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The combination of PE extraction and "property values = rent we want to change, even if the property is empty" has been economically catastrophic.

PE is often just legalised larceny.

by glitchc5 hours ago|

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You're only thinking from a consumer perspective. When it comes time to sell a business, original owner wants to retire or what not, most small businesses have a hard time finding a buyer. This forces the owner to continue working beyond their time or face destitution. Having a market where PE can snap up a small business is a god-send for these owners. It meets a market need.

by _DeadFred_3 hours ago|

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Hard sell in a world where the average worker is expected to survive without a nice final buyout and told to budget/plan for that shit.

by CalRobert4 hours ago|

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You're well served if you want incredibly overpriced sweets at least.

by c165 hours ago|

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As a consumer, there are many non PE owned restaurants and pubs you can frequent. While you might not be able to change the game, you can absolutely vote with your wallet. The small guys will thank you.

Same for Amazon vs going direct to the manufacturers, which is more often than not, China.

by mschuster915 hours ago|

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> Same for Amazon vs going direct to the manufacturers, which is more often than not, China.

That comes with a bunch of problems. Taxes, import duties and import refusals are the biggest one. With Amazon, at least as long as it's sold or fulfilled by Amazon, no matter what, you are going to get the product in a reasonable time frame (1-3 days IME).

Shipping... depends. If you're in bad luck, the seller doesn't ship Fedex or DHL, but Yanwen or another one of the usual bunch of "aggregators" that bundle weeks worth of shipment to forward it to the US or Europe and unbundle the shipments there.

Assuming your product shows up at your doorstep, legally, you are now the importer and fully responsible for anything related to that specific product - say, an electrical appliance that sets your house on fire. You can't hold anyone accountable but yourself.

And finally, if there's defects, you only have to deal with Amazon. Free shipment back, done. With anything straight out of China, you are now responsible for shipments.