Re:Big landlords used software to collude on rent prices, DC...
by pphysch on Friday November 03, 2023 @01:31AM
(#38124909)
> It was also discouraged to talk about income in Soviet Russia, as an example.
What evidence do you have for this? In current "socialist" countries like China, talking openly about wages is common and not discouraged.
The incentives are crystal clear. Price coordination works, and workers in USA are brainwashed against doing it in their own benefit.
Re:Big landlords used software to collude on rent prices, DC...
by randomdata on Friday November 03, 2023 @08:28AM
(#38127713)
Except China moved to being a capitalist society several decades ago. The Nordic capitalist societies even go as far as to officially publish everyone's income data. You've not explained your attribution to capitalist societies.
Again, price coordination is necessary to remain competitive once price data becomes pervasive. Such data is not readily available in the USA with respect to labour, however, thus it is a competitive advantage to remain guarded.
To facilitate collusion.
Although I understand your larger sentiment. As a farmer, I have to align my prices with the Chicago Board of Trade, which in many ways is similar. Once price data becomes pervasive enough, there is a tipping point where you have to reveal your prices early to remain competitive. I mentioned retail earlier as being another example of where that has taken hold. That theoretically is a reason why rentiers could be compelled into using such a system absent of collusion taking place.
> but that is why our capitalist society discourages it.
I am not sure I understand the attribution to a capitalist society here. It was also discouraged to talk about income in Soviet Russia, as an example. That competitiveness of which we speak is not a function of a capitalist society, it is a function of human nature. Hell, I bet in early hunter-gatherer societies it was discouraged to talk about how much of the gathered resources you were able to keep for yourself.