 let's see uh fortnite fortnite i don't know let's talk about fortnite before we talk about fortnite just a reminder to like the show we're 258 we've got a long way to go still we have to get to 500 500 we get 500 bucks so please before you leave um or even not before you leave right now go to the like button and press like so we can get from 258 to 500 uh during this show right 258 and um in less than an hour so we could make it to 500 if i go for two hours today so keep going keep pressing that button so that i am encouraged to stay on and to try to get to 500 because all right fortnite now let me admit right off the bat that i do not play video games that until this became a news item i didn't know what fortnite was that epic i still don't know what epic is i guess epic is the production company that makes fortnite the game so i am here talking about fortnite not as an expert in games but just to point out that fortnite unfortunately the epic the company that owns fortnite is using antitrust laws not the marketplace not competition but it's using antitrust laws in order to get its way so here's what's happening with fortnite right epic added an option for fortnite players to either pay it directly epic directly to buy an app currency to pay a premium to go through apple so you get a discount for using the in app pay option right now this is supposed to get apple to fold and to let them because fortnite is huge fortnite is huge but what apple is done is it's pulled fortnite for the app store for breaking the in app payment rule now fortnite was completely prepared for this because immediately they launched an em a massive media marketing campaign to portray apple as an authoritarian dictatorial monopolist who is not letting the market work by the way they did this with google as well but they didn't launch the marketing campaign against google uh but both companies being sued so they did two things immediately upon apple and google were drawing the app from the stores they immediately filed a lawsuit which shows they were prepared and they immediately launched this impressive massive with amazing videos campaign against apple primarily less so on google and the lawsuit is claiming that apple is using its monopolistic or google and apple are using their monopolistic standing to dictate to epic the terms by which it relates to its customers now this is just horrible the use by businesses of antitrust laws in order to get their way in order to circumvent the marketplace is just horrific and this is a this isn't a little company this isn't a company that's completely dependent on apple this is a company that has an agreement with apple and with google to be on their platform under certain conditions which they clearly have violated and that apple and google in retaliation for them violating it have withdrawn their apps from their platforms there's no monopolistic there is no such thing as a monopoly we've talked about this many times apple is within its legal rights and the only way epic can win the only way epic can win this lawsuit is by using anti-capitalist anti-market anti-entrepreneurial antitrust laws so epic is undercutting its reliance on a market process for its own growth and its own success by using antitrust laws against other companies it now this has become prevalent unfortunately in silicon valley and elsewhere that when you don't get your way in negotiating deals you instead try to get your way by using government force and it's truly sad because i'm sure epics a great company and they've done amazing things and created amazing games and they're incredibly popular and you guys love them and it's all good and yet they have to use antitrust to get their business outcome they have to use the government this is the essence of cronyism so it's really really horrible what epic is doing steven asked i've heard the argument made the argument that apple and google app stores are public utilities do you think there's any rational basis of course not how can they be public utilities what is a public utility i mean in my view nothing is a public utility somebody built it somebody owns it somebody has risk involved in the enterprise somebody created it it's private property the apple store the google store a private property it's private property there are a lot of people utilize but the fact that a lot of people utilize something doesn't make it public it was created by somebody and that creation that building of something gives that person property rights over it not to mention the money that was put into it the investment apple owns the apple app store google owns the google app store because they created it they built it they made it they funded it they have every legal title possible over it public utility is just an excuse for the government to take over something that's private today but there was no such thing in reality as a public utility the public can't own anything the public is nobody who's the public where's the public it's not any particular group it's just the public so no there is no such thing as public utility and suddenly in this case suddenly in this case you know you can make all certain arguments well you can make certain arguments about you know you can only lay one cable in a road so they you know this the it's impossible to have competition because of the metaphysical fact that i don't know i mean i have to make arguments because i think there's always possibility of competition but here anybody could start an app store the fact that apple and google have served massive footprints is because there's such a successful companies but you can compete with apple and google maybe not successfully but there's nothing metaphysically preventing you for that competition so no there's nothing no excuse for viewing apple and google as anything but competitive enterprises that you know where they have some rules that you might not like that you might not like what we need today what i call the new intellectual would be any man or woman who is willing to think meaning any man or woman who knows that man's life must be guided by reason by the intellect not by feelings wishes women's or mystic revelations any man or woman who values his life and who does not want to give in to today's cult of the spare cynicism and impotence and does not intend to give up the world to the dark ages and to the role of the collectivist wrote all right before we go on reminder please like the show we've got 163 live listeners right now 30 likes that should be at least 100 i figured at least 100 of you actually like the show maybe they're like 60 of the matthews out there who hate it but but at least the people who like it you know i want to see i want to see a thumbs up there you go start liking it i want to see that go to 100 all it takes is a click of a click of a thing whether you're looking at this and you know the likes matter it's not an issue of my ego it's an 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