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Americans say large tech companies have too much power

axios.com

18 points by thisislife2 2 days ago · 5 comments

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hn_submit 2 days ago

But these large tech companies are also the reason America still exists.

Without their multi-trillion dollar valuations the U.S. national debt would become unsustainable pretty quickly. Investors look at the potential profitability of a nation to decide whether its debt can be financed.

So be careful what you wish for!

  • rileymat2 2 days ago

    I am not sure that the capital would not be allocated differently.

    Whether or not we have a google, we will have advertising, perhaps at more competitive rates with more competition. Monopolistic Megatech v. No Tech is a false choice.

    On a straight revenue side, corporate tax, in total, accounts for about 10%. Granted there is additional income paid through salaries because of these giants, but the I doubt with reallocation it is profound as you are claiming.

    • hn_submit a day ago

      The keyword here is "profitability." These companies are hyper-profitable and have a near monopoly in their line of business. Just having companies that barely eek out a living isn't sufficient.

      • rileymat2 a day ago

        In a capitalist environment, profit approaching 0 through competition is more ideal than monopolists naming their price. Think of it this way, Google is Basically ad tech, each dollar they don’t make does back to the primary company buying ads.

  • add-sub-mul-div 2 days ago

    Without these companies we'd have a large workforce freed up to do something worthwhile. It's not like the people would disappear.

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