There is no solution i think. The entire economic system is about creating those imbalances. In other words, monopolies is the end goal of capitalism.
Comment on The Value of NVIDIA Now Exceeds an Unprecedented 16% of U.S. GDP
Redditsux@lemmy.world [bot] 5 days ago
I want to make a clarification here before we all get too far ahead with “16% of GDP”. There are many things wrong with the way giant tech companies dominate their respective fields. However the value of a company does not equal its’ share of the GDP. GDP is the OUTPUT of a country in 1 year. It does not equal the value of all the private enterprises combined which is what this comparison is trying to do. What we want to compare then, is to take NVIDIA’s output in ONE YEAR and see how much of the economy it dominates. US GDP is ~ 30 trillion in 2025. Nvidia’s output or revenue for current fiscal year is ~ $200 billion. That’s 0.6% of the GDP. That’s far cry from 16%, by about 27 times less.
What we should be concerned are the size of the market cap of these giant tech companies dominating the total value of the stock market, as well as the monopolistic margins these companies enjoy. All of these contribute to the imbalances in the world we see today - in the economies, in the society and social structure, and in politics. Communism once rose two centuries ago in protest against the concentration of power in the hands of a few. A solution is needed to remedy the imbalances of today.
1984@lemmy.today 4 days ago
Redditsux@lemmy.world [bot] 4 days ago
but that contradicts the great justification for capitalism: efficient markets. Monopolies are the exact opposite of efficient markets.
1984@lemmy.today 4 days ago
Are they? I see monopolies everywhere and they seem super efficient for bringing in billions of dollars to the owners, which in turn becomes incredibly powerful and influencial people. Their decisions affect the entire planet now.
AnyOldName3@lemmy.world 3 days ago
If you trust Adam Smith, an efficient market would quickly make new goods and services available for the lowest possible price. People are supposed to be incentivised to sell things, and competition is supposed to stop an excessive amount of money being diverted to profits instead of reinvestment and price cuts. There are supposed to be systems in place that ensure that there are always opportunities for competition, but the wealthiest have the most power to erode those mechanisms and the most interest in eroding them, and neoliberals think an Ayne Rand novel is the definitive text on how capitalism works rather than Adam Smith’s work, so even if you land in the capitalism makes everyone better off mode, it doesn’t last for long before it falls back into fuedalism with extra steps mode.
scarabic@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Yes, thank you. A lot of people live in a house that’s worth more than they make in a year. We can write a breathless sentence that makes this sound shocking if we like.
“Think about that number. You have tethered 450% of your economic output to the fortunes of one structure!”