Saturday, March 30, 2024

Economics: Antitrust - Why Does The Government Punish Success?


 (Drivebycuriosity) - America´s economy was based on success. Entrepreneurs like Henry Ford or the steel magnates Andrew Carnegie & Cornelius Vanderbilt did not only get super-rich, they created America´s superior industry and wealth. They were admired and the hope to be very successful inspired many inventors, entrepreneurs & investors, fueling America`s rise. 

Not anymore. The Biden administration punishes success and harasses corporations which are exceptionally successful. Two mighty government agencies, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), are suing three very successful companies: Amazon, Google & Apple. The administrations claim that these corporations are monopolies in their markets.

Amazon became a behemoth by being very efficient and being obsessed with cost cutting and delivering goods cheap, fast & reliably. They have been constructing a network of huge fulfillment centers which are very efficient and save a lot of costs. Amazon`s huge size also helps to keep costs low (efficiencies  of scale). The competition with Amazon forces Walmart, Target and many other retailers to be efficient and curb their prices as well. Today also Shopify, Wayfair and many other e-commerce companies, who are competing with Amazon, have to sell at relatively low prices. This way Amazon´s efficiency  & success benefits even consumers who shop elsewhere.

Apple became a giant because people love their services & products. Apple´s late Steve Jobs gave the world a powerful supercomputer for the pocket and created a new economy based on Internet applications. Apple products are bestsellers because they are cool and very functional. What is wrong with that?

Google pioneered Internet search engines in the late 1990s and invested tons of money to develop them further. The continuous innovations raised the quality of their services, which are free, and made Google market leader in the US and many other countries. I have been using Google`s free search & maps for two decades because their American competitors Bing (owned by Microsoft), DuckDuckGo and others are inferior. What right does the government have to restrict these services?

None of the sued corporations is a monopolist. Amazon is competing against Walmart, Target, Ebay, Shopify and aggressive newcomers like the shopping apps Temu and Shein (driveby). Nobody is forced to buy Apple`s iPhones, iPads, iMacs, MacBooks and services. Customers can purchase similar products & services from Microsoft, Google, Samsung, Huawei and a lot of other technology companies. And customers can choose between Apple´s iOS and Google`s Android. Nobody needs to use Google´s services like search & maps. There are other search engines like Microsoft`s Bing, DuckDuck Go & WolframAlpha and people also can use maps by Apple, Microsoft and other providers. Why does the US government side with inferior competitors, including foreign companies like Russia´s Xandex or Chinese apps like Temu?

Amazon, Apple & Google want to make profits, as all entrepreneurs do, and they are successful. Profit seeking is the engine of America´s success. These firms are investing ever-increasing amounts on research and development to innovate new products and stay competitive.

But the government tries to stop that.
 

Biden´s mighty bureaucrats hate Big Business; they want to replace it by Big Government. The government follows China´s leader Xi Jinping, who has curtailed successful corporations like Alibaba, Tencent & Baidu, because he does not accept other gods beside him and he is turning China´s economy back to a rigorous socialist system.

The real purpose of the law suits is to gain control over America´s largest corporations and to be in charge of their business ( driveby). Biden protege Khan tries to expand her already extensive might. She argued - in an article for a Marxist paper - that antitrust must be reconfigured toward the redistribution of economic and political power and away from concerns regarding price (lpeproject  realclearpolicy). According to former FTC-Commissioner Christine S. Wilson Khan`s FTC represents a Marxist ideology and tries to replace the market process of supply and demand by a continuously regulated environment (ftc.gov ).  

Although neither Khan nor Kanter are democratically elected, they have the power to throw a lot sand into the gears of successful companies, which are the engines of the US economy. The law suits reduce Big Tech`s abilities to further innovate, even if Khan & Kanter will lose. The law suits are occupying management capacities and are slowing decision processes - making business more complicated and costly. Innovators and startups are getting discouraged when they know that strong growth will get punished.

If the crusade against Big Tech succeeds it will not only reduce competition (by harming the market leader), it also will lead to waste, corruption and nepotism. If corporations get punished for being efficient and for keeping costs low, it will slow economic growth, raise price level and reduce living standards of low income households who depend on purchasing cheap goods. 

