[mathisfun123]

> its not something to be ashamed of

It's not? I mean I'm certainly ashamed when I behave hypocritically* but I guess I've just watched too many Disney movies where the protagonist overcomes their pretensions and learns humility.

* Isn't the US the great bastion of the free market, rugged capitalism, entrepreneurial spirit etc etc etc? I mean at least that's what I see all the people on here claiming vis-a-vis why SV is better than everyone else.

[TeMPOraL]

The US GOV aren't idiots, either.

A car is in fact a good example here - specifically, an ICE car. It's a contraption powered by repeatedly pouring explodium into a chamber and making it go off, then using the boom to both spin wheels and pull in more explodium for another run. More explodium means more power means faster car means better, right? On the contrary, an ICE needs just right amount of explodium, and is designed to ensure that; pour more, it'll stop and/or set itself on fire.

Same is with the market. Let it run completely free, and it'll collapse into bunch of tribes led by warlords, producing little more than suffering and death at scale.

[mathisfun123]

> tribes led by warlords, producing little more than suffering and death at scale

...this is literally already the case, except they're our warlords instead of chinese warlords:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contaminated_haemophilia_blood...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_%26_Williamson#Controver...

just so there's no mistaking it: these are american companies

> Let it run completely free, and it'll collapse

why doesn't it collapse?

[TeMPOraL]

>> Let it run completely free, and it'll collapse

> why doesn't it collapse?

Because the government aren't idiots and aren't letting it run completely free.

[mathisfun123]

> aren't letting it run completely free

but they are? that's what the links demonstrate (you do have read them to get that point though).

[phh]

> * Isn't the US the great bastion of the free market, rugged capitalism, entrepreneurial spirit etc etc etc? I mean at least that's what I see all the people on here claiming vis-a-vis why SV is better than everyone else.

I'm fairly new to US point of view (as in, I witness it only since like 10 years ago), but I feel like this has evolved, and the actual theories of "free market" (which include not having roadblocks, promoting SMBs because of diminishing returns , the need to inform the consumers, the integration of externalities in the taxes) are getting more and more support in the US, especially in SV. I think this has been severely pushed by US' Healthcare sector, where there is no obvious blatant anti competitive behaviors, but have profound negative impact on US society. I think conglomerates killing small useful services by providing the same for free (but bad and without any further innovation) have also had impact there. I'm sure most people on HN has a service in their mind that used to be great, that got killed by Google doing the same for free, but that got enshittified and they are sad the original service is dead.