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Texas Makes Green Computing Mandatory
athloi writes to mention that Texas legislators have passed a bill that would require computer companies to provide free recycling services to their customers for hardware purchased. "The bill (HB 2714) requires computer manufacturers to provide a "reasonably convenient" recycling plan that requires no additional payments from consumers. Dell and HP provided some model legislation that was used as the basis for the bill, which will only affect computers purchased for personal or home business use, but it could still encourage manufacturers to adopt efficient recycling programs that might then be applied to all machines sold."
I guess that just means prices for new computers will go up $50 or so, and recycling services are, as promised, free.
Companies might even see a better profit margin unless recycling is also forced upon consumers.
Virtual Betting on Facebook for non-geeks.
No, this is just more unconstitutional eco-fascism.
Remarkable. Not for the initiative itself, which is perfectly ordinary common sense, but from where it comes from. Reminds me of the time my grandad's pig played the violin. We all clapped and shouted hooray, not because the pig was any good, but because he could do it at all.
Who has the highest emissions of anybody in the country.
I'm sure recycling computer parts will help out a LOT.
The price is always right if someone else is paying.
No, this is just more unconstitutional eco-fascism.
You're welcome to argue this in front of the Supreme Court. I'm sure they'll hear your case in a few hundred years.
'Loose' is when your pants are three sizes too big. 'Lose' is when you misuse 'loose'.
You say tomato and I say tamato, tomato, tamato, let's call the whole thing off...
:)
That's a joke BTW son and a riff on an old show tune, I bet you didn't know that...
Tired of all the isms, don't exploit people as an employer, or a government, mmmmK?
What's dell going to do, have people ship them old computers? Ya, that'll be real cheap.
This is one of those places where you should tax something and have the government provide the service. There are definitely going to be economies of scale.
The Province of Alberta (Canada) already has a program where there is a small fee when you buy a computer and then they recycle old computers for free. You just take the computer to a local depot:
http://www3.gov.ab.ca/env/waste/ewaste/index.html
Why single out computers?
I mean, what about all the other appliances that tend to hit landfills, such as refridgerators, dishwashers, washers&dryers, televisions, radios, etc...?
With the newer controls and electronics many of these contain, I would tend to argue that there aren't any materials found in computers that aren't in these.
I think that Dell's got a cheap recycling program figured out(ship them to china?), and is trying to use this to muscle out the competition, which can't arrange disposal of old machines as easily.
Then there's the whole issue of what happens if the retailer is out of business when the customer goes to recycle his or her computer...
I don't read AC A human right
Are smaller system builders considered "manufacturers"? That would explain why the bill got so much support from HP and Dell; it raises the cost of doing business.
George W is turning over in his grave. Ohh wait he isn't dead, just brain-dead.
Bobo Mahoney
Dell's recycling option is offered for free. They give you mailing labels to send your old computer and monitor via DHL or something.
I don't know how much it actually costs Dell (obviously more than they charge), but so far Dell still has very low prices.
I can see why Dell would help force this on the competition... But in the end it's probably net positive for everybody.
Here in Texas, we now have all the electricity we need to take on these large environmental projects thanks to the 7 brand new pollution-spewing coal-fired power plants currently being rushed through the approval process.
Dell and HP provided some model legislation that was used as the basis for the bill
I'm not naive--I know it happens all the time, but I still get the shivers every time I read things like this. Am I the only one uncomfortable with the concept of corporations drafting laws?
I wonder what our country's founding fathers would have thought of the newspapers of their time reporting "This bill, drafted by the Honourable East India Company, and passed by Congress..."
Hey, we *need* those plants to provide surplus generation capacity for the next time there's money to be made taking a plant (or five) offline in California and then selling them our electricity at triple the market rate!
0 1 - just my two bits
The cost will just be passed along to the consumer.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Namaste
Sometimes at night I imagine the darkness is filled with horrible things with too many teeth, like Julia Roberts.
Okay, if you provide a recycling option for your old 'puta ONLY if you buy a new one, that could get sticky. What if you buy a new system as separate parts from different retailers? Neither individual purchase constitutes a "computer", but I'm still going to have an old system to recycle.
Here is his platform (he really wrote this):
... no one, ever. Baretta was right in the '70s, "Don't do the crime, if you can't do the time. Don't do it!"
