6 ms·

How about Big Telecom and Big Fintech and Banking? Or is it simply because the rest did not pay enough to the lobbyists?

Jenk 5y ago
Some is better than none.
- annadane 5y ago
  No, this is Hacker News, where we have to gripe about every single little thing until it loses all fucking meaning Edit: you downvote me because you know this is exactly how it goes around here
  - Notanothertoo 5y ago
    Yes and that's a good thing. Politics is mostly a game of pretend and therefore bullshit, as uhh.. engineers we like to be more practical. We simply see the bullshit they are selling regardless of political affiliation. If they wanted to actually solve problems the approach and results would be totally different.
    - jfengel 5y ago
      Politics is mostly a game of pretend and therefore bullshit, as uhh.. engineers we like to be more practical. I've found that when engineers talk about politics, they're no more practical than anybody else. On HN I see a ton of uninformed and simplistic overbroad solutions. They imagine it's pragmatism, but they don't actually know any of the real problems.
  - momento 5y ago
    The irony of griping on HN about griping on HN.
bilbo0s 5y ago
The ISPs have been getting hit in this series of orders. That said, yes, fintech and banking are conspicuously absent. Which kind of lets you know that they are just too powerful.
- fastssd 5y ago
  And people say crypto is bad. Sad world we live in.
- TheRealPomax 5y ago
  Or that you really, really need to establish precedent (and ideally, a pttern) by first successfully going after the "easier" targets. It's much easier to go after fintech and banking if you can go "what's the problem, you're just next in line, your industry's hardly getting singled out"
- dodobirdlord 5y ago
  Banking is getting impacted in this series of executive orders, there’s a mandate that banks make customer financial history portable so that customers aren’t locked into continuing to use their current bank to keep their financial records. Aside from that issue that stops customers from being likely to switch banks, there’s a ton of competition in banking. There are many consumer banks, they all provide essentially the same services, and they compete on things like branch density, customer service, and saving/loan rates. Aside from that, consumer banking is already one of the most regulated industries. Fintech consumer products and services are rare with the exception of tax preparation. E-trading is becoming more popular, but existing consumer banks and brokerages are stepping up to compete across the board. Intuit’s TurboTax product is really the only example I can think of in the fintech industry that needs antitrust attention.
- kyawzazaw 5y ago
  when you say fintech, which companies are you referring to
jeffbee 5y ago
There's much more in the actual order addressed toward banks and telcos and ISPs than there is language directed at "big tech". https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/07/09/executive-order-on-promoting-competition-in-the-american-economy/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-action...
summerlight 5y ago
This executive order is really comprehensive, it touches literally every economical areas where competitions are withering away. To be specific, I think this part addresses your concern on big telecoms. > (l) To promote competition, lower prices, and a vibrant and innovative telecommunications ecosystem, the Chair of the Federal Communications Commission is encouraged to work with the rest of the Commission, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to consider: The following also partially addresses big banks, though I'm not sure it's sufficient enough to tame them. Better than nothing though. > (e) To ensure Americans have choices among financial institutions and to guard against excessive market power, the Attorney General, in consultation with the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Comptroller of the Currency, is encouraged to review current practices and adopt a plan, not later than 180 days after the date of this order, for the revitalization of merger oversight under the Bank Merger Act and the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (Public Law 84-511, 70 Stat. 133, 12 U.S.C. 1841 et seq.) that is in accordance with the factors enumerated in 12 U.S.C. 1828(c) and 1842(c). > (t) The Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, consistent with the pro-competition objectives stated in section 1021 of the Dodd-Frank Act, is encouraged to consider:
- Animats 5y ago
  We need to bring back the Glass-Stegall Act, which kept banks and brokerages separate. It's not really about competition, though; it's about isolating broker failures from bank failures. That was in Trump's plaform, by the way.
- nr3msd 5y ago
  There is nothing concrete in any of those three points. I read through the whole thing, there are some decent ideas but a lot of filler.
ergocoder 5y ago
I have no idea why big tech is in there. If you think Google, apple, Microsoft, and Facebook are evil, then other kinds of business like Pharma, insurance, bank, agriculture are 10x Satan reborn combined.
- mlindner 5y ago
  Well those haven't had a couple decades of time working with the government to build regulations that suit them. They're early stage still.
  - Apocryphon 5y ago
    > Facebook and Amazon are now the two biggest corporate lobbying spenders in the country.[9] > Big Tech has eclipsed yesterday’s big lobbying spenders, Big Oil and Big Tobacco. In 2020, Amazon and Facebook spent nearly twice as much as Exxon and Philip Morris on lobbying. > Big Tech’s lobbyists are not just numerous, they are also among the most influential in Washington. Among the 10 lobbyists who were the biggest contributors to the 2020 election cycle, half lobby on behalf of at least one of the four Big Tech companies. Together, just these five lobbyists contributed over $2 million to the 2020 elections. https://www.citizen.org/article/big-tech-lobbying-update/ https://www.citizen.org/article/big-tech-lobbying-update/
- noelherrick 5y ago
  This is more about power and reach. I'm going to pick on Facebook since they are easy to dislike. They are the medium of disinformation that is hurting the US and the world. First, people are joining extremist groups due to FB recommendations [0]. Second, vaccine misinformation has been spreading on FB. [1] Those are two horrific examples, but there's more. 0. https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/campaigns/facebook-stop-group-recommendations/ https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/campaigns/facebook-stop-gr... 1. https://www.vox.com/recode/22319681/vaccine-misinformation-facebook-instagram-spreading https://www.vox.com/recode/22319681/vaccine-misinformation-f...
justbored123 5y ago
Well, the Obama admin that included him was fully in the pocked of the bankers as revealed by Wikileaks. They chose 29 of 31 cabinet positions. Seems that not much has changed there. https://newrepublic.com/article/137798/important-wikileaks-revelation-isnt-hillary-clinton https://newrepublic.com/article/137798/important-wikileaks-r...

