I feel like this is a pretty obvious circumstance where these companies should not merge as it would have zero positive impact on consumers. Hoping they can keep the merger from going through. If they can’t block this one the. I kinda feel like they don’t have much authority.
this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2024
94 points (100.0% liked)
News
23259 readers
3186 users here now
Welcome to the News community!
Rules:
1. Be civil
Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.
2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.
Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.
3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.
Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.
4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.
Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.
5. Only recent news is allowed.
Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.
6. All posts must be news articles.
No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.
7. No duplicate posts.
If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.
8. Misinformation is prohibited.
Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.
9. No link shorteners.
The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.
10. Don't copy entire article in your post body
For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
We already saw how little power they have with the MS/Activision merger. Doubt they'll be able to do anything here either.
I feel like there's more on the line with groceries being a staple necessary for human existence, so hopefully there's more motivation to stop this one. Your example stands though and I don't have a whole lot of faith that this will turn out different.
You're right that there is more on the line, but that doesn't mean the morons in power will care.
Here in Aus we've had a supermarket duopoly since 1985, it has been terrible for consumers and only gets worse over time, most recently using COVID supply chain disruptions as a guise for increasing sales margin.
The government recently announced a 12-month review into the industry, triggering CEOs to resign and be replaced with scapegoats for their upcoming difficult period.
Things do generally seem to be on the right path, and yet still no one is talking about the only measure which will stop the problem: fixing the merger laws.
From where I'm standing, for the FTC to pre-emptively realise this eventuality and act to intervene represents about a 40-year headstart on us developing sensible policy in the area. And we've actually been dealing with the consequences of the inaction for that time.
Comparing to Activision and Microsoft is total non sequitur, they are world apart in terms of their impact on society and tbh, Microsoft's argument that it can be good for consumers has merit.
You Aussies seem to be a lot like us Canadians: terrifying abroad in wartime, utterly complacent domestically in peace times. Does that track?
I have an Aussie nefew btw, I miss that lil guy. Much love, take care
Late stage capitalism just cant help but create monopolies. But they dont really need to, they just have to all quietly agree to raise prices based on cost and simply never lower them regardless of that cost decreasing. Weird how the spot price of grain can go up or down but a loaf of bread only goes up. Why even bother with being competitive when you can just raise prices and stagnate wages while asking for government hand outs?
The rich already have socialism, the public pays for their losses and often even their investment costs indirectly via buisness grants etc. but the profits are privatized.
New arena, anyone?
FTC: Prices may go higher
Kroger and Consumers: Ya think?!
Could??
No shit