...
Require members of Congress to work out on the Total Gym 15 minutes each day - or else they can't vote on anything.
Cut spending by dismissing the Secret Service, at least for my eight years in office (why would I need them?).
Resurrect Bruce Lee and appoint him head of homeland security (OK, the CIA and FBI too).
Give a presidential pardon to
Turn the Rose Garden into a new fighting ring for the World Combat League, in which liberals and conservatives will fight for legislative leadership and priority. (For fun, Saturday night fights will feature a recurring bout between Hannity and Colmes). "American Idol" already told me they will provide the entertainment.
Require Bill Gates and Warren Buffet to personally pay for national, comprehensive medical coverage for every American (or meet me in the Rose Garden).
Increase jobs in America by sending ninja teams to sabotage and steal them back from other countries.
Tattoo an American flag with the words, "In God we trust," on the forehead of every atheist.
(Column continues below)
Give a tax credit to anyone naming their children Walker or Texas Ranger (excluding Will Farrell).
Resolve the Iraq war by bringing all of our military personnel home immediately, then going over there by myself for "martial arts negotiations."
Hang Saddam Hussein (Whoops - scratch that - already did it undercover).
Convey my plan for world peace to the United Nations: taking the governor of California with me on our "kick butt and ask questions later" USO world tour.
Give every new military enlistee abroad a copy of my upcoming new book, "The Threat of Justice," with the words, "Arnold and I will be back to pump you up!" above my autograph.
Bring on Donald Trump as my apprentice. When my presidential term is complete and he has obtained his black belt, or whichever comes first, he can buy the White House and of course rename it (to, what else, "The Trump House").
Create new immigration legislation: to deport all liberals (then force them to listen to Bill O' Reilly every day for five years, at which point they may return).
Ask producer Mark Barnett to film "Survivor - Camp David," where world leaders will meet annually, for an all-out cage-fighting championship. The winner will take home $1,000,000 in Disney Dollars, good in Europe or America.
Send an autographed photo of me and my horse (no dogs in my White House) to everyone who commits to read my new WorldNetDaily "presidential column" and blast a blog who dares to disagree with me.
Complete the plan to bring Tony Blair to the U.S. as my vice president.
Expose the real WMDs - my fists and feet.
Replace Letterman, Leno or Conan once monthly, since stand-up comedy is what most governmental officials do anyway.
Ask Al Gore to provide me with a special governmental study on the connection between spotted owl extinction and global warming. (I'm pretty sure Michael Moore will film the docudrama).
Help Rosie transition from "The View" to the pew - it might help her get over that anger problem. If the pew doesn't work, she can spar Trump in the Rose Garden.
First and foremost, however, my greatest priorities will be to
Personally smoke out bin Laden by myself and round-house kick him all the way back to America, where my United Fighting Arts Federation will handle the justice issues.
Make all Chuck Norris facts come true (well, not quite all of them - I'm a happily, married man!)
So how long before people start showing up with truckfuls of circa 1999 servers and claim they're all from their home-based business? In the town where I work they offer free paper recycling for personal and home business use. But invariably the bin is stuffed with paper that is obviously from neither of those sources (i.e. baled and bound paper shreddings, industrially die cut waste).
I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
Tags != Comments, and -1 (Troll) != -1 (I Would Respond Angrily To This Poster So They Must Be Trolling)
Not if you read the headline as: "Texas raises barrier to entry for competitors of Dell and HP."
Notice how it does not affect business buyers, where the large players are already protected by a high barrier to entry.
When I was younger, one of the ways I learned networking was by putting Linux on a number of surplus boxes and hooking them together. Earlier than that, I used one of my older 'spare' machines as the first testbed for exploring with Linux.
All I can see initiatives like this amounting to is that Dell will whisk away the old box before anybody can think of a way to use it. Out of sight, out of mind, and nobody engages in the dangerous and subversive activity of putting a non-Microsoft OS on it.
You see, PC recycling is a profitable business, once you get away from CRTs. I've found at least three places in West Michigan that will pay me cash for old computer hardware.
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
Let's see...
250GB drive..
250GB drive..
250GB drive..
100GB drive..
60 GB drive..
50 GB drive..
40 GB drive..
Unheard of storage at an unbeatable price!
