#Capitalism#Monopolies#Antitrust#Competition: "Capitalism's theory proceeds from the idea that we are driven by our self-interest, and that competition turns self-interest into communal sentiment. Take away the competition, and all that's left is the self-interest.
I think this is broadly true, even though it's not the main reason I oppose monopolies (I oppose monopolies because they corrupt our democracy and pauperize workers). But even if capitalism's ability to turn greed into public benefit isn't the principle that's uppermost in my mind, it's what capitalists claim to believe – and treasure.
I think that most of the right's defense of monopolies stems from cynical, bad-faith rationalizations – but there are people who've absorbed these rationalizations and find them superficially plausible. It's worth developing these critiques, for their sake."
You don't have to accept the arguments of capitalism's defenders to take those arguments seriously. When Adam Smith railed against rentiers and elevated profit to a means of converting the intrinsic selfishness of the wealthy into an engine of production, he had a point:
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
When an item has the Materialist enchantment, it can be repaired in an anvil with that item's "repair material" as many times as the player wants to do so, without the anvil's "too expensive!" being a barrier....
Regarding the state of the law: C-18 has received royal assent. It is now Canadian law. The mechanism of enforcement - essentially enforced arbitration to determine how much Facebook and Google should pay - depends on regulations currently being drafted. Once those are complete - perhaps at the new year - payments will be due.
Otherwise ... FB and G. have to come into compliance with the law. They can choose to do it today, and that's fine.
Call me a conspiratorialist if you must. But when CEOs get on earnings calls and brag about how covid, war, and scare-stories about #inflation let them hike their prices and rake in never-before-seen profit margins, I think it's reasonable to blame inflation on greed, not on workers getting a couple of relief checks during the lockdown.
Global supply chains have the same pathology. Global shipping is controlled by three cartels, and for years, their regulators warned them that making their ships bigger and bigger risked disaster, like, say, a ship getting stuck in the Suez Canal:
Materialist, an early-to-mid-game Mending Side-grade
When an item has the Materialist enchantment, it can be repaired in an anvil with that item's "repair material" as many times as the player wants to do so, without the anvil's "too expensive!" being a barrier....
Official SoloBoardGaming Discussion -Too Many Bones (2017)
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