points by grafmax 13 hours ago | 0 comments
Just that they are primarily rent-seeking operations. They are based on access to what someone owns, rather than producing something. You own the utility, you charge access to it. You own the mine, therefore can profit primarily through ownership. You have assets and charge interest for access to them, adding countless surcharges in the process (finance). Tech is primarily based on network effects creating lock-in; tech firms are started by VCs building businesses at a loss leader then dialing up enshittification to profit. Healthcare is expensive because we have entrenched interests that don't want single payer - yet everyone needs it and prices can be hiked up, gouging consumers who are at a disadvantage. Without health insurance, the insane costs are boundless; insurance companies leverage their privileged regulatory positions as gatekeepers to a basic need to gouge consumers.
It's not that they don't produce anything of value, just that these industries in particular are primarily extractive and rent-seeking; companies are able to use their "moats" to resist competitive down pressures.
The problem with Georgism is that it is short-sighted. There is no economic cost to taxing rent extraction; billionaires fund Georgist narratives because it distracts from their own rent extraction.
> Every industry you named above absolutely responds to price signals.
As does land, what's your point?
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