I recently changed my recycling policy here in Texas with my computers. Until a month ago it was I upgraded, then my room mate upgraded with my old parts, then the living room emu/movie/etc pc got upgraded, etc with the parts. at the very end the left over stuff was sat 100 yards from back of the house and shot with a 22-250 (rifle).. ;) But we are considering making the chain long enough so the parts finally end up in Russia and in exchange they give us a "bride" or something, haven't worked the details out yet.
now we added an extra step where my room mate upgrades another friend
s/©//g
Mod parent up! If you didn't, Walker would kick your balls so hard that they would fly through your mouth and end up in a Chinese factory. Then, they would end up in the ball hopper and be packaged into the little toy machine egg bubble things and be sent back to the USA. At that point, Walker would stare you down with his death stare and make you buy the imported balls from a toy machine for 50 cents and then force you to swallow them so that they would go back to where they started. At that point, Walker would roundhouse kick you back to the Chinese factory and make you work there as a slave for the rest of your life. That is, if the roundhouse kick or supersonic speed that you would have to attain to get to China wouldn't disintegrate you before you got there.
Kinda like further developing the transistor?
Texas pollutes more than most of the world generating electricity from coal. While this is a good plan, it does not even scratch the surface of Texas' environmental transgressions.
a l_warming_states;_ylt=ArFTHR1Kvm.qQ36YLKhfGT3MWM0F
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070602/ap_on_sc/glob
So, start a Free Geek chapter and make a deal with the computer shops to handle their recycling for them.
grey wolf
LET FORTRAN DIE!
Good, I'm glad! I hope Texas (my state) fucks over Cali for being retarded enough not to build more power plants.
Repeat after me. Environmentalism and Economies HATE each other. You can't have one without messing up the other! Cali made their choice to be "Green". Now they can reap what they sow.
Life is not for the lazy.
No wonder Dell and HP are behind this, it will kill the small mom and pop stores who are just barely making money on razor thin margins.
Remember folks, we don't own the world. We're just borrowing it from our children.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
I recently bought a Mac Pro, and noticed that I could box up my old PC and send it to Apple for recycling for no charge. Of course I didn't send it in, since it's not completely dead yet...
I would much rather leave as much as possible about computers to people who actually KNOW computers rather than to the underinformed and woefully overconfident junior staffers of figureheads who think that the Internet is a series of tubes. (Legislators do not write legislation. Their staff and aides write legislation. The legislator reads a summary prepared for him which, on a good day, actually explains what the bill does.)
Darn few people in Texas know the business of computers better than Dell.
Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
Texas isn't a one face State, we are large enough to have a myriad of different beliefs, after all have you ever been to Austin. You know, the Live Music Capital of the US.
I'm willing to bet that the recycle program is really just a program that will ship the junk to some country that doesn't care, which will pile it up, and probably burn it at some point.
Intelligence is a matter of opinion.
I hate to be cynical, but living in Texas, I know how things work here, and that is the most likely explanation. Texas government is about as business-friendly as it gets (that's regarded as a virtue around here by many people). Plus, you should ask yourself where Dell is headquartered, and the answer is Texas. Then you should also ask yourself where Compaq was headquartered before HP bought them, and the answer is also Texas. So, the world's two largest PC manufacturers have a big presence in Texas, and "coincidentally" those two companies just got the Texas legislature to pass a bill that makes life hard for their competitors.
Coincidentally, AMD and Intel also have a huge presence here in Austin, the capital city of Texas, and I guess they could've/should've opposed this on the grounds that stifling competition is bad for the industry, but there is no chance they would've for two reasons: fear of pissing off Dell and HP, and fear of looking like they're anti-environment.
Definitely, but how does it being unconstitutional matter ?
\u262D = \u5350
Here are the "unintended consequences" of this sort of thing:
1. Smaller manufacturers will feel the costs more than the big ones.
2. Hiding the costs from the consumer (by ostensibly "sticking" it to the big bad manufacturer, only to have them return it to the consumer hidden in the price) only serves to keep them unaware of what exactly is the cost of their shopping pattern. It has long been said that the taxes in this country would be a lot lower if we all had to pay taxes in full each year instead of "hiding" them via withholding. The same could be said of all the junk we are piling up -- if the consumer were to shoulder the full cost of waste disposal, and could see it plain as day in the form of his trash bill, the demand for stuff that is cheaper to dispose of (either it lasts a lot longer, or is optimized for recycling so that it's worth the effort of collecting) would shoot up.
