bostonscott

17 ms·

1.
by bostonscott 8y ago
Exactly what Amazon did on "sales tax." Against it, until their growth created a nexus in most states and required it. Now they have been one of the most forceful lobbyists advocating for it. They call it, "Main Street Fairne
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by bostonscott 8y ago
Bingo. This is precisely how big companies leverage big government to prevent challenges from threatening their business model. Amazon is investing its money into lobbying for "Main-street Fairness" ... https://www.reut
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by bostonscott 9y ago
Can you connect the dots for me? Why is the prevalence of two-earner households driving the gravitation towards bigger cities? Here is one perspective on "why urbanization" - https://graylinegroup.com/urbanization-
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by bostonscott 9y ago
"I mean you might get a few people who are willing to commute 4 hours a day, but certainly not enough to satisfy SV's needs. I doubt a company would pay their janitorial staff enough to live there without being forced." Of co
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by bostonscott 9y ago
The central problem is the motive. Low income individuals do not have such a powerful lobby that they're able to compel States to create laws that require affordable housing. It's the real estate/development/construction
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by bostonscott 9y ago
"Google was being already investigated/accused of extreme gender pay discrimination" Being "investigated" implies government intervention. Being "accused" implies lawsuit. Which is it? Big companies like
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by bostonscott 9y ago
"but this memo was a mistake and showed poor judgement and more than a little bias" "openness" and "freedom" are core values of Google. Even in a scenario where someone made effective arguments refuting all of
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by bostonscott 9y ago
"A corporation may not be the best place to bring up these topics, if your goal is to avoid getting fired" Agree. In fairness to James, however, I believe HR solicited feedback. "[T]he guy probably had some fantasy that he ca
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by bostonscott 9y ago
Your reference to lenders began with: "You are assuming perfect competition in the area of loans to nation-states," and you said "there are only a handful of lenders playing at this level." I disagreed because this is un
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by bostonscott 9y ago
"Only a handful of lenders playing at this level" There are many lenders playing at "this level," presuming that by "this level" you're referring to the market for sovereign debt. The area where there are
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by bostonscott 9y ago
Not at all. Greece is not an "undeveloped" country. Their people simply supported social policies that resulted in more expenses than revenues.
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by bostonscott 9y ago
You said: "but monopolies are also created through natural means and that still doesn't change my general premise" I'm just looking for an example of a single monopoly that fits your statement.
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by bostonscott 9y ago
So what's the moral of the story, practically speaking? If you drill a hole in the bottom of your boat; Be selective about whom you let save you?
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by bostonscott 9y ago
"Predatory" lending is only possible in the presence of coercion. If Party A is such a bad credit risk that the only loan they can get is from Party B at a high interest rate, and that requires them to dramatically change the beha
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by bostonscott 9y ago
Not just banks and corporations, but statists and politicians too. Each require this symbiosis. How it always starts: "Yay, justice! Let's collect a bunch of money from rich people and distribute it to poor people." Then it&#
16.
by bostonscott 9y ago
The only practical way to break up large companies is to create a competitive environment that takes them down. See: "Fortune 500 firms in 1955 vs. 2014; 88% are gone." If the largest companies were truly monopolies... http:&#x2F
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by bostonscott 9y ago
Can you provide an example of such a monopoly, that you contend has been created through "natural means?" It's a sincere question. I can't think of a single example.
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by bostonscott 9y ago
Example?
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by bostonscott 9y ago
So a doctor who decides to solve the problem of <x-disease>, and proceeds to raise $500 million over the next 15 years to develop a solution, get it approved, and commercialize it... is a "rent seeker" ?
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by bostonscott 9y ago
1. Half true. Competition drives down prices, but not necessarily profits. For example, you can lower your prices using innovation, by achieving economies of scale, etc. 2. Over long-term, probably true. In short-term, not true. Often monop
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by bostonscott 9y ago
You doubt people act in their rational self-interest? Smart, hard-working people who consistently exercise good judgement, prefer merit-based systems. They do better in merit-based systems than systems that reward those who are born lucky,
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by bostonscott 9y ago
Disagree. It is our current system, which increasingly empowers opportunists over capitalists, that will create "corporate fascism." Current system: 1) Big companies pay minimal or negative taxes. Small companies are taxed at the
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by bostonscott 9y ago
It's not the endgame of all capitalists. Actual capitalists, limited in number as they are, prefer free markets (e.g. no cronyism) because they'll make more money that way over time. Opportunists are the ones who thrive when thing
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by bostonscott 9y ago
The concept of "crony capitalism" is a misnomer. "Crony" is not a type of capitalism, it's the antithesis of capitalism. It's enabled by giving too much power to government. For example. When insurance companie
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by bostonscott 13y ago
I agree with the author, and i'd like to add privacy management to the list of things they suck at. The privacy setting experience is convoluted and not intuitive. It seems they've just continued to add new privacy features withou
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by bostonscott 13y ago
Many bright, independently minded people go through rebellious phases as they ascend into adulthood. "Why must I adhere to society's unwritten rules? I'm better than that. I'll never join the bourgeoisie!" Those wer
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by bostonscott 13y ago
Seems to me the premise of many comments on this post is that people should have a right to live in San Fran.
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by bostonscott 13y ago
"destroying American cities" Is she arguing SF is or will soon be "destroyed"?
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What I learned spending 25% less time on a traditional computer...(exclusiveconcepts.com)
1 points by bostonscott 14y ago|0 comments
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by bostonscott 14y ago
When it came to monetizing search, Google was lucky in that someone else already figured out how to do that (GoTo.com). No comparably effective model exists for monetizing high traffic websites (social media or otherwise), despite many atte

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