thoughts on companies becoming too powerful?

[deisik]

If things were that easy

You can't alleviate poverty by giving out money as that will only make the situation with poverty worse. In fact, it will only aggravate it dramatically. The companies don't sit on their wealth as many seem to implicitly assume. All this wealth exists in the form of capital which creates added value, and that makes people's lives better. Now you basically suggest to take part of this newly created value and redistribute it in some way. Sounds familiar, huh? If not, what makes you think that this redistribution is actually going to help people or help them better if it didn't happen and companies would be free to use all of their income as they see most appropriate (read, most effective)?

When he talked about such amount of money to alleviate poverty, I believe that he is not also talking of distributing the money because if it were to be that, that would not even solve poverty level in a state. I don’t know how through that figure is. But if that was to be true, do you know what they would be generating in an hour, it means they would be generating like $600 million dollars in an hour, and imagine what this amount of money could create as project.

One of the ways to eliminate poverty in a locality is to create system that would create employment and also put some infrastructures in place, and talking of alleviating poverty also, for their money to really have effect, they need to go to countries like Africa where $10 million dollars alone would do a whole lot of project there

Things are not that easy

Simply put, they don't work that way. One does not simply create employment and puts "some infrastructures" in place, there should be an economic reason (still better in plural) for that, something which makes the effort economically viable. Otherwise, it is just another, more concealed and less obvious form of subsidizing local population (read, giving out free money). You don't just take 600 million dollars and create a project. You should first come up with an idea of the project, and if it is worth the money, then you can ask for dough

[Coyster]

Governments are also getting more benefits from those big companies in the form of taxes so they really don't stop those companies

Exactly what goes on in the part of the world where I come from, government is totally indifferent to the bad sides monopoly can cause, rather all they are concerned with, is how important this big companies can be to them, and what they inturn would benefit through taxes and lending money from such companies.

Capitalism is a system I do not encourage, it only makes the rich richer and the poor, poorer.
I think something must be done to stop this capitalist monopoly or else they'll succeed in eliminating all forms of competition, which will kick many establishments out of business.

[redsun114]

Governments are also getting more benefits from those big companies in the form of taxes so they really don't stop those companies

Exactly what goes on in the part of the world where I come from, government is totally indifferent to the bad sides monopoly can cause, rather all they are concerned with, is how important this big companies can be to them, and what they inturn would benefit through taxes and lending money from such companies.

Capitalism is a system I do not encourage, it only makes the rich richer and the poor, poorer.
I think something must be done to stop this capitalist monopoly or else they'll succeed in eliminating all forms of competition, which will kick many establishments out of business.

It is already happening in some countries, I was in South Africa of recent and had a discussion with a friend of mine, and he made reference to this country called Nigeria, and he said is should look at how their company has virtually bought over so many things over there like DSTV and some other industry which they pay the government some tokens and settle some people in authority to be able to be the only provider of such service there.

This is why many of their indigenous companies that keeps trying to rise is being killed and I learnt that there was supposed to be a company from their country that would really compete with them big time, but was killed because of the monopoly of the DSTV, that is really not good because when you have different companies, it will end up creating more business opportunities.

[1Referee]

such a large company, signifying that he is so strong. then he has Community, funds and integrity. I think it's an asset for a country, and it's impossible to disperse it without a clear reason. if the company can give benefits the Government, I don't think it will ever be broken up.

We're at a stage already where companies being very large do demand certain perks from the side of the governments and threaten to leave if their demands aren't met. Governments will in most cases give their okay because they don't really have a choice.

Only when you form a threat to their system they might actually try to combat your business model. We haven't really had a clear example of such a company in the last couple of decades, but we do have it now with Facebook. In that regard, it's going to be interesting how far Facebook comes with its Libra. It's everything but certain that it will ever see the light.

[peter0425]

Disney has become the media giant and has been on a spending spree for the last decade buying up different ips.

Facebook has been buying up all their competition and is the dominant social media company and nothing else can compete with it.

Companies become so big and they have enormous power over us, do you think companies like this should be broken up by the government or be allowed to reign supreme?

Having what Donald Trump says weeks ago against Facebook coin Libra and also to bitcoin I think supremacy can’t be for this companies eve how big they’re market is.their power is limited so it’s not now that they can reign let’s see in the future if this will be available for them.and besides  what we need from them Is support like buying stocks inside our market and not just a market outside cryptocurrency

[davinchi]

I think companies should have a limitation on how big they can get without too much politics involved.
Unfortunately these companies getting super big becomes bigger than politics, what can a politician do about these places.

