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Comment by varispeed | Hacker News Reader

I have a feeling there is going to be more of that, as small businesses continue to struggle during the current situation and at one point they'll face having to shut down due to money running out and those small businesses will be up for grabs for literally peanuts. It's hard to not think about conspiracy theories.

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Covid related conspiracy theories?

I can't imagine any gain being worth the effort of this pandemic.

I don't think they mean "virus isn't real" conspiracies.

I think they mean "Amazon has a vested interest in lobbying to weaken small business support in Congress".

What sort of consiparcy theories?

This is par for the course in any downturn. Those who've got assets gain more assets. Power in a capitalist society comes from assests, but assests are not taxed so the piles just keep getting bigger with little constraint. That is the fundamental problem in my opinion.

Edit: Downvotes for disagreement or for politics? I'd have thought that commentary on asset consolidation was acceptable in a thread on consolidation, but OK.

The problem is that the current downturn is artificial and wealthy people are behind the wheel, who happen to have assets to either buy the nice falling businesses or let them sink so there is less competition for their big cos.

The virus is not artificial. The diease is not artificial. The deaths are not artificial. The overloaded health care systems around the world are not artificial.

You may believe that the measures taken are overreactions, you'd be wrong though. The downturn is not artificial.

But as I said, of course people with assets take advantage, anytime there is a downturn.

Edit: More downvotes, no discussion. Oh well. Merry Christmas :)

I am not saying that virus is artificial nor that is not dangerous. I am only saying that how it is being dealt with feels suspicious to me. I would love to be proven wrong as the time goes by. You know for example in some countries specific businesses are ordered to shut down, while others that operate more or less the same when it comes to people to people contact can remain open. Then you have a whole specific niches of economy left without help, but competing large big corporations connected to government get all the support (for example small IT consultancy businesses in my country don't get any help, but large consultancies do get it).

OK, I see your point. I guess I'm spoiled in that the government in my country is not very corrupt. Sure a little, but not very.

But we also have our fair share of disputes over what businesses can open, which have to close, etc. The problem is a very difficult one, so it's to be expected that there will be inconsistencies and some unfair treatment unfortunately.

In the best case the businesses that are forced to close get some help with payroll and such. Then again there is the problem of who gets help. You said small consultancies don't get help where you're from but big ones do. That sounds corrupt and so I can understand your viewpoint better.

Sometimes small businesses or individual operators don't get support because they have neglected proper taxes. They surely feel treated unfairly, but are they? It's a hard problem.

Note that I'm not saying that's the case with your example, I can totally see a corrupt government helping their lobbyist friends in this way.

Speaking of corporate interests, it seems I really spooked some readers by mentioning asset taxes.

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