U.S. Farmers Are Being Bled by the Tractor Monopoly

Re:U.S. Farmers Are Being Bled by the Tractor Monopoly by oldjokes on Monday May 13, 2019 @02:02PM (#19901934)

If the reality is as you describe it then John Deere is effectively a government entity now, there is no way the feds/state would actually allow them to collapse and all those fields to die off. If you work at or buy John Deere products you're just living on the taxpayer dime, call it what it is.

I'm not sure why half our economy suddenly seems to be structured around these "too essential to fail" business models, but it's brand new and really really stupid. I guess this is the end result of a generation of people coming up while a gaggle of billionaires get bailed out while absolutely nobody went to prison.

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Re:U.S. Farmers Are Being Bled by the Tractor Monopoly by mywittyname on Monday May 13, 2019 @03:46PM (#19903184)

> really really stupid

Sounds like it's really, really smart from a business perspective.

I think it's similar to the idea of, "if you owe the bank a million, that's your problem, but if you owe the bank a trillion, it's their problem." Would you rather have the gov't bail out JD or risk massive food shortages? I know my choice.

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Re:U.S. Farmers Are Being Bled by the Tractor Monopoly by vageli on Monday May 13, 2019 @05:02PM (#19903926)

> > really really stupid

> Sounds like it's really, really smart from a business perspective.

> I think it's similar to the idea of, "if you owe the bank a million, that's your problem, but if you owe the bank a trillion, it's their problem." Would you rather have the gov't bail out JD or risk massive food shortages? I know my choice.

What kind of society are we building where it is sound business strategy, effectively, to hold a gun to the head of government?

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