Jenk 5y ago

Some is better than none.

annadane 5y ago
No, this is Hacker News, where we have to gripe about every single little thing until it loses all fucking meaning Edit: you downvote me because you know this is exactly how it goes around here
- Notanothertoo 5y ago
  Yes and that's a good thing. Politics is mostly a game of pretend and therefore bullshit, as uhh.. engineers we like to be more practical. We simply see the bullshit they are selling regardless of political affiliation. If they wanted to actually solve problems the approach and results would be totally different.
  - jfengel 5y ago
    Politics is mostly a game of pretend and therefore bullshit, as uhh.. engineers we like to be more practical. I've found that when engineers talk about politics, they're no more practical than anybody else. On HN I see a ton of uninformed and simplistic overbroad solutions. They imagine it's pragmatism, but they don't actually know any of the real problems.
- momento 5y ago
  The irony of griping on HN about griping on HN.

bilbo0s 5y ago

The ISPs have been getting hit in this series of orders. That said, yes, fintech and banking are conspicuously absent. Which kind of lets you know that they are just too powerful.

fastssd 5y ago
And people say crypto is bad. Sad world we live in.
TheRealPomax 5y ago
Or that you really, really need to establish precedent (and ideally, a pttern) by first successfully going after the "easier" targets. It's much easier to go after fintech and banking if you can go "what's the problem, you're just next in line, your industry's hardly getting singled out"
dodobirdlord 5y ago
Banking is getting impacted in this series of executive orders, there’s a mandate that banks make customer financial history portable so that customers aren’t locked into continuing to use their current bank to keep their financial records. Aside from that issue that stops customers from being likely to switch banks, there’s a ton of competition in banking. There are many consumer banks, they all provide essentially the same services, and they compete on things like branch density, customer service, and saving/loan rates. Aside from that, consumer banking is already one of the most regulated industries. Fintech consumer products and services are rare with the exception of tax preparation. E-trading is becoming more popular, but existing consumer banks and brokerages are stepping up to compete across the board. Intuit’s TurboTax product is really the only example I can think of in the fintech industry that needs antitrust attention.
kyawzazaw 5y ago
when you say fintech, which companies are you referring to

jeffbee 5y ago

There's much more in the actual order addressed toward banks and telcos and ISPs than there is language directed at "big tech". https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/07/09/executive-order-on-promoting-competition-in-the-american-economy/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-action...