But hey, I realize that's free market thinking, and this is Slashdot.
... crunched up computer electronics contains a lot more precious metals than the ore that originated the metals... they should be paying the individuals disposing the stuff....
Not only that, but any new plant built will have far better environmental efficiency than the decades-only plants that they're replacing. Opening up the new plants would relegate the old ones all but disabled except during absolute peak times (brownouts, anyone)?
All they're accomplishing is keeping the obsolete pollution-spewing plants operating at full capacity practically non-stop.
It's easy for Germany to have a feel good law about their own domestic manufacturing, because the bulk of that nation's income is from exports. How about we start sending all of our trash from German made exports to the USA back to Germany?
This is my sig.
This bill could kill any mom and pop shop. They will likely get hit the most by this bill.
If 76 Trombones really led the big parade, why did they have anyone else in it?
being retarded enough not to build more power plants.
Yeah, gee, damn them for being so stupid as to be unable to make more power plants magically appear in seconds whenever Enron feels like they should flip the switches.
There were enough power plants in California to cover all normal operating usage. Building more plants would have led to expensive capital investments in mothballs, unless of course someone knew in advance that Enron was going to start shutting off plants for fun.
Blame the hippies all you want, deep in your heart you know the truth is that building new plants just in case someone decides to pull another Enron would only raise the cost of electricity in order to make back all the costs of construction and generating unused power (if it was ever turned on at all).
Those links are bogus.
One is the UK.
The other is not free.
Have you actually tried to recycle e-waste lately? I remember when HP did a free recycling program with OfficeDepot a couple of years ago, I got rid of a garage worth of stuff, and then went out of my way to buy supplies at OfficeDepot out of sheer gratitude.
Not really. There's enough valuable metals in electronics to make recycling them profitable. (With the offset being CRTs, of course, but we're moving away from those.) One ton of electronic waste has more gold in it than one ton of gold ore.
Even if small manufacturers don't want to deal with the overhead, they can contract it out to companies that would be happy to make a dime or two. Sounds like that's a good business to be in in Texas right now.
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
Does this have anything to do with Cole's Law.
Have gnu, will travel.
Since you are so bright and obviously know so much more than all of us clods, perhaps you could educate us all.
Wasn't there a gigantic wind farm proposed for off the coast of Texas a few months back?
In Canada, I believe that Alberta (our version of Texas, if you will) also has similar legislation.
Now if Texas did curbside recycling pickup of paper, plastic and glass, they'd be able to divert a whole lot more trash from the landfills.
- RG>
Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
They'd have to use the cases Gateway used.
I opened up somebody's Gateway from 98. It was like 90% empty space.
How long until "mandatory" recycling? You have an old computer without the latest hardware tracking and DRM assist devices in it. It is more than x years old and therefore qualifies for "mandatory" recycling.
This would be a great boon to Dell, HP, Gateway and Lenovo. It would force people to upgrade to new computers. The only question is how long qualifies? One year? Two? Certainly no more than three years.
Only people in Austin call it the live music capital of the world.
Like what I said? You might like my music
From what I read, the California energy situation had more to do with Enron than with poor planning. When we've privatized something the public absolutely has to have and scarcity is profitable, scarcity is what you get. By design.
IANAL, So someone with a little more understanding how does this affect a non local company. Such as a company based in another state shipping computers to customers in Texas? Would such a company be required to deal with the Texas law, or would it only affect those making computers in Texas? I tried to read the bill, but I couldn't come up with anything conclusive.
Mobius Custom Computers
The Waste Electrical And Electronic Equipment Directive (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Electrical_and _Electronic_Equipment_Directive) in the EU covers the recycling of all electrical goods (including computers) by their manufacturers. The manufacturers are supposed to cover all the costs and all member states were meant to have adjusted their local laws by 2005.
Some people say this is one of the reasons that people in the UK pay so much more for their electronic goods than people in the US (can't find a source right now). Maybe now that everyone has to burden the costs (not just those in the EU) we'll start to see some fairer pricing over here in the UK.
I'm quite as amazed as you are, Texas used to be proud of its independence, and individualism. For some reason, although Comrade Perry certainly helps, Texas is trying to out-California California these days.
