An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

[FreshFish]

Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

I've consulted for top executives of no less than 50 companies...a dozen of which were F500. Regulation was not overwhelming.

we are sort of saying the same thing from a different perspective. I said that large companies are able to employ a staff of compliance officers, and you are saying the same thing; I also said that small companies cannot employ such a staff given the relative size of their budgets.

The drivers of new job creation and innovation typically have been smaller businesses and startups. Not all innovation takes place there, to be sure.

[Kepler]

Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

we are sort of saying the same thing from a different perspective. I said that large companies are able to employ a staff of compliance officers, and you are saying the same thing; I also said that small companies cannot employ such a staff given the relative size of their budgets.

You may be surprised, but I kind of agree with you as well.

The ills that regulation is trying to ameliorate are classic Pareto problems. I would be interested in the practicality of a two-tiered regulatory state, where large companies have to check every box but small companies and M&Ps get a waiver for all but lethal issues.

[dxmnkd316]

Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

Don't we kind of have that already? Many laws that apply to businesses don't apply to small businesses. Parts of the minimum wage, ACA, etc.

[FreshFish]

Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

You may be surprised, but I kind of agree with you as well.

The ills that regulation is trying to ameliorate are classic Pareto problems. I would be interested in the practicality of a two-tiered regulatory state, where large companies have to check every box but small companies and M&Ps get a waiver for all but lethal issues.

Another surprising area where we probably agree is in anti-trust enforcement. Free-market capitalism may be a great economic engine, but it needs to be embedded in a broader social context. The people who operate within free-market capitalism still need to behave in ethical and socially responsible ways.

It is the nature of free market capitalism for the more efficient companies to drive less-efficient competitors out of business, and for companies within industries to consolidate to fewer and fewer, larger and larger ones. But this results in monopoly power and a certain form of "laziness" that undercuts the very same competitive power that brought it about in the first place.

It is d*mnably difficult to describe how and when anti-trust action should be applicable, though in many cases it is fairly apparent "just by looking at the situation" when it is called for (i.e., on an ad hoc basis, hard to codify though). The breakups of Standard Oil and of AT&T created standalone competitive firms which then led to substantial innovation and price reductions afterward, which is the desired result in the first place. Ironically, several of the companies that resulted from the initial breakups subsequently merged again.

Today, it seems to me that a company like Comcast should be forced to divest into two companies, one that provides content and one that delivers content. It seems inherently anti-competitive to me for the same company both to provide and to deliver content as they would be sorely tempted to restrict competitors' ability to deliver alternative content.



The practical problem with anti-trust enforcement, of course, is regulatory capture, and rent-seeking behavior, as companies in one industry try to use it to restrict competition from another. That happened with cable vs DSL: cable was successful in getting DSL to be regulated under one regime while cable is regulated under a different regime. With a different regulatory structure, DSL could be just as effective if not even more so than cable in content delivery; as it stands now, cable has a significant competitive advantage, not because of technology, but solely because of the difference in regulation.

If I am not mistaken, South Korea has unfettered DSL that provides better internet service there than cable provides here.

[FreshFish]

Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

Jared Kushner interview in Forbes.

One way they raised money to fund the campaign was by selling Trump-themed merchandise, which also served as additional campaign advertising as well. Pretty clever, getting people to buy hats and T-shirts from you, which they then wear to spread the message for you.

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

Jared Kushner interview in Forbes.

One way they raised money to fund the campaign was by selling Trump-themed merchandise, which also served as additional campaign advertising as well. Pretty clever, getting people to buy hats and T-shirts from you, which they then wear to spread the message for you.

All campaigns sell merch - that idea in and of itself is not that clever.

What was clever was the campaign slogan's appeal to people who think the country is going to hell in a handbasket.

[St. Clown]

Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

Jared Kushner interview in Forbes.

One way they raised money to fund the campaign was by selling Trump-themed merchandise, which also served as additional campaign advertising as well. Pretty clever, getting people to buy hats and T-shirts from you, which they then wear to spread the message for you.

Doesn't every presidential campaign in the modern era sell merchandise to the public? I don't see this as being any different than what others have done. Sure, most campaigns will hand out shirts and hats at rallies, but they always sell them on their sites, too.

[MaizeRage]

Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

Doesn't every presidential campaign in the modern era sell merchandise to the public? I don't see this as being any different than what others have done. Sure, most campaigns will hand out shirts and hats at rallies, but they always sell them on their sites, too.

Hillary's website was still selling (heavily discounted) merch last week.

[5mn_Major]

Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

Hillary's website was still selling (heavily discounted) merch last week.

Everyone political entity sells t shirts, buttons, etc. I would assume there's still a demand for Hillary product. Oh and due to outcome of election...

/thread

[The Sicatoka]

Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

Pretty clever, getting people to buy hats and T-shirts from you, which they then wear to spread the message for you.

Nike and Pink (Victoria's Secret) have no comment.

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

All campaigns sell merch - that idea in and of itself is not that clever.

What was clever was the campaign slogan's appeal to people who think the country is going to hell in a handbasket.

i don't think the latter was all that original either, Make America Great Again and Obama's changer were both great slogans that meant whatever someone wanted them to mean...

[dxmnkd316]

Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

Two questions:

1. What's the point of having a Senate and state borders if we get rid of the electoral college?

2. Also, my dad said there was some coalition of states that he said were joining together to agree to vote for the winner of the national popular vote. Not for this election but future. It's a movement that's been going for quite a while and all they need is 270 EVs before it more or less becomes the way things work. They're in the high hundreds right now. He also said it wouldn't require an amendment because they would effectively be either faithless electors or electors bound by the law of the state. is this a thing?

[unofan]

Two questions:

1. What's the point of having a Senate and state borders if we get rid of the electoral college?

2. Also, my dad said there was some coalition of states that he said were joining together to agree to vote for the winner of the national popular vote. Not for this election but future. It's a movement that's been going for quite a while and all they need is 270 EVs before it more or less becomes the way things work. They're in the high hundreds right now. He also said it wouldn't require an amendment because they would effectively be either faithless electors or electors bound by the law of the state. is this a thing?

As to the latter, yes. It's the national popular vote compact or something like that. They have about 185 EVs pledged thus far, but it's all from deep blue states. So good luck getting the last 100.

[FreshFish]

Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

Any ideas on why so many on the left have become so unhinged?

One theory is that those people truly believe that they are more enlightened than everyone else and are suffering from severe cognitive dissonance that not everyone agrees with their self-assessment.

People on the right disliked Obama intensely but I don't recall the same level of insanity: there were no giant rallies against his inauguration, no one refused to attend it, there were no widespread claims his election was "illegitimate"¹. Even people who opposed him hoped he'd do good things for the country.








¹ the non-US citizen stuff was a fringe element, IMHO, hence the qualifier "widespread".

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

Any ideas on why so many on the left have become so unhinged?

One theory is that those people truly believe that they are more enlightened than everyone else and are suffering from severe cognitive dissonance that not everyone agrees with their self-assessment.

People on the right disliked Obama intensely but I don't recall the same level of insanity: there were no giant rallies against his inauguration, no one refused to attend it, there were no widespread claims his election was "illegitimate"¹. Even people who opposed him hoped he'd do good things for the country.








¹ the non-US citizen stuff was a fringe element, IMHO, hence the qualifier "widespread".

Who cares. Most of them didn't vote for Hillary anyway.