So the media is awash with stories about OpenAI getting pummeled, losing market share , or that it is simply a house of cards about to collapse. OpenAI's troubles are a GOOD thing! Why?

Simply put, the odds of the AI market "bubble" (if it exists) going "pop" if OpenAI tanks are reduced given the proliferation of chatbots, LLMs, and foundational models being pushed by multiple players. https://www.engadget.com/ai/openais-house-of-cards-seems-primed-to-collapse-170000900.html #AI #OpenAI #HouseofCards #AIBubble #MarketForces #Economy

Tangled in the “thicket” of regulations behind closed doors

World-making and planet-making
"On its day two, the roundtable had substantial discussions about housing and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, both hampered by excessive regulation."

The message from Canavan...was: “to make our economy bigger, we need to make our government smaller”.
>>
https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-everyone-wants-a-slice-of-the-productivity-action-263431
#EPBCAct #biodiversity #laws #Environment #conservation #BiodiversityCrisis #ecosystem #decline #PublicGoods #state #regulation #governance #MarketForces #growth #GrowthMindset #DecisionMaking #democracy #ClimateEmergency #LookingAfterCountry

Reclaimining a sense of place
Mobility and the right to stay in a milieu

"Touristification describes a situation where locals fear their home towns and cities are being developed, designed and managed to attract and accommodate tourists. This touristification process benefits commerce and industries that profit from catering to visitors. Everyone else misses out, or is literally pushed out by rising housing costs. Some places are overwhelmed by short-term overtourism...Local housing, for instance, is being sacrificed for holiday rentals, facilitated by agencies such as Airbnb. local communities do not feel heard or empowered by tourism models which are focused on growth."
>>
https://theconversation.com/overtourism-is-reshaping-communities-in-europe-could-australia-be-next-260173
#tourism #overtourism #Touristification #TouristDestinations #TouristTown #coast #noise #pollution #cars #Bellingen #BellingenShire #harm #community #displacement #FastTrackApprovals #airbnb #regulation #MarketForces #housing #commodification #degradation #LeDroitàlaVille #mobility #RightToStay

#Tesla has lost 50% of its #MarketCap since #MelonHusk started seig heiling at #DJT #Election Rallys. Apparently #MarketForces are not saluting some of the most recent #CEO innovations at his money melting companies. #ShortSellers have reaped over $16 billion watching his house of cars tumble this year thus far

https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-stock-price-crash-byd-battery-tech-musk-rbc-downgrade-2025-3

https://fortune.com/2025/03/18/elon-musk-tesla-short-sellers-payday-byd-hits-record-high-on-ev-recharging-tech/

https://www-cnbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2025/03/10/tesla-shares-plunge-14percent-head-for-worst-day-in-five-years.html

🍀🤔 Ah yes, the Irish Famine: a delightful cocktail of laissez-faire economics and a dash of imperial neglect—because who needs food when you've got "beliefs" to keep you warm? Thank you, New Yorker, for reminding us that market forces and #apathy make for timeless tragedies. 📉🥔
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/03/17/rot-padraic-x-scanlan-book-review #IrishFamine #LaissezFaire #EconomicHistory #MarketForces #TimelessTragedy #HackerNews #ngated

A spokesperson said "We Charge This Much Because We Can".
They added "Sucks To Be You".

It's just so *refreshing* when they say it out loud.

--
“Seats ... have been very popular and, as always, the cheapest fares sell out early.”
--
“... fares booked very close to departure dates and times tend to be higher than the average fare, in line with the reduced number of available seats”, noting “this is especially the case around major events and school holidays, when travel demand is highest”.
--

#airlines #duopoly #marketforces

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jan/11/melbourne-sydney-interstate-travellers-train-air-fares-soar

@arstechnica

A GM electric Car that didn't spy on you (1996–1999):

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1

"Since its demise and destruction, GM's decision to cancel the EV1 has generated dispute and controversy.[122][123]
....
Electric car enthusiasts, environmental interest groups, and former EV1 lessees have accused the company of self-sabotaging its electric car program to avoid potential losses in spare parts sales, while also blaming the oil industry for conspiring to keep electric cars off the road.[128][129]"

#38C3
#energiewende
#ElectricVehicles
#electrification
#climate
#vw #bmw #mercedes #prius #tesla #dermarktregelt #ErneuerbareEnergie #Klima #auto #car #mobility #emobilität
#marketforces #environment #green #energy

Just one more example of how #MarketForces obstruct rapid #ClimateAction. Clumsy #mandates on production won't work if demand issues aren't also addressed.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/nov/22/electric-shock-carmakers-battle-strict-uk-electric-car-rules-as-big-fines-loom?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

The #market solves one problem (and often does a poor job on that): optimizing return on investment. All benefits and damages are incidental. So why do we let the #market reign in domains where damages are essential to the profits (fossil fuels, anyone?)?

