A Small US Town is Now Printing Its Own Currency (thehustle.co) 142
Tenino, Washington (population: 1,884) has launched its own local currency, reports the Hustle:
Mayor Wayne Fournier decided that Tenino would set aside $10k to give out to low-income residents hurt by the pandemic. But instead of using federal dollars, he'd print the money on thin sheets of wood designed exclusively for use in Tenino. His mint? A 130-year-old newspaper printer from a local museum...
Residents below the poverty line can apply to receive money from the $10k fund that Tenino has set aside. Fournier says they also have to prove that the pandemic has impacted them, but "we're pretty open to what that means." Once they're approved, they can pick up their stipends, printed in wooden notes worth $25 each. The city is capping the amount each resident can accrue at 12 wooden notes — or $300 — per month. According to Fournier, each note features a Latin inscription that means, basically, 'We've got this handled'...
By creating its own local currency, Tenino keeps the money in the community. As Fournier puts it, "Amazon will not be accepting wooden dollars."
"The money stays in the city. It doesn't go out to Walmart and Costco and all those places," says Joyce Worrell, who has run the antique shop Iron Works Boutiques for the past decade.
The article notes that during the 1930s hundreds of scrips were issued by American municipalities, worker co-ops, and business associations -- estimated to be worth as much as $1 billion.
And it adds that at least a few small towns in Italy and Mexico are now giving the idea another try.
Residents below the poverty line can apply to receive money from the $10k fund that Tenino has set aside. Fournier says they also have to prove that the pandemic has impacted them, but "we're pretty open to what that means." Once they're approved, they can pick up their stipends, printed in wooden notes worth $25 each. The city is capping the amount each resident can accrue at 12 wooden notes — or $300 — per month. According to Fournier, each note features a Latin inscription that means, basically, 'We've got this handled'...
By creating its own local currency, Tenino keeps the money in the community. As Fournier puts it, "Amazon will not be accepting wooden dollars."
"The money stays in the city. It doesn't go out to Walmart and Costco and all those places," says Joyce Worrell, who has run the antique shop Iron Works Boutiques for the past decade.
The article notes that during the 1930s hundreds of scrips were issued by American municipalities, worker co-ops, and business associations -- estimated to be worth as much as $1 billion.
And it adds that at least a few small towns in Italy and Mexico are now giving the idea another try.
Next stop: Company towns (Score:2, Insightful)
This wont end well for anyone involved. You'd hope SS would nip it in the bud, but election year.
Re: Next stop: Company towns (Score:2)
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India, Brazil, Italy and even the UK have them. Brazil has over 100 since 1994 and all is well. It enables sane micro credit/lending to poor communities that actually benefit the community, as you can't buy nothing elsewhere with it i guess.
It's a fools errand to counterfeit "social money", as the term is know by economists since the early 90s -- But good luck finding this term on search engines with their crappy results for things that do not bring advertising dolars, and how "social" today is "mp3" of yes
Re: Next stop: Company towns (Score:5, Funny)
Once counterfeited it will all be worthless.
No, it's going to be validated with a highly polished wooden blockchain passed from person to person. It's said to be able to defeat all whittlers.
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This is the highly polished block chain. Looks pretty secure to me. I think the blocks are even a puzzle box for extra layers of security.
https://comps.canstockphoto.co... [canstockphoto.com]
Re: Next stop: Company towns (Score:4, Interesting)
You know, any object made out of single slices of wood probably has a lot of datapoints in the grain. And any smartphone made in the last 10 years is probably good enough to validate them with the right app. With the proper system, they might be harder to counterfeit than printable bills. Who needs serial numbers when you have varnish?
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It is a stupid idea. So I get this and go to a local store and use it to buy one loaf of bread -- do I get real money in change?
Re:Next stop: Company towns (Score:5, Informative)
Ithaca, New York, has had their own currency [wikipedia.org] for decades.
I remember listening to an NPR interview with Paul Glover, the main initiator, along with an economist.
Paul: "If you give this to a homeless person, they can't use it to buy alcohol, and they certainly can't use it to buy drugs." ..."
Economist: "Why not?"
Paul: "Umm
The economist went on to predict that the currency would be most widely accepted by merchants with high marginal profits, and would be rejected by those with tight margins.
