you are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

[–]BigFatRetard 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I would agree with you, except that not one of these companies succeeded because they were the absolute best. The government sponsored the basic technologies, governments around the world paid ungodly amounts of money to pick winners, the government gives massive subsidies and sweetheart deals, and beyond that governments grant ridiculous monopolies in a number of ways.

Even something like cda 230 or the DMCA -- companies not specifically targeted by these laws would give their left nut for the sort of total immunity they provide. Could you imagine car companies with total immunity from major types of litigation? Manufacturing? Restaurants? Medicine?

So I see it as "live by the sword, die by the sword". You get these huge benefits, you have to serve everyone. If you want to start sticking your fingers in and abusing those ridiculous benefits, you go back to being a normal company and you can make a go of it like any other company.

[–]neovulcan[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

That's a fair philosophy. I honestly don't know how far the subsidies and sweetheart deals go, but I've always figured they were few and far between. I remember when the auto industry was collapsing, Ford was the only major American car maker that didn't take a bailout on government terms. Wouldn't a bailout like that come with terms?