Let's look at facebook, they are obviously using Ireland as tax haven and they are not paying as much tax as they should on where they are actually based which is California and they are monitoring everyone around the world collecting all of their private data and they got punished for it but don't care since 5 billion is nothing to them and they are now building a currency to actually make people use it instead of global fiat currencies.

How do you really stop it as a politician, how do you stop them as a government, if you try to close them, they will just move to another country simple as that.

[FIFA worldcup]

Disney has become the media giant and has been on a spending spree for the last decade buying up different ips.

Facebook has been buying up all their competition and is the dominant social media company and nothing else can compete with it.

Companies become so big and they have enormous power over us, do you think companies like this should be broken up by the government or be allowed to reign supreme?

There is no conflict of interest between the companies and the government. No matter how much big the company is, there is no way that could hurt the government or take over the government. As long as the companies follow the local rules and pay taxes, they are good to go and keep their business operational in a massive level.

[Oceat]

Too much power concentrated at one place is never good, that applies to companies too. Sooner or later that leads to different types of misuse.
It's true that big and powerful companies are also often involved in politics and in some not so stable countries they might influence the government too but still governments shouldn't be allowed to interfere in their business.

If the government spots a monopoly they will have to act according to their laws to stop these companies from controlling the market or becoming too powerful that may look like a threat to them. What you have said about of companies involving in politics may be true since most of them have a bigger control of the market with their exposure in the public.

[BitHodler]

It's true that big and powerful companies are also often involved in politics and in some not so stable countries they might influence the government too but still governments shouldn't be allowed to interfere in their business.

I'm not sure if there is such a thing as that governments shouldn't be allowed to interfere with their business. Governments make the rules and they can break or bend them at any time if they so wish.

Shell in Nigeria is an example of how a large corporation abuses its power. The environmental impact of all the oil leaks is mind blowing. It's purely their money that stimulates the government there to not stop them.

I really wish the Nigerian government would step in and put a stop to it, but they need the money from Shell, and then we shouldn't forget the bribes that makes high ranked politicians look away.

[bryant.coleman]

Disney has become the media giant and has been on a spending spree for the last decade buying up different ips.

Facebook has been buying up all their competition and is the dominant social media company and nothing else can compete with it.

Companies become so big and they have enormous power over us, do you think companies like this should be broken up by the government or be allowed to reign supreme?

I don't have any problem as long as these companies stay away from politics. But nowadays, they are interfering in politics and if things go on like this in due course the corporations may decide who will become the next POTUS. Let's take the example of two of these corporations - Google and Facebook.

Google News is being used by tens of millions of people everyday and they give a clear preference to news from leftist trash such as Vox and The Washington Post. You won't find many articles from right-wing sources such as Fox News and Breitbart.  The same with FB as well. Many of the left-wing videos uploaded to FB become viral with active support from the FB staff, while anything remotely related to the right is deleted in quicktime. A lot is being said about the interference by Russia in the American elections. But what about the interference by Google and FB?

[oxgroth]

I think thats decision to ban libra is totally right. If every big company will have own currency it will be hard to regulate

[ene1980]

However, competition is good and I don't think we're going to see the end of that anytime soon.  The only thing I really hate is how big chains (retail, mostly) have put local mom-and-pop stores out of business.  I think that's only going to get worse, unfortunately.

That is a real issue, these big chains will disrupt small businesses and unfortunately there is no clear rule to protect those small enterprises, the big chains attract people with big offers that the small business cannot afford and then when they close down due to losses as there wont be any customers, then the big chain will have the monopoly over that product and then increase their prices as there is no competition. 

[Kakmakr]

I think thats decision to ban libra is totally right. If every big company will have own currency it will be hard to regulate

No, the regulation will not be the problem, because we dealing with a centralized organization and these organizations has to adhere to government laws and regulations or they will be forced to close their doors. It becomes a problem when these large organizations starts to influence the local reserve currencies value. <People not using the local reserve currency and opting to use these private tokens>

It is still illegal to create your own "private" currency in most countries and in the USA they define Crypto currencies as a commodity and not a currency.    <People still use it as a currency, but it has no major impact on the economy, because it is still relatively small.> 

[Betwrong]

~  The only thing I really hate is how big chains (retail, mostly) have put local mom-and-pop stores out of business.  I think that's only going to get worse, unfortunately.