I guess the damn Yankees have finally completely taken over.
Computer recycling is good, but liberty is more important.
Most people don't even think inside the box.
I live in Belgium, and we've got a comparable system.7 92&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL/
The consumer pays a 'small' fee so all electric and electronic equipment can be recycled. The fact that the consumer pays for it, brings an advantage. Because of this it's possible to return your broken crap at any store and they will take care of the rest.
The fees are reasonable, depending on the appliance.
If you want to learn more: http://www.recupel.be/portal/page?_pageid=531,770
Bush's third cousin Fred announces a new computer recycling plant.
Seriously, now the green issues are just another way to tax more green.
Oh, don't get me wrong, I would love a true open green initiative, but let's see who is making the real green from green.
#hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
Not a big surprise, really, and frankly -- it's about time. It's not a new idea that the cost of a consumer item should include the true cost, including disposal/recycling.
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. - Dr. Seuss
Wow, the whole Earth?!?
I didn't know that "recycling" meant "wasting energy and natural resources to dismantle trash." Informative+++!
You're doing it wrong--http://youredoingitwrong.mee.nu
1) The environmentalism is environmental wacko ("Wind power? Those towers are ugly!")
2) Your competitors invest in technology but you don't
One of the problem the U.S. has is that we decided not to invest in battery/hybrid/flex fuel vehicles because it was considered too expensive. That would only have been a sound economic decision if everyone else made the same decision. But Japan did. So now, the only battery/hybrid/flex fuel vehicles are made outside the U.S. and U.S. auto-makers are scrambling to catch-up or they go out of business. This is a case where environmentalism and economies were 100% in line.
Same goes with power plants. You can't regulate power prices and refuse to build new power plants. That has nothing to do with environmentalism, it's just a stupid economic decision. And now that oil prices are on the rise, we see that building other forms of power plants is not only environmentally friend, but it is also becoming economical.
This isn't a case where California made the choice to be "green" -- it is a case where California, like much of the U.S. chose not to be green, and they are paying the price. But at least they don't have those ugly wind farms blocking the beautiful views.
Coincidentally, AMD and Intel also have a huge presence here in Austin, the capital city of Texas, and I guess they could've/should've opposed this on the grounds that stifling competition is bad for the industry, but there is no chance they would've for two reasons: fear of pissing off Dell and HP, and fear of looking like they're anti-environment.
How is forcing everyone in the state to pay a little bit more for a product automatically favoring HP or Dell? I don't see why AMD or Intel should complain at all. Unless you want to say that they should complain because they might both be made to think about how to make their products more recyclable? If it's a government rule put out on everyone, then no one has an advantage except those that don't follow the rules. Are you saying small businesses shouldn't have to recycle or pay a recycling tax because they are small businesses?
What's it cost to ship a desktop, LCD monitor, or laptop? What's the convenience factor? What's the turnover rate on these electronics?
What's it cost to ship a dishwasher, refrigerator, washer, or dryer? What's the convenience factor? What's the turnover rate on these electronics?
I agree that all appliances should be [eventually] included -- but this is the low hanging fruit. Compared to "white" appliances, computers are cheaper to ship, tend to get replaced more frequently, and almost certainly contain more electronic nasties per pound, cubic inch, or other metric. Furthermore, since the evolution of computer parts is so much faster than the evolution of "white" appliance parts, the feedback loop to modify the way the electronics are manufactured [to cheapen reprocessing later] is shorter, and so modifications to the manufacturing process itself will occur sooner at Dell than at Maytag.
After computers, I'd seek to include battery-operated electronics. They're far more similar to computers than "white" appliances on all the metrics I wrote about above.
Support a few technologists in Washington.
He said "live music capital of the US". If you've ever been there then you would understand. :D
What day is it? Could you please tell me?
Have you ever actually driven through central Texas? There's a lot of green out there and it's all under governmental protection. We're not as uncaring as you think, asshole. You try managing a major metropolitan city like Houston. It's spread out, mind you. I can drive for 25 minutes while maintaining an average speed of 80 MPH before actually leaving the city limits. Try designing an efficient form of transportation around that. Not easy, is it? If we're going to lower the pollution rates then it will take baby steps. Also, the total state population coupled with how spread out each of our six major cities are (unless you count Dallas and Fort Worth as being one city, no one will yell at you about that very much) makes for providing power a difficult task. Houston's population alone is climbing to nearly 4 million. That's nothing to scoff at! So, before you bitch about Texas not being "green" enough for your tastes, remember the fact that reasons exist for everything. Didn't the Schroedinger's cat experiment teach you anything? And no, I'm not a member of the Republican party.
