#rentseeking — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #rentseeking, aggregated by home.social.
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God gave the land to the people!
#land #georgism #economics #theland #landreform #naturallaw #wealthinequality #rentseeking #naturalresources #landvaluetax -
God gave the land to the people!
#land #georgism #economics #theland #landreform #naturallaw #wealthinequality #rentseeking #naturalresources #landvaluetax -
God gave the land to the people!
#land #georgism #economics #theland #landreform #naturallaw #wealthinequality #rentseeking #naturalresources #landvaluetax -
God gave the land to the people!
#land #georgism #economics #theland #landreform #naturallaw #wealthinequality #rentseeking #naturalresources #landvaluetax -
@nini @ChrisMayLA6 I don't hold with calling voters "idiots". I can't see any merit in that.
Just at the simplest human level, calling people idiots alienates them. Badly. #HilaryClinton tried that, and it didn't work out well for her.
But also, sneering at voters distracts from building the routes to change. How to counter the propaganda of the billionaire media? How to teach people about #imperialism and #RentSeeking and #neoliberalism?
Better to help people rethink than to sneer.
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"Lesson 1: There’s no such thing as a free lunch
Then: In the early 2020s, a series of cyberattacks linked to Russia, China and Iran left the federal government reeling. The Biden administration called on major tech companies to help the U.S. bolster its defenses. In response, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella pledged to give the government $150 million in technical services to help upgrade its digital security. It also offered a “free” security upgrade for government customers.Now: Last year, the Trump administration announced a raft of agreements with tech companies that were meant to help federal agencies “purchase enterprise AI tools at government-friendly pricing.” Agencies could use OpenAI’s ChatGPT for $1. Google’s Gemini for 47 cents. Grok by xAI for 42 cents. The administration hoped that the low-cost pricing would make it “easier for federal teams to acquire powerful AI capabilities … to enhance mission delivery and operational efficiency.”
The takeaway: Be wary of freebies. Our investigation into Microsoft’s seemingly straightforward commitment revealed a more complex, profit-driven agenda. After installing the upgrades, federal customers would be effectively locked in, because shifting to a competitor after the free trial would be cumbersome and costly. At that point, the customer would have little choice but to pay for the higher subscription fees. The plan worked: One former Microsoft salesperson told me “it was successful beyond what any of us could have imagined.”
(...)
Agencies looking to buy AI tools at discounted rates today must consider how the costs might balloon down the road. The General Services Administration warns that AI “usage costs can grow quickly without proper monitoring and management controls” and advises agencies to “set usage limits and regularly review consumption reports.”"https://www.propublica.org/article/federal-government-ai-cautionary-tales
#USA #FederalGovernment #BigTech #CyberSecurity #Microsoft #RentSeeking #LockIn
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🤡 Oh, the tragedy! The rent-seeking overlords are clutching their pearls as their empire of inefficiency crumbles under the weight of AI making dinner reservations. 🍽️ Who knew an algorithm could be the grim reaper for overpriced mediocrity? 📉
https://geohot.github.io//blog/jekyll/update/2026/02/26/the-last-gasps-of-the-rent-seeking-class.html #rentseeking #AIinnovation #dinnerreservations #overpricedmediocrity #techdisruption #HackerNews #ngated -
🤡 Oh, the tragedy! The rent-seeking overlords are clutching their pearls as their empire of inefficiency crumbles under the weight of AI making dinner reservations. 🍽️ Who knew an algorithm could be the grim reaper for overpriced mediocrity? 📉
https://geohot.github.io//blog/jekyll/update/2026/02/26/the-last-gasps-of-the-rent-seeking-class.html #rentseeking #AIinnovation #dinnerreservations #overpricedmediocrity #techdisruption #HackerNews #ngated -
🤡 Oh, the tragedy! The rent-seeking overlords are clutching their pearls as their empire of inefficiency crumbles under the weight of AI making dinner reservations. 🍽️ Who knew an algorithm could be the grim reaper for overpriced mediocrity? 📉
