I've always thought iMessage is more of a retention strategy than an attraction strategy. Makes me wonder if there is a good way to get data on why consumer stay with iPhone.
I find these restrictions relatively frustrating because they push governments into an adversarial relationship with shareholders in a way that is unnecessary.
We may not like it much, but government equity purchases are a much more aligned way to pursue a bailout. World governments (and by proxy taxpayers) should be gaining ownership or preferred rights in these deals. Then shareholders could be free to do whatever ridiculous dividend / buyback policy they want. Putting time limited bans on corporate payouts doesn't fix the incentives that lead to high payout rates in the first place. Shareholders losing 80% of their equity in a bailout would.
This is the real point. The idea that somehow the catering business serving startups or the kitchen workers in cafes are somehow less worthy of support than owners of restaurants
Hm, The best answer as I see it is that the game allows you to set both the size of the galaxy (map) and the number of civilizations in it (competitors). If you are concerned with not seeing competition soon enough, you can always tweak those settings to ensure you do, although I personally have never had that issue.