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How do you define force? If natural monopolies are left unchecked to grow in power, how can you be sure that they won't become powerful enough to use force to
by kristofferR 11y ago
How do you define force?
If natural monopolies are left unchecked to grow in power, how can you be sure that they won't become powerful enough to use force to protect their or their cartels' interests?
- atemerev 11y agoBecause the ability to use force is generally a monopoly of the government, precisely for that reason. A better question would be "how can I be sure that capitalists and government won't cooperate for establishing monopolies"? For that, I don't have an adequate answer. At least, in capitalism, there are competitors lobbying against it, creating some virtual political market. Full government monopoly is generally much worse.
- kristofferR 11y agoI think we disagree on the definition of force. I don't think of force as just the power of law, but also the power of size and power. A natural monopoly could, without any government interference or help, exert a lot of the same coercive tactics a government-supported monopoly can. With a large enough size, a natural monopoly could make the barriers of entry for any potential competitor so insurmountable that it would have the same effect as making competition illegal.