12 votes

Most billionaires are people who run very important tollbooths in the economy

3 comments

  1. [3]
    skybrian
    Link
    Maybe it's because I'm seeing them everywhere, but I noticed several examples of spurious binary thinking in this article. Like, at the beginning, saying that the Obama presidency failed. Obama...

    Maybe it's because I'm seeing them everywhere, but I noticed several examples of spurious binary thinking in this article.

    Like, at the beginning, saying that the Obama presidency failed. Obama tried a lot of things and succeeded at some things and failed at others, so putting it that way doesn't tell you much of anything about that time in US history; it mostly tells you the author's sentiment.

    And legal/illegal is another misleading binary. There are easy cases, but the law is not always as clear-cut as people pretend, which is what keeps lawyers busy.

    5 votes
    1. [2]
      MimicSquid
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      Ok, those are both criticisms, but not of the central theme of the article, which to my reading is: Mostly, wealth and power come from private monopolistic or monopsonistic control of a keystone...

      Ok, those are both criticisms, but not of the central theme of the article, which to my reading is: Mostly, wealth and power come from private monopolistic or monopsonistic control of a keystone of the economy. Do you disagree with that?

      6 votes
      1. skybrian
        Link Parent
        Well, I wouldn't put it that way. I believe something sort of similar. I guess it depends what you mean by "control" and "keystone". There are definitely positive feedback effects that make it...

        Well, I wouldn't put it that way. I believe something sort of similar. I guess it depends what you mean by "control" and "keystone".

        There are definitely positive feedback effects that make it hard to compete in a winner-take-all competition. I also believe Microsoft did have at least shady and perhaps illegal tactics in the early days, and Uber certainly became well-known for this. And it's certainly true that they were in the right place at the right time. Microsoft's big advantage was that when they started, they didn't have to compete with Microsoft, and that opening closed pretty quick. Without that luck they wouldn't have won so big.

        But I don't think shady tactics alone would do it; the problem is often structural. To use a video game metaphor, game balance doesn't happen on its own. Runaway effects happen more often than not in games where there's nothing to slow down the winners and give the losers another shot. And outside games, there's often nobody designing the system to prevent runaway effects. Take a look at music and movie stars for plenty of examples of runaway effects. Sports leagues would be similar if the leagues didn't do things to keep it competitive.

        So I think looking for someone to blame is kind of missing the point. The game needs to be rebalanced because it's broken and that would be true whether or not people are cheating. If you could magically make all the cheating go away it would still happen.

        And where do these positive feedback effects come from? Lots of things we already know. Due to the magic of compounding, the more money you have, the easier it is for a reasonably prudent person (who doesn't screw it up) to get richer. Fame builds on itself. Money and fame results in power. When customers have a mostly positive experience with a company, they will use them more and more just because it's familiar, and the company gets more and more free publicity. The company can pay more and attract top talent. It can buy out other companies. It takes a lot to prevent this from turning into insurmountable advantages.

        4 votes