Why trying to create a very successful company when success will get punished?  

 


 
 

 

Friday, March 29, 2024

Contemporary Art: Fun And Games @ Gallery Perrotin New York


(Drivebycuriosity) - Manhattan`s Lower East Side is slowly degenerating into a party district with a legion of fast food places & other dives. But there are still some fine art galleries, albeit fewer than some years ago. The French/American Gallery Perrotin on Orchard Street is my favorite (perrotin ). I often see amazing shows there.

Recently I spotted a show with works by GaHee Park (leaflet ). The artist is born in Korea and lives in Canada. I love her funny paintings which remind me of René Magritte`s surreal images.




Above you can see "Marine Dreams" (224, oil on linen) followed by "Fun and Games" (2023, oil on canvas).

 



Above this paragraph follow "Under Cover" and another surreal image.

 


last but not least: "World of Tails".

 

To be continued 

Thursday, March 21, 2024

Science Fiction: Counting Casualties By Yoon Ha Lee


 (Drivebycuriosity) - We don´t know what the future will bring, but one thing is clear, it will be weird. Good science fiction tells us some possibilities. Yoon Ha Lee´s short story "Counting casualties" narrates about a far future war where humanity faces a superior enemy (20 pages, printed as Kindle book amazon).

"Counting" fascinates by Lee´s prose, speculative ideas & bizarre locations (this is spoiler free blog). The humans are supported by hyper-intelligent strange spaceships, who are almost equal ranking partners, but can they decide the war? The enemy´s  intentions & technologies are beyond human imagination and the damages it does have never been known before.

The story is told in first person by the commander of the human war fleet, who finally discovers the secret of the enemy - but what does the cost him?

I really enjoyed the story - smart, crispy, but also philosophical, a real gem. Yoon Ha Lee belongs to the rising stars in the science fiction genre. I already wrote about 2 publications by the American-Korean author: Beyond The Dragon's Gate (my review) and Extracurricular Activities (review ). I certainly plan to read more by this author.


Sunday, March 17, 2024

Contemporary Art: Adrift On The Lonely Etheric Ocean @ The Hole New York


 (Drivebycuriosity) - Some galleries have funny names. "The Hole" on Manhattan`s popular entertainment mile Bowery (312 Bowery, New York thehole) seems to specialize in experimental art. They have frequently interesting shows (I have reported about this gallery before here  here  here).

 



Recently I saw a group shop called: "Adrift On The Lonely Etheric Ocean", curated by Brooke Wise ( exhibitions). On top of this post you can see Lizzy Gabay`s "Big Sister" followed by Kate Meissner`s "Shadow Play (Green)" & Aisling Hamrogue`s "Bad Blind".

 



Above follow Brittany Shepherd`s "Satin (Rose)" & Catherine Mulligan`s "Untitled (Ads)".

 




and then you can see another work by Catherine Mulligan: "Influencer" plus Sam Lipp`s "Fog" & TM Davy`s "Blue Fairy".  

 

To be continued

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Economics: What Is Happening On The EV Market?


 (Drivebycuriosity) - If we believe the Biden administration there is too little competition and concentrated markets are causing inflation and stifle innovation. Biden, Warren, Sanders & Co. see monopolies everywhere. Really? A look on the market of electric cars shows quite the opposite. The table below displays how much the shares of the EV producers had dropped since their peaks:

 




(source)

Apparently the valuations of the majority of the EV producers shrank close to zero. The stock market losses are caused by too much competition on the EV market. The EV specialists in the table also have to compete against Volkswagen, BMW, Ford, Honda and many other traditional car producers, who entered the crowded market for EVs. Obviously there are more EV producers than the market can support.

The Biden administration does not understand markets and ignores history & economics. Whenever there is hope on high future profits, a lot innovators & investors try their luck. The EV market is just one example. The prospects of the EV market initiated a gold rush mentality which reminds of the Railroad Wars of the 19th century, when too many investors set their bets on the exploitation of the North American continent by railroads (wikipedia ).

The heated competition forced even market leader Tesla to cut prices several times - and the competitors had to follow. As a result the average price for a new EV dropped 21% over the past 12 months ( caredge). So we see deflation instead of inflation.

