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Posted on 03/28/2019 11:47:27 AM PDT by Kaslin
It's no secret that firms such as Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple have extraordinary levels of power and influence. For example, most voters (55 percent) believe that Facebook has too much power. To some in the political world, this is a problem that only government intervention can solve.
But, that's not the way the public sees it.
There is very little public support for breaking up the tech companies or having the federal government regulate the platforms. That reluctance comes partly from the reasonable fear that giving such power to federal bureaucrats would make things worse rather than better.
Additionally, voters clearly recognize that consumer choice and marketplace competition exert more control over large companies than any government agency could impose. Looking out over the next 25 years, 87 percent of voters believe Facebook will have to deal with significant competition that challenges its dominance. In fact, a majority (52 percent) believe it is likely the social media giant will actually go out of business during that time.
Facebook is perceived to be in more trouble than the other tech giants, but voters overwhelmingly expect that Google, Amazon and Apple will also face significant competition over the coming quarter of a century. However, most believe those companies will survive. Just 26 percent believe Apple will go out of business; 23 percent say the same about Google; and 20 percent think Amazon will disappear.
Still, even though most believe these companies are expected to survive, the serious competition they face will hold them accountable.
This reality is often missed by people who look at the world as it is and can't believe anything will change without political action. The current debate over tech companies is simply the latest version in an ongoing saga.
In 1967, General Motors sold 49 percent of all cars purchased in the United States. John Kenneth Galbraith, a political economist, wrote that GM's position was so dominant that it could no longer be constrained by either consumers or competitors. Galbraith, who served in four presidential administrations, believed that the auto firms would never compete with each other because they shared a common interest in soaking the consumer by raising prices.
Eleven years later, Galbraith repeated his claim that no other auto company would be foolish enough to take on GM.
Why?
"Everyone knows that the survivor of such a contest would not be the aggressor but General Motors." The auto giant's market share was still a remarkable 46 percent at that point. It never again reached such lofty heights. In fact, GM's share of the market declined for 29 of the next 36 years, eventually leading it into bankruptcy and a government bailout. It went from selling 46 percent of all cars in 1978 to 35 percent a decade later, 29 percent a decade after that, and just 17 percent in 2014.
It's difficult to picture how large and seemingly invincible companies will someday fail. Still, as voters recognize, it's likely that many of today's tech giants will suffer the fate of General Motors. That's the way a dynamic economy is supposed to work. And, it's a system that puts power in the hands of the people rather than the politicians.
I worked for Ford for a brief period after grad school and was shocked at the attitude of management.
Management knew best and any thinking which disagreed with that of management was verboten.
I was interview by a guy who eventually became CFO and he asked me what kind of car I drove and why. I drove a VW bug and told him exactly why (and shared my creative thinking with him). I was at the top of my finance class and thought I had some good ideas re: the future of automobiles. Wrong.
They still made me a very attractive offer which, like a fool, I took. But I think that put a cap on my career there.
I left within a year out of boredom.
Man I hope so.
Google, Amazon and Apple need to be broken up like AT&T as well.
Anyone see a Rank Zerox photocopy machine lately..?
GM ignored that Honda and Toyota started making better cars than GM.
GM let the quality if their cars go way down.
The “energy crisis” played a part. GM cars were great until the early to mid 70’s.
When they responded to politics and began making economy cars, compacts etc...I think they used the opportunity to make them cheaper.
John Kenneth Galbraith was the left’s favorite economist.
His son (Jamie) continues the proud tradition as the family’s socialist propagandist at the University of Texas:
https://lbj.utexas.edu/directory/faculty/james-galbraith
these companies need to all be turned into utilities and regulated.
I look forward to the day Mark Zuckerberg is living in a cardboard box under a bridge.
Amazon is essentially the Wal-Mart of the Net and I doubt they will die off anytime soon.
_____________________
Ya never really know.
WalMart is competing w/Amazon on line, while downsizing their brick & mortar operations in terms of employees. Most of my local store checkouts are automated. Stock has been consolidated, with many name brand items eliminated. Rumors abound (online)that the suits have installed *secret* mics in the checkouts to monitor people’s reactions. In my area, these conversations, vis-a-vis WMs changes, are NSFW. (OTOH, the store manager was clueless about this rumor, which doesn’t mean it isn’t true)
IDK. I’m old to enough to remember when Sears and J.C. Penny dominated retail. Who ever thought the future would be one where people paid to wear logos? In 1958, in a HS class, we had to prepare a report on the future. I chose fashion as a topic and drew a model with green hair. Sneers ensued. “Who would ever dye their hair green?” I wonder if that person has grandchildren today?
As to Goog:I bet they survive, thrive and continue to dominate. Google’s version of the office suite is taught in the schools. Even this old lady uses it. Will I continue to pay for Microsoft Office? I’m beginning to question why. Word is no more private than Docs, once I enable editing.
When I notified all my accounts of an email/phone change, I did not notify Google. When I went to my Google account, they already knew.
I think the future happens to us as a confluence of events and influences. We take our milieu for granted. We’re too close, too immersed to evaluate it objectively.
I bet lots of folks went broke on buggy whip futures.
What social media are the kids flocking to these days? Might be the next tech company to invest in.
It just so happened I went to Wal-Mart yesterday (happens very infrequently, mind you, they are next to the post office and I was mailing my tax return). It was late afternoon yet surprisingly few shoppers. I found what I wanted and went to the checkout. There was a young black lady as cashier with NOBODY waiting in line.
While I was there, I found sausages made by a local company and added it to my cart. I asked the cashier if she knew why I bought it. She said nothing but shrugged. I told her they were the only ones to sell eight sausages. How many are there in a bag of hot dog buns? Eight. You’d have thought nobody did market research in that industry. The cashier just looked at me and said nothing.
Around here (Indiana) WM is competitive on some boxed and packaged groceries but very high prices on meats.
Aldi is amazingly lower on almost everything.
They are already regulated - and in manifest violation - by the Communications Decency Act of 1996 Section 230.
They are given protection from content liability in exchange for operating as open platforms that do not govern that content.
If we had actual representation in DC, then this would be a done deal: Instead, they have been allowed by the corrupt UniParty to have their cake and eat it too.
P.S. They are not private companies; they are publicly-traded corporations also regulated by the SEC.
This is the Facebook Is Evil ping list.
If you'd like to be on or off this list, please click Private Reply below and drop me a FReepmail.
Click The Pic
Thanks for the graphics.
Thank you!
At some point Trump will jump on this.
It’s long past time for Google, Facebook and Twitter to have a joint SEC / FEC investigation. In-kind campaign contributions are a thing.
>>If a business loses customer, it has put itself out of business.
When restaurants and hotel refused service to black custometrs, they didn’t seem to be hurting for business enough that they decided to change the policy.
It was civil rights charges that forced the change.
The tech giants claim that they are not responsible for content, the copyright violations, the death threats, the libel. And then they stile, delete, and ban members of one of two major political parties in America. Either “anything goes” (that is not in violation of law) or they are responsible for all content.
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