this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2023
1816 points (99.1% liked)
Technology
59667 readers
3766 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related content.
- Be excellent to each another!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
Approved Bots
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
The cost of things has detached from what it costs to put the thing in the hand of the consumer, to instead a model of "what is this worth to you".
Under capitalism it's always been the case of"what is this worth to you". The difference is in the past if a company overcharges then a competitor could come along and undercut them (so long as the gap was big enough that it made financial sense).
Unfortunately, monopolies, regulatory/government capture, vertical integration, marketing and cartels have gotten so far out of control that consumers are left with little choice but to suck it up. And most governments in the Anglosphere don't really care.
Are you suggesting the automobile market is a monopoly?
No, we are suggesting that the automobile market is one of the few industries that isn't a monopoly yet, which is why BMW couldn't get away with it.
But also, the automobile market is getting more concentrated so it won't be long until the 4 companies left legally collude to force this stuff on us. Just like every other industry.
Gotcha. Misread.
No, not everything in that list applies to every industry. The car market isn't a monopoly, but it definitely has issues with government and regulatory capture (and perhaps others, I'm not expert in auto manufacturing). But even without those issues the nature of car making today gives it a high barrier of entry for new comers.
And as others pointed out, the fact it's not a monopoly leads to more unpopular ideas being scrapped.
Yeah we’re reaching the point where it becomes clear that the market can’t bear everyone charging the most the market can bear.
People will pay extra for a luxury. People won’t pay the most they’re willing to pay on a luxury on every luxury they’ve gotten accustomed to at a reasonable price.
I hope you're right, but I've seen a concerning amount of people say "It's only $X, so why not?" so many times that it's eating up a huge percentage of their monthly earnings.