> so a competitive market won't stay competitive forever just by existing Certainly. If we consider "competitive market" under the same rubric that you propose

> so a competitive market won't stay competitive forever just by existing Certainly. If we consider "competitive market" under the same rubric that you proposed: "areas where occasional failure and/or occasional required provider changes are tolerable", it clearly fails that test. So we can probably say that ensuring a stable, competitive market may be a government's responsibility.