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by kwhitefoot 1660 days ago
Post offices in Europe did banking for many years. Most of them have been broken up now though.

I think there should be an even more general effort made to remove the competitive advantage that comes from simply being big. Small enterprises suffer from the lack of economy of scale. As a private individual or sole trader it is more expensive for me to send a parcel than it is for a large company, this gives the incumbent an advantage.
2 comments
kortilla 1660 days ago
> I think there should be an even more general effort made to remove the competitive advantage that comes from simply being big.

That’s ridiculous because you completely disincentivize automation and efficiency with those types of rules.

There is no reason to ensure that two guys spending 5 years to hand build one car need to be subsidized to continue that way.

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kwhitefoot 1657 days ago
> There is no reason to ensure that two guys spending 5 years to hand build one car need to be subsidized to continue that way.

Of course not. But it might be wise to subsidize them so that they can get started and disrupt the existing players that have become lazy and inefficient.

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kortilla 1653 days ago
That’s exactly what venture capital is for.
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Kalium 1660 days ago
The USPS is also an example of a postal system that formerly provided banking services.
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