Actually if you disagree with her you’re a troll. She’ll only grant you respect if you agree with her or blow her up in one of her duels.
3 Likes
And even if she respects you, what then? More lies and propaganda? She is destined to lose, if the battle even has a chance of being won, which it doesn’t.
2 Likes
And now that I think about it Diana. You are always going on about wanting to commit genocide and exploding prisons. But how do you know that the stars isn’t propogsndizing your Intel. Your HUD says what isbuploaded to you either by concord or an empire. How do you even know what you are seeing are prisons and not colonies? How do you know that the state isn’t lying to you and every other capsuleers to spark violence. What of the prisons, or colonies, are rigged to blow by the state to make you think the federation is doing horrible things. And of course this could be turned around for every faction but the state is the most prominent in the propaganda department. Could what you are saying be the truth? Of course, but how do you know.
2 Likes
Capitalism doesn’t inherently include any guarantee of anti-trust or anti-monopoly interference. In fact, the purest forms of capitalism include none of the state protections against them, because those protections interfere with the market’s ability to decide winners and losers. Monopolies will always be more efficient at delivering their product to the public, simply by being the biggest game in town (and usually, the only one. They’re monopolies after all.)
2 Likes
Bankruptcy and the failure of a state are two extremely different things. Kim said bankruptcy. Now, unless you’re claiming to be Diana Kim, then maybe you shouldn’t try to speak for her when she’s asked what she means.
2 Likes
It actually will, and the State’s brute force is significantly larger than Federation’s.
Besides, if we apply this force strategically with fast decisive strikes, like a surgeon would cut out a tumor, the Federation will truly have no chance.
Now, what would be an option?
Terror? Well, I always had opinion that a terrorism is poor man’s war and a simple embezzlement of resources on destroying things that don’t worth it. It won’t work on Caldari for sure. On Gallente? Well, it could work, probably. They are these kind of scaredy weak folk, shaking from each threat and running crying to their mommas after each terror attack, like it destroyed something significant, while it killed just some folk that didn’t even participate in the war. Ha. But in any way, even if terror approach will suceed and we will scare gallente with murders into their hiding hole, do you think it will last for long? The moment we stop terrorizing them and will go home claiming victory, they will grab weapons again and will start invading us again, now with even greater fanatism, adding to their brainwashed ideals of freedom and democracy new hatred, crying all over: “Kill ebil terrorist baddies!”
What’s next. Negotiations? Treaties?
Lets go back to the start, right after the Federation has formed. After gallenteans found our hidden colonies, they started changing their own rules and laws just to take these colonies away from us.
That ended with our secession, because, well, nobody with a bit of self-respect could tolerate that treatment. And what did gallente do? Yes, started the war to subjugate them under their will. That was one.
The war has ended after hundred of devastating years in YC12 with a Tierijev treaty. It was still somewhat relatively calm period of peace, but was this peace real? Gallente were still occupying our Homeworld and diplomats couldn’t convince them to leave. And, while it actually would be our interest to reignite the conflict to liberate Caldari Prime from the invader, it weren’t Caldari, who violated Tierijev treaty.
It was Federal Navy Admiral Alexander Noir.
The war has started again, but it was ended quickly with precise and decisive attack of Tibus Heth, who in one lightning strike operation liberated Caldari Prime from 200 years of gallente oppression. But, instead of going further, he decided to stop the war and sign the treaty in Luminaire, according to which Caldari Prime will become State souvereign territory and Gallente will make no further attempts at it.
Gallente, of course, with their bloodlust, still wanted the war, but they agreed with the treaty and started invasion and fight for our Black Rise instead - a new region, that we again colonized in secrecy from them. They wanted these fresh resources so bad, that they even “tossed into the fire” couple of their old regions, even containing Intaki homeworld (well, they weren’t gallente, right? maybe they wanted to turn Intaki from a major nationality in the Federation into minority by some weeding, eh?).
But anyway, the question is not about the new war the Federation started and Intaki, but about this treaty that Gallente signed 10 june YC110, for they have violated it just 5 years later with another attempt of invasion and occupation of our home planet. 
Duh. Anyone still want to make treaties with Gallente? I definitely don’t. We stepped on the rake once - got hit our forehead, twice - got hit again, three time - and they did it again. Are we idiots to trust gallente one more time? NOPE.
Only the brute force will render them unable to invade us ever again.
Secrets don’t make friends. Is it really a suprise? You don’t show a foe the knife before you stab them in the back, you keep it hidden until the moment is right. If that was the intention or not is irrelevant, the threat was there. If there is nothing to hide then it shouldn’t be hidden.