Apple already responded and cancelled their electric car project. I suppose the market will consolidate and many EV producers will quit or go bankrupt. Only a few will survive - the producers which are the most productive and cost efficient. The survivors will benefit from technological progress and the still bright future of the EV market. Competition works!

Books: The Moon And The Other By John Kessel


 (Drivebycuriosity) -  In a not too far future the moon will be settled. There are many science fiction novels that speculate about this. "The Moon And The Other" by John Kessel is one of them, unfortunately is does not belong to the best ( amazon). 

On Kessel´s moon the population is spread over a set of communities, buried deep under the surface. Keller describes elaborately infrastructure & technologies, which are adapted to the moon`s  low gravity, hard vacuum and other characteristics. These parts remind me of Heinlein & Clarke. But the ambitious plot seems to be inspired by Ursula Le Guin`s anthropology and her descriptions of exotic families & tribes. There are a lot conflicts & domestic violence. There is an augmented dog, who has a PhD in Philosophy, and there are monkeys who work as security. Nothing makes sense. The book is forgettable.






Sunday, March 3, 2024

Movies: Napoleon


  (Drivebycuriosity) - In the recent 2 centuries lived two men who conquered most of Europe and led a disastrous military 
campaign into Russia, destroying the lives of many millions. One of them is still popular: Napoleon.

Ridley Scott`s movie "Napoleon" had just 2 hours 38 minutes to tell the conqueror`s complex story ( imdb). The director and script writer David Scarpa did a good job and Joaquin Phoenix personified Napoleon convincingly. The actor seems to be specialist for playing troubled men ("Joker", "Fredie" in the "Master"  ). His acting reminded me specially of his role in "Gladiator", where he played Cesar Commudus, a similar egomaniac.

The cinematography was the icing in the cake: "The Emperor" conversing in the Egyptian desert with the mummy of a Pharao, the icy graves at Austerlitz or the lethal choreography at Waterloo were pieces of art and bloody entertainment.

An afterthought: What would have Kubrick created if he would have been able to realize his long-year Napoleon project?  

Friday, March 1, 2024

Books: The Shards By Bret Easton Ellis


  (Drivebycuriosity) - Bret Easton Ellis belongs to the stars of contemporary American fiction, albeit controversial. His most recent novel "The Shards" justifies his reputation ( amazon).

The book is written in first person, as a fictionalized memoir (this is a spoiler free blog). "Bret", who is now in his fifties, recalls his life as a 17 years old in the year 1981, when he attended an exclusive school in Los Angeles. He was part of a bunch of spoiled über-rich kids who enjoyed their privileged lives in Los Angeles with driving the Jaguars & Porsches of their negligent parents, having sex, using a lot drugs, partying, boozing and watching movies. "Bret", who almost continuously was stoned on Quaalude, a hypnotic sedative, got increasingly bewildered by ongoing reports about a bizarre & grizzly murder & home invasion series in his L.A. neighborhood and developed a growing interest in a dubious newcomer at his school, driven by his "overactive" imagination as ongoing writer, lust and mental issues.  

Being grown up in modest conditions in post-war Germany I don´t really care about spoiled rich kids but I got drawn into "Bret`s" narrative for several reasons. The plot builds up slowly tension by frequent clues about the bad things to come and develops into a thrilling tale about "teenage horniness", paranoia, drug abuse & obsession.

I like the author`s slick prose and enjoyed his long complex sentences; his descriptions of the lush Southern Californian homes, gardens, hotels, movie palaces and his analytical depictions how "Bret`s" buddies and their relationships are changing. 

There are intense spooky parts with a hitchcockian atmosphere and creepy & violent episodes that Hieronymus Bosch could have painted on a horror trip. And we learn a lot about "Bret", his mental problems, his obsessions and his various - mostly gay - sexual experiences & longings, which are explicitly and elaborately described.

It is hard to escape this vertigo of "fear mingling with lust", drug abuse, lies, control loss & insanity. After I had finished the book it stayed in my mind for a while and I was wondering what really happened, besides what "Bret" - and the author - tell us. "The Shards" belongs to the most challenging but also fascinating novels I read in a long time.