Tech’s broken promises: Streaming is now just as expensive and confusing as cable. Ubers cost as much as taxis. And the cloud is no longer cheap::Some tech is getting pricier and looking a lot like the older services it was supposed to beat. From video streaming to ride-hailing and cloud computing.

  • cerevant@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Yep. The business model has always been “Lure them in and stifle competition with a low initial cost. Then when we have the market we can jack up the price.” Enshitification at its best.

    • AndreaHill@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      This is just capitalism at work. Capitalism = enshitification, exploitation, and destruction.

        • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Yeah but then the wealthy eventually start buying away regulation. The only thing that made capitalism get under any sort of control was fear of a worker’s revolution

          • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            The only thing that made capitalism get under any sort of control was fear of a worker’s revolution

            Yep, and so they made capitalism global, exported all of the union jobs to countries where labor abuse is permitted or encouraged, and then created new categories of unorganized, exploitative jobs faster than labor could keep up with them.

        • krayj@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          Even well-regulated capitalism strives for this and somehow manages to achieve it. It is the nature of capitalism.

          • Slotos@feddit.nl
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            1 year ago

            It is in the nature of power. Reducing this to a particular economic system is nearsighted.

            Every social system with a power dynamic (i.e. a system with two or more people in it) is vulnerable to power abuse. Power blinds, blindness strips powerful of perspective, decisions made without good information drunk-walk towards ruin.

            The only common thing is the fact that it’s the average Jane who suffers first and whose rage ends up counteracting the ruin.

            • krayj@sh.itjust.works
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              1 year ago

              It is in the nature of power. Reducing this to a particular economic system is nearsighted.

              I will agree that it is the nature of power. But I will argue that few other economic systems actively facilitate (and actually reward) the concentration of power the way capitalism does. I’ll also point out you are basically resorting to a “whataboutism” argument.

              • Slotos@feddit.nl
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                1 year ago

                I’ll also point out you are basically resorting to a “whataboutism” argument.

                That explains… a lot. I apologize for wasting your time.

        • hglman@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          If its actually well regulated it wont be capitalism. Just like Europe has many kingdoms yet isnt full of actual monarchy.

          • Staccato@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            All capitalism is, at its core, is the system of owning and investing capital for greater returns later. You can have that while regulating things–at least in theory.

            • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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              1 year ago

              An actual dictionary definition of capitalism:

              an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit.

              Any definition of capitalism that doesn’t in some way mention private ownership of capital is simply wrong.