Sure enough, it turned out that the drug dealers (high margins) were the first to accept the currency, although at a steep discount to the nominal dollar value.
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Ah, american puritanism at its finest.
that's the stupid reason for social money, which is devised by smart economists to foster local business, regardless of what they are. Social money accepts that the market serves itself. It's just a small push to focus the spend locally, much like actual money does in a country scale. Everyone deserve to buy their drugs, just do it locally and the social money worked it purpose.
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And by coincidence, this initiative comes from a most suited surname:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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devised by smart economists to foster local business
Is there evidence that the policy works? Money is fungible, so tokens may just displace dollars.
Also, is there really any benefit from "buying local"? If people in town "A" only buy from other "A" people, and people in town "B" only buy from other "B" people, how is that better than people in both A and B buying from people in both A and B? The total amount of goods and services bought and sold is the same in either case, but if you "buy local" the selection will be worse, the market will be less competit
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"the growth of individual businesses will be stunted."
Not clear why you say that, care to explain?
The intention is to keep the money local, not send it to Minneapolis (Target) or Bentonville (Walmart) or Wall Street.
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"the growth of individual businesses will be stunted."
Not clear why you say that, care to explain?
If the markets for A&B are combined, you can have bigger businesses that serve both markets, rather than two small businesses, one in each town.
This may not matter for a pie shop that serves only local clientele, but will affect more specialized businesses like air conditioner repair or a model railroad hobby store.
If self-sufficiency was good, then cities would be more prosperous when they are isolated from ports, rivers, highways, and railroads, since trade infrastucture makes it easy to buy from outs
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True - however, if the markets A,B,C,D,E,... through ZZZ are combined in a highly interconnected society, then all of the money flows almost immediately to whichever remote area the cheapest products are coming from.
If you have money that can only be spent in town, it increases the velocity of money in town - you're much more likely to buy the $7 locally made widget instead of the $5 imported widget, because you can't use town money for the imported widget.
Now obviously as you point out that's not a pancaea
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Because response to an economic crisis is *exactly* the same thing as long-term policy...
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IIRC, they gained a foothold because they were much cheaper and had better fuel economy (mostly because they were smaller). "Reduced repair costs" and "mechanically superior" only came later because the Japanese focused on improving quality to overcome their reputation for being cheap junk, while the US
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Because the people of A an B both export less money to multi-nationals that contribute nothing back to their local economies.
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Sure enough, it turned out that the drug dealers (high margins)
I see what you did there.
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Re:Next stop: Company towns (Score:4, Interesting)
They're not making US Dollars, they're essentially making coupons for local businesses that agree to honor them. The Secret Service doesn't care about coupons. You can create your own money if you want, as long as you don't ake them too similar to actual US currency and don't insist that it's "legal tender for all debts public and private". In fact Emperor Norton's scrip is fairly valuable now.
Re: Next stop: Company towns (Score:2)
The Secret Service, which is part of the US Treasury Department and had the initials long before the German assholes. Its duties are protecting the president and the US money supply.
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It's not a currency (Score:5, Insightful)
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the population is sized at a high school, I doubt it can go off rails too terribly.
The only way I see it turning into a total debacle is if someone figures out how to counterfeit the tokens.
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They look extremely easy to forge.
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I might stop by and get one as a collectors item.
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You think the general store is going to have special prices for milk paid for with town scrip?
You must never have lived in a small town. Sad.
Re:It's not a currency (Score:5, Informative)
And this has been done tons of times before all around the world. [wikipedia.org]
This is not an uncommon thing. The only thing that makes this unique is that the initial recipients are getting the local currency due to need, and not another reason.
Seriously. This is super common. [wikipedia.org]
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The other unique thing is that it's in Tenino, of all places. It's named for the railroad mile marker (290), its only reason for having an off ramp from I-5 is the truck stop.
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Be interesting to see how this plays out, compare to results of 1930s. As you said it stays in the community longer, can't use this currency to buy cheap crap from China.
Or superior products from one town over.. How you gonna tackle that one, genius? How about just access to a larger selection? If your local store(s) doesn't sell a product you want/need, you sure as fuck aren't going to be buying it 1 mile down the road at the other store, in a neighboring town, 'cause all you got is shitty funny money..
