Crap is good.

Well, sorta.  Mostly. Hear me out.

I am huge supporter of free market capitalism. It works mostly. To paraphrase Dwight Eisenhower, it is the “worst” form of economics, except for all the rest.  Unfortunately, many larger corporations and mature industries that have formed oligopolies like to cherry pick the aspects of capitalism that work to their advantage. They like to forget the aspects of a free market that are meant to protect the other partner in a business transaction, the customer. Competition in particular annoys entrenched businesses. They really hate competition to the point that they go out of their way to eliminate competition. In the United States we are plagued with oligopolies in our wireless network providers, and outright monopolies in certain part of the country for cable service provider. A monopoly is antithetical to a free market, tt is a cancer to the health of capitalism. Industries where there are high barriers to entry are especially susceptible to collusion.

By contrast in the smartphone app world, there are a plethora of options for every app type. Some argue to the detriment of the consumer. How could the consumer possible know what the best app is for any given category. As though customers are ignorant children. Interestingly, this sentiment is usually shown by app creators who had initial success in the various app markets, but are slowly losing grounds to upstarts. To be sure, when there is a successful new app there will be tons of knockoffs, imitations, and clones. Many, if not most, will be craptastic. It may be noble in the eyes of the original creator to “protect” consumers from fraudulent, or at least poorer quality apps by petitioning marketplaces to rid themselves of these ripoff apps. But human and corporate nature is eventually abused to protect incumbent powerhouses. Crap apps suck. But existence of crap apps is a sign of a truly healthy and open competition. If the original creator doesn’t keep innovating and providing quality support, than their apple cart should be toppled by a gutsy young upstart. But if the market is fixed to prevent such upstarts, either by design or by happenstance, then capitalism begins to fail for the consumers.

So there you have it. Why I like to see crap.It’s a sign of healthy competition, just like the other type of crap is a sign of healthy digestive system. Beware of those who extol the virtues of capitalism for the business owner, without saying a peep about the benefits that should also exist for consumers. Business is a transaction between two parties, and good business is mutually beneficial. Otherwise you’re just playing with yourself. And your crap.

 

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