Seven Fixes for American Capitalism
I agree with some of the points being made in this article, but there&#x27;s definitely better resources on this topic.<p>The paper mentioned in the article, &quot;Amazon&#x27;s Antitrust Paradox&quot;, is very thorough and easy to read even for someone (like me) who doesn&#x27;t have a background in economics.<p>The key point made in that paper is that modern antitrust legislation only looks at price when determining whether a monopoly is harming the consumer, and doesn&#x27;t consider scale or the effects on the overall market and competition.<p>&gt;This Note argues that the current framework in antitrust—specifically its pegging competition to “consumer welfare,” defined as short-term price effects—is unequipped to capture the architecture of market power in the modern economy. We cannot cognize the potential harms to competition posed by Amazon’s dominance if we measure competition primarily through price and output. Specifically, current doctrine underappreciates the risk of predatory pricing and how integration across distinct business lines may prove anticompetitive. These concerns are heightened in the context of online platforms for two reasons. First, the economics of platform markets create incentives for a company to pursue growth over profits, a strategy that investors have rewarded. Under these conditions, predatory pricing becomes highly rational—even as existing doctrine treats it as irrational and therefore implausible. Second, because online platforms serve as critical intermediaries, integrating across business lines positions these platforms to control the essential infrastructure on which their rivals depend. This dual role also enables a platform to exploit information collected on companies using its services to undermine them as competitors.<p>Even though I&#x27;m a software engineer, I&#x27;m skeptical of claims that technology can help fix social, economic, or environmental problems.  I support green technology, but they&#x27;re not a panacea.  In articles pushing green tech and sustainable energy, there seems to be this implicit assumption that we can maintain our current standard of living in a &quot;sustainable&quot; way.  Solar panels and electric cars aren&#x27;t going to prevent climate catastrophe if only 5% of people can afford them.  Rather than relying on individual consumers to make ethical choices (opting into living sustainably) we need drastic changes at a state-wide level (so that choosing not to be sustainable is opt-out).<p>&gt;Income inequality can be solved by educating or retraining workers for the high-tech jobs of the future.<p>This statement doesn&#x27;t make any sense.  If you increase the number of software engineers, the average wage will decrease.<p>Edit:  Forgot to mention that tech is absolutely automating away a large number of jobs.