Keep promoting the protectionist economic policies.. Those always benefit the consumer.... *cough*never*cough*
Dirty hippy commies..
Employers will still give out US currency for anyone working. Banks will still have US currency. Credit and debit cards will still have US currency. This wooden currency is just food stamp type program only accepted by local establishments. There must be a way for someone up the food chain to redeem them for US dollars.
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Ever try to get a refund from Walmart? They won't give you cash, they'll give you merchandise credit.
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Ever try to get a refund from Walmart? They won't give you cash, they'll give you merchandise credit.
Sure, if you don't have a receipt. Come in with a receipt, though, and they'll cheerfully refund you using whatever payment method you used to pay for the item be it cash or plastic.
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That hasn't been my experience. I bought an auto battery online for in store pickup, and following the website instructions I brought my old battery in for an immediate core fee refund. They refused to give me a refund in any form but store credit, which I've never used because I refuse to shop there ever again.
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it's a gift certificate. Eventually the local businesses will turn them in for US Dollars. Nice idea though since like they said, it keeps the money in the community longer.
Eh, gift certificates are currency too. Currency is: 1) a medium of exchange and 2) a store of value. Dollars, wooden whatevers in this article, and gift certificates all meet the definition. You may be thinking "it's not legal tender" in which case that would be correct, sticks and gift certificates are not legal tender.
Re: It's not a currency (Score:2)
Yakima, ah, yeah you mean so the Hispanics can keep the minorities (white, etc.) down.
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You're a moron.
They still had redlines in the 70s in Yakima.
Not news if someone else did it first (Score:2)
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Gonna open a new business in Tenino (Score:1)
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I should open shop next to your store and offer an even exchange.
I have a hunch that these things are going to become collectors items and will end up being worth more than their face value.
Can't use outside the community (Score:2)
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Are the staples needed to survive not available in a town near you?
What a great idea (Score:5, Insightful)
I live in a small town, and if local businesses close, even ones I don't patronize, the local economy suffers. And I'm relatively solvent, but there's plenty of folks around here already making do with very little, who are getting pushed over the line by the pandemic. This idea isn't going to solve everything, but I would be more than happy if a portion of my local taxes went to support this.
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It's pretty easy to support the local economy no matter where you are: stop buying from Amazon.
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Have you see the prices at your local farmer's market recently? $25 won't buy you more than 2 small bags of beef jerky and an granny smith apple where I live.
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What's happened to local prices? (Score:1)
This has been done before (Score:4, Informative)
The town where I live did this a few times at Christmas. The Chamber of Commerce printed up some "bucks" (coupons worth $1 each) and gave them away. Local stores accepted the "bucks" and could turn them in at the Chamber of Commerce office to get real money. It was all out of the promotion and advertising budget from the Chamber, and it worked quite well.
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New twist on a wooden nickel (Score:4, Interesting)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Scrip and tokens have often been issued locally in times of severe economic distress such as financial crises and the Civil War. During the Depression, a local bank in Tenino, Washington, issued emergency currency printed on thin shingles of wood.
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"During the Depression"
You mean the 20th century one, or the current one?
Article 1, section 10, US Constitution (Score:4, Informative)
In case anyone is wondering, Article 1 Section 10 says that a state (or subdivision thereof) can't:
A. Make local currency valid payment for debts (if I owe you $100, you can demand USD).
B. Guarantee that any scrip issued will be exchanged for something of value (they can't promise to accept the local dollars and exchange them for USD), if it's intended to be a medium of exchange (passed around, as opposed to uaed once like food stamps)
Article I, Section 8 gives the federal government the power to coin money and regulate its value. Combined with Article VI, Clause 2, this means Congress *could* outlaw the issuance of local currency if they wished to.
Re:Article 1, section 10, US Constitution (Score:5, Insightful)
As I read it only prevents them from forcing people to accept them in exchange for debts, i.e., if I owe you $500 the law can't force you to accept these weird wooden notes. It seems to me that they can likely force local businesses to exchange goods and services for them in exactly the same way states do with food stamps or housing vouchers. Indeed, I suspect that there is case law already on this point for exactly those programs.
