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This is a bit of a ranty post that I've been meaning to write for quite some time... but I never really could figure out how to write it without it sounding like a cranky old man having a bit of a verandah yell at the passing world. So, I guess I just won't bother with trying to make it sound any different!

For the last few decades, or at least as long as I have been a alive and able to understand things... the public have been sold a horrific lie of deregulation and "free-market" solves all. Now, don't get me wrong, I am NOT an advocate of pure socialism or anything like that... although, I guess in some countries the sheer audacity of questioning the functioning of the free-market doctrine is enough to get you burnt at the stake of sacrificial straw men arguments.

I do make two subtle points though... firstly, what was sold to us as free markets are definitely NOT free-market... and that markets can NOT solve every problem.

So, to the first point. The inherent problem with "free-markets" is that they need to have efficient pricing... without that, then you are just making up numbers in the manner that brought down centrally planned economies. The problem with our current free markets is that they DON'T price in the problems that you can dump on someone else to deal with. And in a first world nation, the easiest "people" to dump all the costs on are: the populations of the developing countries and the future.... plus some of the local "poor" for good measure!

Basically, the way that companies and corporations are run these days... they are designed to extract maximum value for the shareholder, and accidentally, possibly providing an efficiently priced and delivered service/goods for the consumer. Except... in theory, it SHOULD have been the other way around in terms of priorities. So, you get to shit on your customers... because, where else will they go? And you get to externalise problems like pollution and waste to somewhere else... preferably over the hill and far away. Thus, minimising costs of production/delivery... and zeroing expenses to the account of someone else's problem.

Now... I think that most people would agree that this is really not a great state of affairs. But in a consumer society, we are all complicit (me too) and as long as we don't have to see the results... then we don't care. Except... things always come back to bite us... and now, I think we are starting to see the results of allowing the rich to capture more of the wealth whilst letting ourselves be shat upon. Of course, in return for being shat on, we did get a few little trinkets!

Companies don't reinvest anymore, they return money to shareholders and perform stock buybacks. None of these are innovation or building for the future... and there is little to no loyalty to customers or staff. Companies now exist for the shareholder.

A real case of the offshooting of responsibility (if you don't count the climate problem...), is the sheer irresponsibility of personal data collection and security. Companies (especially in Australia...) collect stupid amounts of personal data that they don't need (reminder, lie your arse off!) and the fail to secure it properly. The recent Optus and Medicare breaches are testament to that... over 10 million affected and have their lives turned around due to the potential of identity theft, and at best there is a "oops, bad bad hackers"... maybe a paltry slap on the wrist fine.

... and that gets me to that little lie that we all ate up from the United States. "Government is the problem"... well, now that we de-fanged the government, we see that we are now under the rule of unaccountable bullies that are much worse! Again... government ISN'T the solution to everything, but in a balance of power situation... if you wipe out one power pillar, you don't get something better.

Which brings me to the second point... companies have very little long-term outlook. Mostly, they are in for short term incentives. You can see this most in terms of fundamental research... very few of the companies really do that sort of thing, at best they are looking for incremental jumps. Even the big ones mostly do incremental research with specific known applications... and then they do the PR to make it look "innovative".

So... I'm just going to take a break now... I might revisit this in the future. I do sort of want to write about this topic, well... because, in some ways, I think we are sometimes trying to recreate the same broken model in our crypto-decentralised space. There are many interesting ideas out there... but the firm belief that financial incentives is what drives rational market actors... well, that has been shown to be not completely true. It is an enticing economic theoretical construct, but humans seem to be perversely averse to the categorisation as rational.

Oh yes... the original idea. What is the Cost of shitting on others in our current economic model? Pretty much zero if you ask me... and that isn't quite right somehow!

I can also be found cross-posting at:
Hive
Steem
Publish0x

Handy Crypto Tools

Ledger Nano S/X: Keep your crypto safe and offline with the leading hardware wallet provider. Not your keys, not your crypto!
Binance: My first choice of centralised exchange, featuring a wide variety of crypto and savings products.
GMX.io: Decentralised perpetual futures trading on Arbitrum!
Kucoin: My second choice in exchanges, many tokens listed here that you can't get on Binance!
FTX: Regulated US-based exchange with some pretty interesting and useful discounts on trading and withdrawal fees for FTT holders. Decent fiat on-ramp as well!
MXC: Listings of lots of interesting tokens that are usually only available on DEXs. Avoid high gas prices!
Huobi: One of the largest exchanges in the world, some very interesting listings and early access sales through Primelist.
Gate.io: If you are after some of the weirdest and strangest tokens, this is one of the easiest off-chain places to get them!
Coinbase: If you need a regulated and safe environment to trade, this is the first exchange for most newcomers!
Crypto.com: Mixed feelings, but they have the BEST looking VISA debit card in existence! Seriously, it is beautiful!
CoinList: Access to early investor and crowdsale of vetted and reserached projects.
Cointracking: Automated or manual tracking of crypto for accounting and taxation reports.
Poloniex: One of the older regulated exchanges that has come into new ownership. I used to use it quite a lot, but have since stopped.
Bitfinex: Ahhh... another oldie, but a goodie exchange. Most noted for the close affiliation with USDT and the Basic "no-KYC" tier!