I don't have internet, so I have to rely on beyond, but I first heard this expression on beyond anyway, so it's all fair.
"rent-seeking" seems to be some kind of political insult, what does it mean?
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I don't have internet, so I have to rely on beyond, but I first heard this expression on beyond anyway, so it's all fair.
"rent-seeking" seems to be some kind of political insult, what does it mean?
@Buster is warming up his keyboard
What it’s 2021, y’all don’t have heated keyboards
Politicians have replaced gangsters in executing this
- No internet.
- Posts on beyond.
Attachment 102943
It's a form of arbitrage essentially.
Short answer: when you try to make money without the downside of risk or needing to be productive.
But expect an essay incoming later today.
Picture if you were allowed to set up a toll on your street, and charge $5 to every person that drove on it. Then you flipped a buck a toll to mayoral candidates to ensure that when they get in power, they legitimize your toll booth.
Voila! Rent-seeking.
It's the reason that increasing gov't power past specific areas and at a low level increases wealth inequality, rather than decreasing it.
Can someone give us a real world example of this happening?
OMG imagine how clogged the tubes would be if Trudeau didn't regulate telecoms!
Canadian airlines are another one.
And Bombadier. Amazing how a single fucking company benefits so much.
Dairy cartel
Oh man the wheat board :rofl:
Was cheap to go after the wheat board. Privatize it, sell the majority to the Americans and Saudis, make a bit of money and fulfill an election goal. No real losing position aside from annoying some farmers (who lets face it were going to keep voting for them anyway). But selling it off wouldn't guarantee bankrupted farmers or cause high job losses so it's low risk, moderate reward.
The problem with the dairy cartel is that it isn't cheap to get rid of. You either subsidize the hell out of the dairy farmers like other countries do, or let the industry die as well as with the economic activity that goes along with it. Going to cost billions either way. This past year would have been the time to jump to the subsidized model like the U.S. and Europe. It would get lost in all the other massive deficit spending with the 'Covid budget', and the associated cheap dairy would keep people happy as everything else is rising. But that wasn't on the table for Harper. Couldn't pay billions to keep up with U.S. subsidies and try to balance the budget, and couldn't let the industry go under and have all the job losses and lost tax revenue either and expect to get elected.