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We also broke up Ma Bell back in 84 and it looks like they are on their way to fully reuniting as an even larger monopoly. https://i.imgur.com/rMFqmbt.jpg http

We also broke up Ma Bell back in 84 and it looks like they are on their way to fully reuniting as an even larger monopoly. https://i.imgur.com/rMFqmbt.jpg https://i.imgur.com/rMFqmbt.jpg https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/03/att-time-warner-doj-donald-trump-monopolies/ https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/03/att-time-warner...

mywittyname 8y ago
That's a different failure. The government should have never allowed for the subsequent mergers.
- smacktoward 8y ago
  The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.
- ortusdux 8y ago
  I agree. I don't understand the point of temporarily busting monopolies. With Bell, forcing them to diversify seems to have only made them stronger.
pitaj 8y ago
Ma Bell wasn't created naturally at all. It's monopoly status was granted by the federal government. This is fundamentally different from Facebook, Amazon, etc. If anything, the large ISPs like ATT, Verizon, and Spectrum should be looked at, but solving the problems of ISP monopolization will take a lot more than just breaking up territorial monopolies into smaller territorial monopolies.
- taurath 8y ago
  Why does it matter whether a monopoly is "natural" or not, let alone that the definition of "naturally" is sort of laughable given the legal framework put in place for our government is the economy in the first place? Just as you get a lot of government run monopolies with pure socialism, you get a lot of "market-driven" monopolies with pure capitalism. Both should be broken up.
  - int_19h 8y ago
    The point is that they're caused by different processes, and the steps to ensure that it doesn't happen again after you break them up are also very different because of that.
Apocryphon 8y ago
Imagine how much of a larger monopoly they would be now if they were never broken up in the first place.
afiler 8y ago
The US also broke up Ma Bell in 1956, forcing the spinoff of Bell Canada and Caribbean operations, and before that in 1925, breaking off other international operations into ITT.

mywittyname 8y ago

That's a different failure. The government should have never allowed for the subsequent mergers.

smacktoward 8y ago
The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.
ortusdux 8y ago
I agree. I don't understand the point of temporarily busting monopolies. With Bell, forcing them to diversify seems to have only made them stronger.

pitaj 8y ago

Ma Bell wasn't created naturally at all. It's monopoly status was granted by the federal government. This is fundamentally different from Facebook, Amazon, etc. If anything, the large ISPs like ATT, Verizon, and Spectrum should be looked at, but solving the problems of ISP monopolization will take a lot more than just breaking up territorial monopolies into smaller territorial monopolies.

taurath 8y ago
Why does it matter whether a monopoly is "natural" or not, let alone that the definition of "naturally" is sort of laughable given the legal framework put in place for our government is the economy in the first place? Just as you get a lot of government run monopolies with pure socialism, you get a lot of "market-driven" monopolies with pure capitalism. Both should be broken up.
- int_19h 8y ago
  The point is that they're caused by different processes, and the steps to ensure that it doesn't happen again after you break them up are also very different because of that.

Apocryphon 8y ago

Imagine how much of a larger monopoly they would be now if they were never broken up in the first place.

afiler 8y ago

The US also broke up Ma Bell in 1956, forcing the spinoff of Bell Canada and Caribbean operations, and before that in 1925, breaking off other international operations into ITT.