https://geohot.github.io//blog/jekyll/update/2026/02/26/the-last-gasps-of-the-rent-seeking-class.html #rentseeking #AIinnovation #dinnerreservations #overpricedmediocrity #techdisruption #HackerNews #ngated -
🤡 Oh, the tragedy! The rent-seeking overlords are clutching their pearls as their empire of inefficiency crumbles under the weight of AI making dinner reservations. 🍽️ Who knew an algorithm could be the grim reaper for overpriced mediocrity? 📉
https://geohot.github.io//blog/jekyll/update/2026/02/26/the-last-gasps-of-the-rent-seeking-class.html #rentseeking #AIinnovation #dinnerreservations #overpricedmediocrity #techdisruption #HackerNews #ngated -
🤡 Oh, the tragedy! The rent-seeking overlords are clutching their pearls as their empire of inefficiency crumbles under the weight of AI making dinner reservations. 🍽️ Who knew an algorithm could be the grim reaper for overpriced mediocrity? 📉
https://geohot.github.io//blog/jekyll/update/2026/02/26/the-last-gasps-of-the-rent-seeking-class.html #rentseeking #AIinnovation #dinnerreservations #overpricedmediocrity #techdisruption #HackerNews #ngated -
The Last Gasps of the Rent Seeking Class
#HackerNews #RentSeeking #Class #TheEconomy #Innovation #Disruption #EconomicJustice
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"There is abundant evidence that over the last 20 years, American firms have shifted from an innovation mindset to one that focuses more on rent seeking."
#innovation #vs #rentseeking #classic
https://greg-satell.medium.com/4-signs-your-industry-is-being-disrupted-70938259c344
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Apparently, rent seeking has been creeping into car features for a few years now.
Mercedes selling you a subscription to access your car's full acceleration has been one of the most blatant ones.
https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/23/23474969/mercedes-car-subscription-faster-acceleration-feature-priceThe BMW head-up display is also a subscription feature. And selling a "Traffic Camera Information" service is so on brand for BMW.
https://www.bmwusa.com/explore/connecteddrive.html -
Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow – No trackers, no ads. Black type, white background. Privacy policy: we don't collect or retain any data at all ever period. [Unofficial] @[email protected] ·Pluralistic: Where did the money go? (08 Jan 2026)
https://web.brid.gy/r/https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/08/after-the-moneys-gone/
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RE: https://federate.social/@jik/115652076876325960
A month later, the guy at my Uncle's apartment management company who is responsible for tenant paperwork still hasn't sent me a corrected lease packet to sign. I just sent him another email message enumerating all of the errors in the previously sent packet and reiterating that we will not sign it until they are fixed.
#rentSeeking #landlords #rental
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My mouldy house will kill my sick baby | #RentSeeking
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ibivF9P3x14&pp=0gcJCR4Bo7VqN5tD
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My #mouldyhouse will kill my sick baby | #RentSeeking -
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High Court strikes down remote NT public housing rent rises https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-03/nt-remote-rents-high-court-overturns-increases-on-appeal/106094970 #HCA #auspol #auslaw #Housing #rent #rentseeking
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@ChrisMayLA6 To be fair, leaking like a fleet of hyperactive fire engines is a mighty good distraction from the core issue that #RachelReeves has no strategic desire to dismantle #neoliberalism.
Reeves has no goal to reverse the torrential flow of wealth from poor to rich, or to tax assets instead of work, or to reduce #rentseeking, or end private profiteering from #publicServices and utilities.
But the leakfest is a great distraction from the strategic vacuum.
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Every time I think I've trawled the depths of how venal capitalists can be ...
"It turns out that halal cart vendors each have to pay tens of thousands of dollars to economic parasites who've cornered the market on food cart licenses, which they rent out at exorbitant markups to vendors, who pass those costs on to New Yorkers every lunchtime."