Unless the city is trying to force banks to accept these as mortgage payments or the like I think they're probably fine. There is certainly no question it's fine if local businesses do so as a voluntary matter (which indeed is probably the plan....favor small local shops over competitors like Walmart etc..). I don't think it's a great policy but it seems likely to pass legal muster if they don't do anything stupid.
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Unless the city is trying to force banks to accept these as mortgage payments or the like
They're going to low-income families, so I doubt mortgage payments are much of a use case.
Other way around (Score:2)
> in exactly the same way states do with food stamps or housing vouchers
Pretty sure that if you want to accept food stamps you have to apply here:
https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/... [usda.gov]
They might turn down your application for any number of reasons, including "breadth of stock", which means you don't have enough different kinds of bread, milk, etc.
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Regarding B that's simply false. You can look to the long history of banks in the US issuing various kinds of notes that were payable upon demand. Hell, any kind of bearer bond would violate that rule.
The bank isn't a state (Score:2)
The Constitution prohibits the STATES from doing so.
It doesn't prohibit YOU from offering a bond.
Bonds, bearer or not, are also generally not used as currency, they aren't passed around. If it's issued by an entity other than the state (or subdivision thereof) the Constitution doesn't prohibit it. Also, even the state can issue bonds which are not circulated as currency.
Ps I cited article and section for you (Score:2)
Ps, when someone says "article 1, section 10 states ...", there is an awfully good chance that they are telling you what that section says. It might br a good idea to actually read the cited section before you say "that totally false because [irrelevant thought]".
Quoting:
No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts
You'll note that states create co
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in fact, federal notes were the minority of paper money until the twentieth century.
My favorite paper money was issued by railroads, in the amount of $2.40, a common fare for that railroad at theme . . .
hawk
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Article 1 Section 10 says
Meanwhile, the justice department PR division quite certainly says that pulling a small town into court in order to make them stop a relief effort for the poor, right now in this political atmosphere, would end up as the showcase for "stupid decision" on Wikipedia.
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First, I didn't say they are breaking the law. I said "here is the law", before people started posting their wildly wrong statements of the law based on what they kinda remember reading on a blog one time.
Second, gift certificates are purchased from the store. A gift certificate shows that you ALREADY PAID the store, so later you can pick up tgr merchandise that you already paid for. Are you saying that all of the local stores got paid before any of this scrip was issued? Citation please.
Collectible (Score:2)
If it were me, I'd keep a few of them. Maybe not in my lifetime, but a limited edition currency like that might be worth something some day...
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If it were me, I'd keep a few of them. Maybe not in my lifetime, but a limited edition currency like that might be worth something some day...
In the Seattle paper, there are already reports of people paying three times the listed value for one. Besides that, the city gets 1.5% in sales back as taxes. Then with these articles and publicity, there will be currency collectors, historians, souvenir hunters, and probably a few people that just never get around to spending or turning in their last bit of script. A significant chunk of the script may never be turned in for their share of that $10k after all is said and done.
A comparable value proposition to that of 1933 (Score:3)
"printed in wooden notes worth $25 each"
That seems to be roughly the value of a nickel from the time of the Depression. Exaggeration? Wooden nickels were a novelty, but in many cases they had monetary value. Minimum wage was $0.25/hour and the average cost for house rent was about $18.00 per month. No stats on the value of a studio or 1br apartment in those days. OK, exaggerated.
The max for the poor folk of Tenino is $300. That won't pay a month's rent. It would be interesting to document how those wooden notes were spent, and instructive as we consider the possible UBI of the future. Hats off to Mayor Wayne Fournier.
How many Schrute Bucks are these worth (Score:2)
I've got enough Stanly Nickels, but how many Schrute Bucks are these worth?
Not sure what the problem is (Score:2)
Sounds to me like the town:
a) has some money they want to hand out as a social safety net
b) doesn't want to hand actual money out, probably for fear that it will be 'wasted' on 'frivolities,' or possibly even just as an attempt at keeping the money in the city economy
c) therefore decided to issue their own version of food stamps
d) but wanted to have some fun with it
e) and had an old currency press lying around
f) so printed fun oversized food stamps
g) which local retailers can presumably trade in with the ci
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which local retailers can presumably trade in with the city government for actual money
Exactly. So its mainly a way to give out money to people with strings attached (there are spending restrictions that they cannot be spent on Alcohol or Tobacco, only local retailers can redeem the scrip). Twice a month the LOCAL shops can submit their redemption requests [cityoftenino.us] to get money for the scrip.
