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Posted
1 hour ago, Sawbonz said:

Unfettered capitalism trends to monopoly.

 
No. That’s a widely held misconception. Market competition in large, mature industries with declining, or  low but stable margins often consolidates around a small number of players as a result of economies of scale and expense capital, until they are disrupted by paradigm shifts and innovation, at which point those large players and industries typically cease to exist. Market competition rarely produces *monopolies* without state intervention.

Monopoly inherently socializes risk, and Capitalism *requires* risk and cost to be fully assumed by private capital. 

However, a small number of players in a consolidated market is an effective monopoly if they are working together. Thats why laws and enforcement of laws against things like collusion, price fixing, and other anti-competitive practices are so important. They  protect the freedom of the market and allow the invisible hand to do its thing. 

Posted
55 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

One thing, I think monopoly or monopolization, at least defined somewhat economically (the power to set/control prices), only touches on the dangers of capitalism and corporate power.

Capitalism is the opposite of corporate power. What people call capitalism in this context is not capitalism, but successful rent seeking and regulatory capture.

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Posted
3 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

 
No. That’s a widely held misconception. Market competition in large, mature industries with declining, or  low but stable margins often consolidates around a small number of players as a result of economies of scale and expense capital, until they are disrupted by paradigm shifts and innovation, at which point those large players and industries typically cease to exist. Market competition rarely produces *monopolies* without state intervention.

Monopoly inherently socializes risk, and Capitalism *requires* risk and cost to be fully assumed by private capital. 

However, a small number of players in a consolidated market is an effective monopoly if they are working together. Thats why laws and enforcement of laws against things like collusion, price fixing, and other anti-competitive practices are so important. They  protect the freedom of the market and allow the invisible hand to do its thing. 

Where does capitalism exist in the absence of a state

Posted (edited)
10 minutes ago, Sawbonz said:

Where does capitalism exist in the absence of a state


Capitalism can’t really exist without various artifacts of state, eg private property and state power to enforce it. 
 

There’s a much longer explanation here beyond the scope of this thread, but a lot of our political discourse revolves around rent seekers and bad actors looking for state support hiding behind the word “capitalism” and people who just don’t want to get fucked over not having the vocabulary or conceptual framework to understand it.

Edited by Bozo_Casanova
Posted
24 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:


Capitalism can’t really exist without various artifacts of state, eg private property and state power to enforce it. 
 

There’s a much longer explanation here beyond the scope of this thread, but a lot of our political discourse revolves around rent seekers and bad actors looking for state support hiding behind the word “capitalism” and people who just don’t want to get fucked over not having the vocabulary or conceptual framework to understand it.

I think when anyone makes a statement like I did about about unfettered capitalism trending toward monopoly, that statement should be construed with the understanding that everyone expect bad actors to exist and do their best to exploit weaknesses in whatever system of government is set up. It would save a lot of time getting caught up in pedantry 

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Posted
42 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

Capitalism is the opposite of corporate power. What people call capitalism in this context is not capitalism, but successful rent seeking and regulatory capture.

In the interest of full-on pedantry, I think rent-seeking and regulatory capture are symptoms or features of capitalism, whereas the competition and efficient markets features of capitalism are supposed to foreclose or eliminate those things.

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Posted
Dems just need to run a bunch of young, attractive, accomplished women who just repeat over and over "I'm a normal mom and I won't cover for pedos"  and that's all she wrote. 

Whoever shutdown Kamala and Walz we’re normals and what theyre doing is weird was a moron. Also, they needed to really chew up Project 2025.

But yeah, the recipe is right there


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