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Q: Can a person start new businesses to compete relentlessly with someone they hate?

AllureLet's take two people, Alice and Bob. Alice offends Bob in some way and Bob is determined to take revenge. He does this by starting new businesses to compete with Alice, e.g. if Alice owns a restaurant, he starts a new restaurant nearby, sells similar food, and sells it more cheaply (because he's...

Did you watch the last season of "Curb Your Enthusiasm"? A "revenge business" was a running plotline.
I'll just add that that what Bob wants to do is extremely hard without breaking any obvious laws (e.g. harassment, corporate espionage, corruption, etc.) that there really is no need for more specific laws. Just as an example if Bob offers sub-cost prices Alice could profit off arbitraging Bob's products via a middle man. Bob would need resources so great that it would be massively easier for him to simply buy all real estate Alice would need and not let her have it.
Selling at a loss to kill competition is called "dumping" and it's illegal in general.
@Davor Really? I was under the impression Amazon and Uber did this.
@11684 - well, yes, that's in America where laws don't apply to rich people. Amazon and Uber did much worse than just dumping and nothing happened to them.
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@Davor Uber is in the EU now too and they’re are still mighty cheap (all the regular taxi services are struggling because of them). How did they manage this there?
@11684 - Because Hansom-style taxis are massively overpriced. In cities they're even more expensive because the taxi firms have been operating cartels for decades to keep prices artificially high and using political connections to prevent competition.
@Richard At least in the Netherlands this is not true. There are many cab drivers that have their own cab and are self-employed. Also, the government defines maximum fees. The Uber rates are below cost.
@11684 - isn't Uber being sued in multiple EU countries and banned already in several for exactly these reasons?
Just wondering: why do you think this would not be legal?
@Richard You seem to think America's system of capitalism is vastly different from Europe's. That's hilarious.
@Davor Thanks, I didn’t know that; where I live they are still available.
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@user91988 - American legal system and corruption are vastly different from Europe.
@Davor Different, but no less corrupt, and rich people benefit just as much in Europe as they do anywhere in the developed world.
@user91988 There are a few things that are a bit more extreme in the USA than in certain parts of Europe. E.g. in the UK it is illegal to influence a politician by donating money to his campaign fund. Another e.g., it would be considered extremely bizarre here to talk about a "Conservative judge" or a "Labour judge". Here judges are expected to apply the law and their political beliefs are (or at least should be) irrelevant. But these two examples are considered so normal in the USA that they are actually legal i.e. don't even count as corruption!
@JBentley That's nice! In Europe there are plenty of other ways to influence politicians. It's not like you're morally superior, lol. Unless you're rich, we're all out here eating a shit sandwich and getting screwed by elites. At least the US has cheap land.
@user91988 I'm not claiming to be morally superior, there is nothing personal about it. I agree that every country will have issues. But it's a bit naive to think that everywhere has is exactly the level of corruptness ("different, but no less corrupt"). E.g. if you consider the corruption perceptions index, you'll notice that the majority of European countries are above the US, but that there are also several which are below.
@JBentley That's exactly my point. Thanks.

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