summerlight 5y ago

This executive order is really comprehensive, it touches literally every economical areas where competitions are withering away. To be specific, I think this part addresses your concern on big telecoms. > (l) To promote competition, lower prices, and a vibrant and innovative telecommunications ecosystem, the Chair of the Federal Communications Commission is encouraged to work with the rest of the Commission, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to consider: The following also partially addresses big banks, though I'm not sure it's sufficient enough to tame them. Better than nothing though. > (e) To ensure Americans have choices among financial institutions and to guard against excessive market power, the Attorney General, in consultation with the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Comptroller of the Currency, is encouraged to review current practices and adopt a plan, not later than 180 days after the date of this order, for the revitalization of merger oversight under the Bank Merger Act and the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (Public Law 84-511, 70 Stat. 133, 12 U.S.C. 1841 et seq.) that is in accordance with the factors enumerated in 12 U.S.C. 1828(c) and 1842(c). > (t) The Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, consistent with the pro-competition objectives stated in section 1021 of the Dodd-Frank Act, is encouraged to consider:

Animats 5y ago
We need to bring back the Glass-Stegall Act, which kept banks and brokerages separate. It's not really about competition, though; it's about isolating broker failures from bank failures. That was in Trump's plaform, by the way.
nr3msd 5y ago
There is nothing concrete in any of those three points. I read through the whole thing, there are some decent ideas but a lot of filler.

ergocoder 5y ago

I have no idea why big tech is in there. If you think Google, apple, Microsoft, and Facebook are evil, then other kinds of business like Pharma, insurance, bank, agriculture are 10x Satan reborn combined.

mlindner 5y ago
Well those haven't had a couple decades of time working with the government to build regulations that suit them. They're early stage still.
- Apocryphon 5y ago
  > Facebook and Amazon are now the two biggest corporate lobbying spenders in the country.[9] > Big Tech has eclipsed yesterday’s big lobbying spenders, Big Oil and Big Tobacco. In 2020, Amazon and Facebook spent nearly twice as much as Exxon and Philip Morris on lobbying. > Big Tech’s lobbyists are not just numerous, they are also among the most influential in Washington. Among the 10 lobbyists who were the biggest contributors to the 2020 election cycle, half lobby on behalf of at least one of the four Big Tech companies. Together, just these five lobbyists contributed over $2 million to the 2020 elections. https://www.citizen.org/article/big-tech-lobbying-update/ https://www.citizen.org/article/big-tech-lobbying-update/
noelherrick 5y ago
This is more about power and reach. I'm going to pick on Facebook since they are easy to dislike. They are the medium of disinformation that is hurting the US and the world. First, people are joining extremist groups due to FB recommendations [0]. Second, vaccine misinformation has been spreading on FB. [1] Those are two horrific examples, but there's more. 0. https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/campaigns/facebook-stop-group-recommendations/ https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/campaigns/facebook-stop-gr... 1. https://www.vox.com/recode/22319681/vaccine-misinformation-facebook-instagram-spreading https://www.vox.com/recode/22319681/vaccine-misinformation-f...

justbored123 5y ago

Well, the Obama admin that included him was fully in the pocked of the bankers as revealed by Wikileaks. They chose 29 of 31 cabinet positions. Seems that not much has changed there. https://newrepublic.com/article/137798/important-wikileaks-revelation-isnt-hillary-clinton https://newrepublic.com/article/137798/important-wikileaks-r...