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Re:Wal-Mart is telling some vendors they can’t run applicati... by KirinDave on Wednesday June 21, 2017 @10:44AM (#14604196)
Yes. And I'd agree.

To wax metaphorical, I'd rather the monsters devour each other while we race for a super-weapon to defeat all monsters and protect real people.

This situation where corporations are effectively replacing the state is not exactly what I had in mind when I said the world would be a better place with a diminished role of the State in individual life.

Re:Wal-Mart is telling some vendors they can’t run applicati... by cholantesh on Wednesday June 21, 2017 @12:25PM (#14605191)
I like the term empath75 uses to describe this situation - 'corporate feudalism', because it really does feel like lords battling for power and influence, while an increasingly impotent state looks on doing little more than wagging its finger.
Re:Wal-Mart is telling some vendors they can’t run applicati... by TulliusCicero on Thursday June 22, 2017 @10:07AM (#14612306)
Counterpoint: I like shopping at Amazon. I used to work there too, but I liked it prior to working there, and continued to like it after I quit.

And I think it would be very difficult for a company to offer the level of convenience and good UX that Amazon does at a much smaller scale. For example, part of why they can get very fast shipping down to a reasonable price is their huge network of distribution centers + their size giving them leverage in negotiations with UPS/Fedex/et al.

If you split Amazon into a dozen smaller companies, the overall customer experience would likely be worse.

Re:Wal-Mart is telling some vendors they can’t run applicati... by arthulia on Wednesday June 21, 2017 @11:25AM (#14604572)
Could you elaborate on what you did mean by 'diminished role of the state', and what you imagined?
Re:Wal-Mart is telling some vendors they can’t run applicati... by Asooka on Thursday June 22, 2017 @10:19AM (#14612385)
The only way you can prevent feudalism is by preventing accretion of power. Otherwise, it's a positive feedback loop through and through - the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful. How exactly to do that is up for debate, and I see socialist democracy plus regulated capitalism as the most practical current answer. Unfortunately it's not a stable position and is prone to failing if any one side can't be kept in check by the others.