The City will guarantee scrip redemption in an amount not to exceed
$10,000.00. The Clerk/Treasurer shall keep a log, b
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Why not give the local business workers UBI instead of this charade?
The theory is that, since these tokens are only accepted locally, the money will circulate in the local economy instead of being drained away to China or Jeff Bezos.
I am skeptical but open-minded.
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Drained away? China and Jeff Bezos are part of the global economy .. meaning it can and will eventually come back.
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"Drained away? China and Jeff Bezos are part of the global economy .. meaning it can and will eventually come back."
Can? Sure. Will? Only argument you can put on the table is your wishful thinking.
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So, how does that work, exactly? I understand this may have been doable a century ago, when things were produced locally. But today how do you "keep it local" when the store you're buying from needs to get supplies from somewhere else?
Unless the local electric, water, and sewer co-ops accept it, you have fixed costs that want real money. Rent? Taxes? Good luck paying sales tax to the State with your wood chits -- these ain't tally sticks. Maybe local organic farms that don't use petroleum-based fertilizers
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This local town has a population of less than 2,000. If you want them to do stuff your way, why not trot on over there and take up residence, then get yourself elected to the city council. Then, provided you can convince anyone else on the council of the wisdom of your ideas, you an dictate to them what they should do. Otherwise, butt out.
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"Why not give them UBI?"
It could be psychology. People who recoil in horror at the idea of free money might be less horrified when it's not "real" money. They still get to look down at the recipient as lesser.
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I wouldn't blame the merchant for selling overpriced things. I'd blame the city for imposing costly rules that Amazon doesn't have to follow such as minimum setbacks, maximum floor area ratios, height limits, and minimum parking requirements. Subsidized fuel only pours gasoline on the problem, so to speak.
But there's no need for a new currency. Just lift the restrictions described above and make sure the poorest members of your community are well taken care of, because if you give a poor man a dollar, he'll
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Uh, you sure those rules exist in that town? Even if they do ... how much overhead does a "minimum parking requirement" in a rural town even incur? Amazon is cheaper because they have a high sales volume online website availble 24 hours, massive inventory, and automation. A store in a small town cannot maintain a large inventory/product selection and even if they can .. the cost per sale is higher because they have to pay a worker to sit at the counter, be managed. The $15 per hour not-including-benefits a
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Taxing property for just sitting there makes little sense btw, sounds like a way to take people's stuff. All taxes have the effect of causing prices to rise. There is no way around it. Income tax probably makes the most sense of all the taxes I guess. Things like forcing companies to employ people and also overly high minimum wages cause things to get more expensive and unnaffordable. Everytime you increase the minimum wage things become many times more unaffordable because production is reduced so there ar
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I see, properties cost the city nothing in street and sidewalk maintenance, tree trimming, street lights, water and sewer, police patrols, fire and emergency response, and so on. And further, the city won't take its pound of flesh one way or another.
That's true, and when you tax something, you get less of it. If you tax commerce (sales tax), you get le
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You've never been to Tenino, if they had cash it would go to Walmart or (if they were feeling rich) Target.
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You must be European. This comes up quite often as Americans point out their superiority because of Amazon's size and because Europe doesn't have an equivalent company that size. My typical response is why TF would I want that? A lot of our laws are based precisely around keeping competitors small to ensure competition actually exists.
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And also, why would anybody think that having a single company sell all things to all people is a good idea? That's completely bizarre to me.
Because the proponents of no-holds-barred capitalism never managed to solve the dissonance between the free market theory only applying to markets of infinite buyers and sellers with total transparency, and the actual markets tending towards monopolies or oligopolies with active obstruction of transparency.
They just can't admit that they have a beautiful theory that solves all the worlds' problems but is unfortunately only distantly related to the real world.
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This is the proverbial spherical cow.
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In a vacuum, if we ignore gravity and friction, yes.
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