And how do we get a discussion on how to evolve the economic systems so we get the benefits of the marketplace (innovative products, greater productivity) while avoiding the serious negatives - externalized cost in all the varied and damaging forms? To implement essential infrastructure improvements (e.g. charging infrastructure or expanded electrical grid, healthcare systems) which don't necessarily make the profit targets of the investors funding the market without significant negatives?

🎉 In a 25th-anniversary memo, Jack Ma says competition will strengthen Alibaba, urging trust “in the power of market forces.” 🌟 Embrace the challenge and grow stronger! #Alibaba #JackMa #BusinessGrowth #MarketForces

"Kroger's Senior Director for Pricing #AndyGroff said the grocery giant had raised prices for eggs and milk beyond inflation levels."

I refuse to believe the grocery sector as a whole -- #Kroger or any other stores -- limited price-gouging to just milk and eggs. No way.
This isn't capitalism. IMO it's fraud. It's manufacturing a price-fixing scheme to de-fraud the public.

#PriceGouging #capitalism #fraud #MarketForces #GroceryStores #Safeway #ConsumerGoods #USEconomy
https://www.newsweek.com/kroger-executive-admits-company-gouged-prices-above-inflation-1945742

ANZ bank invests BILLIONS$ in climate & environment destroying fossil fuels
#australia #newzealand
#money #climatechange #climatecrisis
#marketforces #StopTheMoneyPipeline

It is not “confected outrage”.
It’s actual real outrage.
#media #news #journalism
#energy #fossilfuels #environnement #climatechange #climatecrisis #marketforces
(use 12ft.io to get past paywall)

https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/woodside-and-the-new-climate-activists-20240428-p5fn24

This article (https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/electric-car-charging-network-canada-marketplace-1.7094656 )
mirrors my experience in 2022 #EVCrossCanada from VI to PEI (chronicled here: https://chrisalemany.ca/2022/08/15/saving-co2-on-a-cross-country-ev-journey/ )

— in particular, some charging networks, like Petro Canada, are horrible. Some are much better. Flo is by far the most reliable across Canada that we found. BC Hydro and Hydro Quebec never let us down either. Electrify Canada and Ivy were pretty good but not perfect.

Imagine going to a gas pump and having a different price from day to day or station to station… not cents... like by 50-100% difference. Imagine if the gas pump just didn't work 10% of the time. Imagine if you had to phone customer support to fill your car?

These are all **WHOLLY AVOIDABLE** barriers that have been put up because Government has allowed the marketplace to figure out car charging on its own.

It will change out of necessity.

#EV #Canada #ClimateAction #EndFossilFuels #LateStageCapitalism #MarketForces #Regulation

So anyway, #Coles brand tasty #cheese was $9.00 for a 1kg block in 2019 (I know this, because I was experimenting with creating smoked cheese for my people, and I purchased it often). The same Coles brand tasty cheese is now $14.00, despite the "PRICE LOCKED" tag that's been there the whole time.

Temporary price rises due to #COVID lockdowns and the like are to be expected in a market-based economy: shortages make sense when nobody can go to work farming/making/processing/delivering cheese.

However, COVID isn't a thing anymore, according to Western governments and Western "news services".

If COVID is no longer a thing, cheese prices *should* return to 2019 levels (give or take a bit to account for #inflation, #ClimateCatastrophe, #MarketForces, and the like). Yet, cheese prices continue to skyrocket.

Please excuse my economic illiteracy here, but if a previous crisis is no longer a crisis, your pricing should stabilise, so that your customers don't have to choose between medication and food.

#PriceGouging #FuckTheseCunts

Asia is the battleground for resistance against dirty energy.

.> An international environmental group, Market Forces, revealed in 2017 that foreign governments and banks are financing the boom in coal-fired power in Asia. They do this through export credit agencies or development banks.

.> They aren’t the only ones, though. Developed Asian countries like Japan have made big investments in dirty energy. Low-income communities in developing countries like the Philippines, Indonesia, and Bangladesh are reeling from the impacts of these coal power plants...

New data: in the last financial year, fossil fuel companies donated ~$2 million to the major political parties - money clearly aimed at sweetening deals to expand coal, oil, and gas production. Find out more in our new analysis:
Via #MarketForces #Auspol
https://www.marketforces.org.au/politicaldonations2023/

Fossil gas company Santos is happily throwing money at Australia’s political parties - it spent $153,660 on political donations in FY2022 - despite paying almost no income tax (FY2021).
Via #MarketForces #Auspol
https://www.marketforces.org.au/politicaldonations2023/

Members and organisations including #amnestyOz are calling on HESTA Super to stop fuelling the climate crisis and divest from companies expanding fossil fuels.
via #MarketForces #asuspol
https://www.marketforces.org.au/campaigns/super/hesta/

Now here is a story about the wrongs of unrestrained capitalism. The market works so well for the rich. #capitalism #marketforces #billionaires #bigphama TikTok turned Caitlyn's diabetes medication into a miracle 'skinny pen'. Now she can't find it anywhere
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-08/ozempic-diets-are-fuelling-global-shortages-for-diabetics/101827366