I hate it too. Only where I live it happens more to small cafes and restaurants rather than to retail stores. I've seen many times like small places with good and not pricey food disappear being replaced by big fast food chains. I don't know why most people prefer eating junk food ruining their health, instead of eating healthy food for the same price, but that's how it is, and that's why big fast food chains win the competition. Nevertheless, I'd rather cook for myself than live in a country with regulated economy where those small cafes I love so much were subsidized by the government. Overall, regulated economy has more disadvantages than advantages imo.

[South Park]

Disney has become the media giant and has been on a spending spree for the last decade buying up different ips.

Facebook has been buying up all their competition and is the dominant social media company and nothing else can compete with it.

Companies become so big and they have enormous power over us, do you think companies like this should be broken up by the government or be allowed to reign supreme?

There are already antitrust laws in most countries that if applied will disband such monopolies, but the politicians have no reason to take action since they are probably bought by those corporations and also because they are probably using those corporations to advance their own interests, this is especially true for the tech giants like Google and Facebook that are buying any other company that seems to go somewhere, in my opinion Google and Facebook should be broken up in at least 10 different corporations and should not be allowed to merge again.

[arpon11]

I think that's decision to ban libra is totally right. If every big company will have own currency it will be hard to regulate

Regulation is not part of the plan in cryptocurrency development just that governments are looking for a way to regulate it and it is not in the interest of cryptocurrency but the governments will always find a way to tax it. Bitcoin is decentralized and without governments involvement, it has worked fine and it can stand as money because it is not owned by any person or country and it gives the power of ownership to the society. Libra as centralized coins could have not been as good as Bitcoin.

[hahay]

I think that's decision to ban libra is totally right. If every big company will have own currency it will be hard to regulate

Regulation is not part of the plan in cryptocurrency development just that governments are looking for a way to regulate it and it is not in the interest of cryptocurrency but the governments will always find a way to tax it. Bitcoin is decentralized and without governments involvement, it has worked fine and it can stand as money because it is not owned by any person or country and it gives the power of ownership to the society. Libra as centralized coins could have not been as good as Bitcoin.

Every individual has his own speculations but with this centralized coin with the big companies behind it I don't think it should be banned because at least the government will get tax from it like you said. With such good regulation that might occur and be applied I think every coin has the same chance to get better.

[barbara44]

However, competition is good and I don't think we're going to see the end of that anytime soon.  The only thing I really hate is how big chains (retail, mostly) have put local mom-and-pop stores out of business.  I think that's only going to get worse, unfortunately.

That is a real issue, these big chains will disrupt small businesses and unfortunately there is no clear rule to protect those small enterprises, the big chains attract people with big offers that the small business cannot afford and then when they close down due to losses as there wont be any customers, then the big chain will have the monopoly over that product and then increase their prices as there is no competition. 

It is only government that can really help in this situation because they are the ones that keep empowering these big companies more, and funny as it may stand, it is still government loan that some of them used to become that powerful, no one is saying we don’t need large companies, because to really handle the supply and economy of a country successfully, we really need big time players, but whatever services or products that they sell should be in such a way that they will not be the only ones that is imposed on people, there is need to actually give these smaller companies too the ability to expand and thrive.

It is better those smaller companies loose to competition than loose to monopoly, it could really be disheartening when they cannot test their ability.

[RealMalatesta]

It is not even 10% controlling 90% of the wealth in the world, it is 1% that controls the 90% of the wealth, when you make it 10% of the population (the richest 10) that moves to around 96% of all wealth, so basically 90% of poorest controls only 4% (with a bit leftover, it was like 4.65% or something) which is really a shame because it shows how much the wealth inequality is and how bad it is going considering that was less in the past, which means it could very well be 1% controlling 95%+ very soon if there is nothing done about it.

By the way, this 1% richest is not just humans, some companies are included in that as well and that means one company can make more money than plenty of nations, apple for example was as big as 10+ countries wealth at one point, that is something we have to end eventually.

[Thanasis]

If something called as big company means they follow all the rules of their jurisdiction where they are located and also they need to follow other country laws if their domain need to stay a on their country so it means those companies you were mentioned doesn't violate any laws of the government so they will not stop any activities from them but it will hinder the growth of companies from their native if big companies become Monopoly on their country so they need to have some sort of limit for them.