What day is it? Could you please tell me?
Bullshit. The reality, for those curious, is that captive markets + deregulation and consumers hate each other. The energy debacle in Cali had one single root cause: deregulation. It's just that simple. Good like finding a republican who will admit *that*, though...
In Canada, I believe that Alberta (our version of Texas, if you will) also has similar legislation.
It's not legislation (in fact, I'm not aware of any legislation passed to this effect). It's reality. There are a number of wind farms in southern Alberta, including Cowley Ridge, which has been running since the early 90s, The McBride Lake Wind Farm, which has been running since 2003, The Summerview Wind Farm , which opened in 2005, and many others I'm sure I've missed, with more being planned.
And the DFW area does curbside recycling, I'd imagine all the metro areas do.
Also, Texas, as a disconnected power grid (we do not have any AC tie lines to other states) does not sell excess power to other states. That means we also don't purposely import most of our electricity from other states so we can claim to be green because we don't "produce" emissions from power generation (see: California).
I live there, and here people call it the live music capital of the world. Which you'd know if you'd ever been here...
Like what I said? You might like my music
Thought you were responding directly to what the parent had said. Nothing to see here, move along.
What day is it? Could you please tell me?
No, your wrong because deregulation is working out AWSOME in Houston, TX. I suggest looking again at the failures in Cali. Only if they had more local power generation available...
It's a straw hut for you. Hippy! Haha
Life is not for the lazy.
That was retarded.
What are you, four?
Tell your liberal Daddy he did a good job raising you - you make fun of George W too!
Heh, I was, but you almost have to an Austinite to get it. :) Maybe you are and still don't, I don't know. Anyway, I took his "live music capital of the US" to be somewhat satirical of what folks here actually say, but used the actual words used here myself to make my own point. Which is basically obvious now, that once you get out of austin, nobody's heard of it and its music scene. There's a lot of pretension here on that subject...
Like what I said? You might like my music
Houstonians seem to think differently. Although, I don't spend much time in small towns like Austin. :P So, I might have missed the "Music capitol of the world" slogan.
What day is it? Could you please tell me?
Sorry, mea culpa.
I meant "similar legislation to the electronics recycling legislation being discussed in TFA."
I guess I didn't read it enough times before posting.
- RG>
Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
Where recycling here isnt free, and they wonder why people continue to actively throw out harmful substances through the trash and through the sewers. Texas has the right idea for making it "free" it'll encourage people to recycle more than what california is doing atm.
Seriously, who though that charging people extra for recycling would make them eager to do it?technically you cant through away TVs or computer monitors, but I see it done all the time and the trash collectors could give less a shit.
I'm saying that Dell and HP stand to gain if laws like this are passed, because they are huge corporations and can achieve massive economies of scale that the little guys can't match. (Dell is particularly good at shaving costs down -- they have made it into an art form.)
That's not to say mandatory recycling programs are a bad idea. I'm just stating what I think the motivations are for making the law.
I'm saying that Dell and HP stand to gain if laws like this are passed, because they are huge corporations and can achieve massive economies of scale that the little guys can't match. (Dell is particularly good at shaving costs down -- they have made it into an art form.)
Um, that sounds silly. Of course corporations can use economy of scale to bring the price down! Of course, I could start a home business in my bedroom that doesn't mean that I should magically start off equal with mega corp. You have to do this thing call work and growth and then get those tiny home businesses to be actual small businesses before you can even dream of competing with mega corp on economy of scale.
Economy of scale and other things that bring the price down are good for the end consumer. It's hard to compete being the little guy against that, but that doesn't mean the government should tax those really cheap products from the big boys until their price is the same as those small businesses. That'd be insane.
Yeah Fascism is real humanistic wasn't Mussolini nominated for a Human Rights Watch man of the year award right before that enraged mob hung him from a pole for ruining Italy?
Tired of all the isms, don't exploit people as an employer, or a government, mmmmK?