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Parent Post: So, about that light bulb cartel...
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In Reply To
sonatime
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4/26/2026, 2:22:29 AM
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No offense taken. I did struggle to create a clear, concise reply in the previous thread. I actually enjoy when my brain gets engaged like this and I just wish it were focused on more positive developments. I believe this is how a healthy capitalist market should work in practice: companies grow large, bean counters take over, they sometimes lose touch with the core business, and then a small, nimble innovator comes along and disrupts them. Chinesium creates difficult competition: cheap labor, weak IP enforcement, concentrated specialty manufacturing, questionable pollution regulations, and currency manipulation. I was always pleasantly surprised that Germany remained one of the world’s top exporters of high-quality goods despite this, but that edge has weakened under bad policy in recent years. 
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saarnok
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4/26/2026, 3:34:00 AM
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 I read you, even if I can't predict what your take on anything will be, I'm pretty sure we'd agree on some crucial points. I was totally bought into Friedman economics, imminently more sensible than Keinsian economics, but sadly lacking in a world where, yes, some countries will simply cut off their nose to spite their faces when push comes to shove. I'm sending along an interview of Victor Davis Hanson by Mike Rowe. At one point they get into the exact problem of ignoring the short term harm of long term policies as relates to foreign actors subsidizing their exports while domestic producers absorb the consequences. Yes. Friedman is exactly right: The society overall must benefit from foreign governments subsidizing our cheap food in a measurable way. If that results in the destruction of our capacity to afford to farm, that's not a capacity that's easily recoverable.
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sonatime
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4/26/2026, 8:54:05 PM
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🙂 I'm only interested in truth, facts, and logic. I form my ideas and observations based on what I’m aware of. That’s it. The Schlitz clip was just an interesting example of what happens when bean counters take control of a company they don’t actually understand. Beer customers are easy to lose but hard to win back, which is exactly why the brewmaster and quality control were the most valuable parts of the business. I still haven’t gotten to the economic part of the podcast. I wish the video had timestamps. Foreign governments subsidizing their exports does put real pressure on domestic producers and one the best ways to handle it is to keep own domestic market as free and flexible as possible. Lower regulatory barriers let industries absorb shocks, innovate, and pivot quickly when conditions change. The far bigger long-term risk, I believe, is domestic over-regulation that rigs the game in favor of giant corporations and creates de-facto monopolies. The US pork industry is an example: heavy USDA inspection rules, environmental compliance costs, and processing requirements drove thousands of independent family hog farms out of business. The number of hog farms in the US plummeted from roughly 660,000 in the mid-1980s to under 70,000 today, while total production increased. Big agribusiness, the companies that could afford the red tape, simply mopped up the market. What began as “consumer protection” and environmental safeguards ended up consolidating an entire sector into the hands of a few dominant players.
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