »

giantg2 wrote: post #77
tayo42 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are some uses for honey by the pound? Off topic but curious, I only ever put it in tea rarely or simmiliarly rarely use it as a sugar alternative when cooking.

Price per pound is mostly just a standardized measure used to compare prices regardless of container size. The most common container size is a one pound jar, but 8oz jars are fairly common too. You would buy a jar and use it in tea, other drinks, on waffles, etc. You can buy larger quantities to do things like baking, making candy, making mead, etc.

I see, yeah I only ever get a the little honey bear ones lol, but the big jars at farmers markets look interesting but they're always huge and I almost never use honey
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