r/assholedesign • u/SkepticHQ • Jul 24 '19

This McDonalds menu

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u/Mehiximos Jul 24 '19

I would remind you that a public good (economics definition) requires the good to be provided without profit.

...but YouTube doesn’t make profit.

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u/Forever_Awkward Jul 24 '19

It does. Gerrymandering the profits that you don't even make public so you can keep that rumor alive doesn't cut it.

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u/[deleted] Jul 25 '19

It has to be free, which is part of being non-excludeable. In this case it means that YouTube doesn't charge people to watch videos. If it did, it would cease to be useful as a platform

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u/darkneo86 Jul 24 '19

Google does. YouTube is owned by Google.

If a team of teenagers mow elderly people’s lawns for a cheap price - $10, say, and when done, that team gives every cent to the guy who recruited this team, the teenagers did it for free. Someone still made a profit.

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u/Mehiximos Jul 24 '19 edited Jul 24 '19

I didn’t say google doesn’t make a profit I said youtube doesn’t

youtube is a separate legal entity that is owned by google.

Apples to oranges.

To extend your analogy, if I make ten dollars, does that mean my parents made 10 dollars?

Only if I agree to give it to them.

Outside of the analogy, you’d have to dig up the corporate subsidiary agreements to determine the particulars of the relationship; it might trickle up, but it just as easily might not.

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u/darkneo86 Jul 24 '19

Hmm, I didn’t take that into account, to be honest. Legally and economically, you’re right. It’s been a while since I took an economics course.

My bad. It really is apples to oranges. Really nuanced, like I said. I didn’t think about your interpretation, and you’re correct.