3 Likes
Monopolies are always less efficient. Monopolies increase their price by reducing output which results in an inefficiency known as a deadweight loss. Monopolies tend to be less innovative as well. There is no need to innovate when you are the only game in town.
Monopoly is typically the result of State intervention.
A State can’t literally go bankrupt since the State always has the option to print money…even if they first try to get rid of it.
Bottom line for me is the Caldari fit in with corporate fascism with a healthy dose of oligarchy/oligopoly.
Except it wasn’t a knife. They weren’t military bases that we were building to “overthrown Federation”, they were just civilian and industrial colonies, where people could live and work, where they could gather resources, make commodities and create environment they would like to stay in. It’s just what we do, we grow, we explore, we build, we live.
We are not Gallente, who enforces others into their ideals, we aren’t Minmatars, who bullies neighbors about their internal social policies that Minmatar don’t like. We just live our own lives without touching anyone, without propagating our ideals, enforcing something or bullying somebody. We just want to live as we need, without affecting anyone and without being affected.
And you should understand, that we are Caldari. We don’t drum our drums from every achievement, from every new colony established, we don’t show off, we don’t show what we do behind our closed doors, because it’s just for us.
Why would you in the first place want to know how many colonies we have, what we are producing there, or, for example, what I am doing behind my doors in my quarters? Because if you want to be our friend, you don’t really need to know that. You will need to know that only if you want to be our enemy, to know our weaknesses, to estimate our potential, to plan invasion, or to see if there’s something to steal.
Trust me, not showing what you have valuable is the best way to prevent theft, and not showing it to friends saves you from their envy that can only worsen relations.
We are Caldari and we live like that, keeping it to ourselves behind closed doors, without telling and showing everything to everyone.
And they would know that how?
The Gallante, the Matari, they support evil in your eyes (at least from what I’ve always thought was your opinion). Evil intentions paint evil actions in every corner. How can you even imagine they would not expect ill intentions if they constantly seek the destruction of your home? Anythings a reason to shoot if you have a hair trigger.
If they have such evil intentions, one could imagine they would want to know this information. Not necessarily to steal it but to know where to strike.
Personally I don’t see them that way. I will say if I did see them that way I wouldn’t be surprised at a hostile reaction to my baiting them into a fight. They were colonies for research ect as you said. Letting it be known that they existed is not the same as handing them a blueprint and specific coordinates. I know you have quarters, you know I have quarters. If I had citadels and star bases in your backyard and you didn’t know would you be happy? I wouldn’t.
3 Likes
They wouldn’t. And that’s not our problem. If they would think we hold a “knife”, it would be nothing, that their paranoia, and we have nothing to do with that. Well, if they would ask us, if we have hidden military bases there, prohibited biological, chemical weapons or something weirder or even more dangerous - we would simply say “No, we don’t”.
And if they will demand us to show proof, we will just tell them to go kiss their own .
Ah, well, a bit different time frame, colonies were first, their destruction of our Homeworld later. Though, after that there was Black Rise, that we again colonized in secrecy… But anyway, repeating what I’ve answered on your previous question, basically, their expectations is not our problem. We do what we have to do. If they think we do something else, that’s really not our problem. If they piss steam because of that, it is not our problem too. I can tell them only that: “Go look what happens inside your own territory and stop peeking through our fence and make outlandish assumptions. It’s not your business anyway.”
Why should we do something to them? Why should we even offer them something? Both our colonies before the first war, and our Black Rise colonization - it was all made outside of Gallente zone of influence. It were new territories that we’ve colonized and developed, not like we put a hidden colony near gallente ones wil evil laughter, “BWAHAAHAA, YOU DIDN’T KNOW, BUT WE ARE HERE!”
And that I said that they were industry colonies, it really doesn’t matter. Even if they were “evil military colonies”, they still would be our evil military colonies. What does matter, that these colonies were in the new space, and weren’t “targeted” at anyone. Even if they were “evil military” ones, they would simply enhance our strength in general (since they were in newly explored space), and still would be our internal business.
Hmm, fair enough. I wasn’t exactly positive on the timeframe of events happening honestly.
3 Likes
Uhm, no. Monopolies are the result of a lack of state intervention. Without regulations in place to prevent it, one brand gets ahead, and uses their monetary advantage to solidify their position. As the inequity grows, they expand their privileged position by acquiring the smaller competitors. Bite by bite, they consume the field of rivals, or use their ability to sell at lower price via the economies of scale to push others out of the market completely. Then, once they’re in an unassailable position, they can raise prices to milk the captive audience.