#CoryDoctorow, 2025
https://pluralistic.net/2025/11/15/unconscionability/#standalone-authority
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@SouthDakota If you're paying for it until your death, it becomes rent rather than eventual ownership. :/ #RentSeeking -
Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow – No trackers, no ads. Black type, white background. Privacy policy: we don't collect or retain any data at all ever period. [Unofficial] @[email protected] ·Pluralistic: The enshittification of solar (and how to stop it) (23 Sep 2025)
https://web.brid.gy/r/https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/23/our-friend-the-electron/
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Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow – No trackers, no ads. Black type, white background. Privacy policy: we don't collect or retain any data at all ever period. [Unofficial] @[email protected] ·
Pluralistic: The enshittification of solar (and how to stop it) (23 Sep 2025)
https://web.brid.gy/r/https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/23/our-friend-the-electron/
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Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow – No trackers, no ads. Black type, white background. Privacy policy: we don't collect or retain any data at all ever period. [Unofficial] @[email protected] ·Pluralistic: The enshittification of solar (and how to stop it) (23 Sep 2025)
https://web.brid.gy/r/https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/23/our-friend-the-electron/
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Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow – No trackers, no ads. Black type, white background. Privacy policy: we don't collect or retain any data at all ever period. [Unofficial] @[email protected] ·Pluralistic: The enshittification of solar (and how to stop it) (23 Sep 2025)
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/23/our-friend-the-electron/
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Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow – No trackers, no ads. Black type, white background. Privacy policy: we don't collect or retain any data at all ever period. [Unofficial] @[email protected] ·Pluralistic: The enshittification of solar (and how to stop it) (23 Sep 2025)
https://web.brid.gy/r/https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/23/our-friend-the-electron/
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Finally, some good news. Tenants need to organize & fight back when predatory housing profiteers aka "landlords" violate their rights & threaten their housing. Tenant's unions are a great place to start!
#Montreal #rentseeking #union
https://thelinknewspaper.ca/article/rent-hike-at-st-denis-building-rolled-back-after-tenants-union-protest -
“There’s a whole #economics literature devoted to the costs when an #economy is dominated by “ #rent-seeking” — when #business success depends on #political connections rather than producing things people want.” paulkrugman.substack.com/p/we-are-all...
We Are All Lisa Cook -
"The boss of the firm behind ChatGPT and the UK technology secretary discussed a multibillion-pound deal to give the entire country premium access to the AI tool, the Guardian has learned.
Sam Altman, a co-founder of OpenAI, talked to Peter Kyle about a potential agreement to give UK residents access to its advanced product.
According to two sources with direct knowledge of the meeting, the idea was floated as part of a broader discussion in San Francisco about opportunities for collaboration between OpenAI and the UK.
Those close to the discussion say Kyle never really took the idea seriously, not least because it could have cost as much as £2bn. But the talks show the enthusiasm with which the technology secretary has embraced the artificial intelligence sector, despite concerns over the accuracy of some chatbot responses and implications for privacy and copyright.
OpenAI offers free and subscription versions of ChatGPT. The paid version, ChatGPT Plus, costs $20 a month and gives users faster response times and priority access to new features."
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"An appeals court on Friday blocked studios and record labels from using expedited subpoenas to identify internet users suspected of illegally sharing songs, movies and TV shows.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that copyright holders cannot use the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to subpoena internet providers that merely act as conduits for infringing material.
The Motion Picture Association and the Recording Industry Association of America had warned that blocking such subpoenas will hamper efforts to fight digital piracy.
(...)
