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Dick Mullen's avatar

Your points about prices becoming arbitrary are spot on, as well as your mention of Lina Khan being ousted. I thought capitalists were supposed to oppose monopolies??

Additionally, I feel like the switch to subscription models for *everything* these days is a perfect example of the sort of collusionist structure you mention. It's the perfect way to scam people: charge them way more (over time) what they would normally pay up front, and then don't let them actually own the product themselves.

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Jon Neumann's avatar

Oh yeah, all this subscription, freemium fintech BS is created to short circuit the kind of mental processing that is the basis of rational pricing. In addition to sacking Lena Khan and her crusade against hidden fees, DOGE dismantling the CFPB is another instance of “capitalists” trying to deprive consumers of the information they need to make the rational decisions that supposedly lead to the most efficient economic outcomes.

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Feb 13
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Jon Neumann's avatar

Both Elon and Trump amassed their wealth from inherited riches, cushy tax breaks, broken promises to customers, and screwing their business partners.  I have been a Tesla owner for almost a decade, and I would give Elon credit for the benefit that product brought to society, but the fact is his company was dead in the water without a bailout from the Obama administration.  In capitalism, the profits go to those who bear the financial risk of failure, which should be the entrepreneur.   In typical Collusionist fashion though it was the taxpayers who took on the risk of Tesla's failure while Elon got to keep all the reward for himself.  He then used a sliver of his ill-gotten gains to become the largest single donor to a presidential campaign, then parlayed that $275 million donation to Trump to assume the unchecked power of digging into every government expenditure and canceling legally binding contracts by fiat.  While I am not opposed to DOGE in principle and I am all for transparency in government, that goal is defeated if the people digging into government finances are not transparent in their motivations and law-abiding in their methods.  I would say the actual state of our economy and government is far more fatally flawed than my assessment of it.

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