4 Likes
Actually, from the public records, the Gallente were likely able to understand they were looking at private colonies, not military bases. After all, the infrastructure involved is very different, especially the kinds of vessels that come and go.
Ultimately, the colonies that the Federal Senate demanded the Caldari turn over were all outside the boundaries of the Federation, and so whether or not they were subject to Federal laws was… disputable. Obviously, as Matari, tend to view that episode in history from an outside viewpoint, but—and I don’t think this is a unique position among us—I can’t see how the Senate thought they had a legal leg to stand on, other than ‘we can’t allow the Caldari megacorporate structure to get an independent economic powerbase’.
The demand that the Caldari cede what was clearly private property over to the public ownership of the Senate, combined with the decision to use military force to starve Caldari Prime is a massive stain on the Federation’s history. In effect, they were saying that the Caldari themselves were the property of the Federation. It’s one of the reasons I’ve always felt more common cause with the State than the Federation.
5 Likes
Seconding this.
It seems like it would work especially well if the monopoly can corner the market in something that can’t easily be had by other means: stuff that’s at least moderately rare, naturally occurring, impossible to synthesize, and originates with a very finite set of sources. Get advantage, then leverage market control to acquire total market control and just crush anyone who tries to compete (by, for example, cutting off supplies to anyone who does business with them, and to anyone who does business with THEM, and so on). Leverage monopoly control to establish broad control over a whole category of industry. Attempts to work around your product can be watched for and likewise crushed.
It’s pretty hard to get a real monopoly going in most capsuleer stuff, though.
Now … it does seem like Mr. Pech isn’t wrong about certain specific kinds of monopoly, like where you only really need one entity supplying electricity or water or something. The state might decide to support a monopoly for a given area in a case like that, but probably also limit what it’s allowed to do.
2 Likes
That depends on how large you’re willing to go. OTEC certainly qualified.
2 Likes
This whole thread is a mess of improper history, some failures of basic economics, some other garbage. I really wish the CEP gave a ■■■■ about DK and her influence over impressionable individuals in both the State and Fed.
4 Likes
Where to start…
Regulations are what give incumbent firms market power. Take for example legal protections for intellectual property that is quite clearly a State sanctioned monopoly.
Even if one brand “gets ahead” there is nothing to ensure it stays ahead of the rest without interference from the State. And what does “use their monetary advantage to solidify their position” even mean? Solidify it how? Maybe by using that money to curry favor via the State and its officials?
And why purchase up competitors? If you have the better product why do this? Why not spend that money looking for new ways to innovate and produce a better product. And even if you buy up one competitor what is to stop another from entering? And even if you bought up all the competitors how do you keep more from entering. And the only way to buy them out is to pay a premium. Doesn’t sound like a good strategy in that all that “monetary advantage” is being transferred to your competitors as you buy them out.
And raising prices…why does this not elicit entry into that market?
All of these problems I have raised can be taken care of using the State which has (ironically) a monopoly on the use of force against its own citizens. If you use the power of the State to say…bar entry into an industry then your story could work…but then that means I’m right, a monopoly must have the power of the State behind it.
So you believe in anarcho capitalism
No, that’d be money.
Except, you know, that the guys with the most money can buy the best marketing. They can afford to engage in corporate espionage and other dirty tricks to screw with the competition. They can afford to put more money into development and improvement of their product. Good or bad, fair or unfair, these things all help to cement a position of market dominance.
Because brand loyalty is a thing. If you have a profitable competitor, and you can acquire them, then you have your market share and their market share. Over time, you market your product under their brand name. You save production costs by shutting down their production facilities and just sending multiple types of packaging out from the same production facilities.
And usually, you do this from a position of leverage. You push them to the brink of failure before you buy, so that the money you’re paying isn’t really enough for them to get back into the market. And even if it were… they’ve got to fight their own brand to get a foothold in that market.
And that’s a big chunk of why you can raise prices: Because while yes, maybe some tiny little players will enter into the market, they won’t have the money to compete with you in terms of the volume produced, the marketing, the advertising, payroll for specialists both honorable and not.
And yes, you can use the power of the State, but usually, you do that by leveraging money… which is not a function of the State, but of the capitalist system. People want the money you can pay them. And again: capitalism can work under governments that don’t involve themselves, and ones that do.
And, just to address an amazing little bit of rhetorical bullshite:
“Doing this could achieve X, but that means Y must be true.”
Not. Even. Close. You haven’t demonstrated ‘must’ at all. Only ‘Y is one potential way to achieve X’. Now show me that without the power of the State, my model doesn’t work. That monopolies are impossible without the State actively producing them.
3 Likes