The 9th Circuit had not previously addressed the issue, but its ruling aligns with decisions from the D.C. Circuit in 2003 and the 8th Circuit in 2005. Since those decisions, copyright holders have largely opted to file lawsuits against John Does before seeking subpoenas to identify the defendants, rather than using the expedited DMCA process.“This decision doesn’t prevent copyright holders from identifying online infringers,” said Victoria Noble, a staff attorney at EFF. “It simply forecloses one mechanism for doing so that is particularly susceptible to abuse.”"
https://variety.com/2025/biz/news/court-blocks-subpoenas-identify-piracy-1236490675/
#USA #MPA #RIAA #Copyright #Surveillance #Privacy #DMCA #RentSeeking #Subpoenas #Filesharing
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The Secret Life of Copyright: Intellectual Property and Inequality in the Age of AI
John Tehranian
(Cambridge University Press)
"In The Secret Life of Copyright, copyright law meets Black Lives Matter and #MeToo as the book examines how copyright law unexpectedly perpetuates inequalities along racial, gender, and socioeconomic lines while undermining progress in the arts. Drawing on numerous case studies, the book argues that, despite their purported neutrality, key doctrines governing copyrights-such as authorship, derivative rights, fair use, and immunity from First Amendment scrutiny-systematically disadvantage individuals from traditionally marginalized communities. The work advocates for a more robust copyright system that better addresses egalitarian concerns and serves the interests of creativity. Given that laws regulating the use of creative content increasingly mediate participation and privilege in the digital world, The Secret Life of Copyright provides a template for a more just and equitable copyright system.
Utilizes insights from a variety of academic disciplines to better understand the operation of copyright law and its various doctrines in perpetuating and even exacerbating inequalities
Draws on case studies ripped from the headlines and history
Advocates for a more robust and egalitarian copyright system that also better promotes creativity" -
#RENTSEEKING #MONOPOLIES: Media organizations have been stealing artists for DECADES. And now they want to get licenses from AI companies - for what purpose? You guess well: GETTING RID of the artists. Gosh, how can these people for the art world be so naïve and at the same time so pretentious!!!
I can't stand poseurs who want to extract copyright licenses for any online use of "their" works. Ultimately, their world view would represent the end of things such as digital libraries (including the Internet Archive), remixes, mashups, fan fiction, and every transformative use.
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I understand now that the "American Dream" was always a lie, but when did it morph into being a mini-lord?
I thought it was to get an education and a good-paying job. Increasingly, it seems to be acquiring enough properties or businesses that "generate wealth" while not doing anything.
Or also: how do we make "rent-seeking" the toxic term that it should be?
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Australian wealth inequality frays the social fabric
"The top 10% of households now control 44% of all wealth in Australia. The collective wealth of the richest 200 Australians has nearly tripled over two decades, mostly from property and resources – economic activities that extract value from existing assets rather than new productive capacities; what economists call “rent-seeking”.
"Rent-seeking concentrates wealth away from productivity-enhancing investments – in business innovation, public infrastructure and worker wages. This leaves ordinary people paying ever-higher proportions of their income for necessities. Ordinary Australians have little to celebrate."
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/15/neoliberalism-lite-is-no-solution-to-australias-cost-of-living-and-productivity-crises-its-time-to-curb-wealth-concentration
#inequality #WealthCapture #RentSeeking #housing #rentierism #unproductivity #ActiveProduction #wages #extractivism -
I have recently been looking at task and project management software for 1-2 person teams, and am horrified by what is out there. Almost all interesting products are on subscription and offer no possibility of exporting data in a user-friendly format. The thought of having all my organisation and project details at the mercy of a landlord who can modify the product or the rent at any point and offers no safe off-ramp is insane.
#UsersAreFodder #SiValleyGrift #Productivity #tasks #rentSeeking
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLOSGokAEmo
🚨 🚨 #ALERT 🚨 🚨
I'm trapped on the 21st floor
Residents of #EastLondon's #BalfronTower have been starnded in their flats for a week after the 28 storey building's lifts broke down.
#UKShitShow #housing #ClassWar #disabled #elderly #WTF !!!
DISGRACEFUL!!
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“A #transactional #president has revealed the US to be a transactional society, where the highest returns accrue to #rentseeking & #cronyism, not to #initiative & #innovation. Sooner or later, #productivity growth will become a casualty” www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/t... Syndicate Newsletter
American Exceptionalism Meets ... -
"Popular shadow library LibGen continues to face trouble. In addition to ongoing technical problems, a U.S. lawsuit resulted in several domain suspensions and seizures in recent weeks. To top it off, the shadow library was just added to Germany's pirate site blocking list, making it harder to access the remaining domains."
https://torrentfreak.com/domain-seizures-and-german-isp-blockade-add-to-libgens-troubles-241222/
#Copyright #IP #Libgen #Censorship #ShadowLibraries #A2K #RentSeeking
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As the rent-seeking engine of Si Valley marches on. A possible stage 2 of the iPlan :
#macrant #apple #ai #appleai #rentSeeking #SiValleyGrift #UsersAreFodder
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@siguza which IMHO should be illegal #rentseeking by #racketeering as #Apple has no business charging #devs that don't use their infrastructure at all.
It's Apple's decision to not allow "#sideloading" aka. #Installing Apps outside of their Stores or rather #paywalling that.
I wished @EU_Commission was actually staffed with competent #TechLiterates instead of #InternetPrinting #TechIlliterates like #Zensursula...
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'Tax Experts and Climate Scientists are Increasingly Saying the Same Thing.'
Link to story:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-02/tax-experts-climate-scientists-saying-same-thing-allegra-spender/102170828#EcoTaxes #redistribution #economics #RentSeeking #auspol #ClimateChange
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(2/2)… we disolved State Govts entirely?
Eg. the UK don't have state govts.
Could #localCouncils manage #townPlanning as a #federation.
StateGovt functions can likely be replaced by Committees of a greater number of national MPs.
State Govt have become corrupted, engaging in #rentSeeking and known to take #politicalDonations from #realEstate and #propertyDeveloper groups through #SuperPac's like the #PropertyCouncil.
What do you think? Are State Govts replaceable?
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Caption (eg): Mural of pretty face and #octopus has been painted over with the following bright white text, "FOR JUST A MOMENT THIS PRETTY FACE AND OCTOPUS HAVE MADE ME FORGET THAT MY RENT HAS DOUBLED AND THAT MY NEIGHBOURHOOD IS BEING DESTROYED…"
#gentrification #aerosolArt #streetArt #rentseeking #overdevelopment #mural #prettyFace #artWashing #neighbourhood #rent #landlords #Blackstone #stockMarket #lendlease #growth #graffitiArt #protest #urbanPlanning #housing #corruption
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@openrisk
Yes, one of the single greatest ills of the past decades is the growth in #rentseeking.Technology appears to be accelerating the growth in #rents.
At the individual level it may be beneficial to enact a MaximumRentalIncome as they have in Germany.
Another option is an exponentally growing #landTax.
We may have started to use the phrase #hyperFinancialisation.
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@smpl
We also call for ecological repair. Before concerning yourself with savers (and arguably environment savers too, by extension) please cast your attention to #propertyDevelopers and #landholders who wish to profit from land #rezoning for #urbanOverdevelopment, #monoculture and actual #mining.Bitcoin could be the furthest concern from your mind. It fact it is a remedy to debt fueled #expansionism.
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@DaveyDelimbo
Sadly, these terrible collapses like the #MiamiTower are just a tip of the iceberg.We wrote something recently on another device and will get it out in the days ahead.
In #Australia we've been struggling with our own #propertyDeveloper and #privateEquity craze since #Sydney2000, and yes, a lot of dodgy #construction.
The #realEstate and #propertyCouncil have been aggressively #lobbying #selfRegulation for as long as we can remember too.
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@nygal
*Silently supports a #ProgressiveLandTax based on #rentalValue of the #land, because the extremely wealthy and well-connected game #profitLoss-based #taxation so they never pay taxes.*Also #incomeTax doesn't much sense, when compared to #consumption and #landTax'es
And some people just own too much land and engage in #rentseeking that drains the real #economy.
