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The expression ‘break up a company’ carries some moral judgement in it, as if it’s a punishment for doing bad things. Not sure exactly what it is, but it’s mor
by sudhirj 6y ago
The expression ‘break up a company’ carries some moral judgement in it, as if it’s a punishment for doing bad things.
Not sure exactly what it is, but it’s more a societal move that smells a bit of socialism. Google is a capitalist company in a capitalist system, but the breaking up companies / anti trust is a non-capitalist power above it that is willing to sacrifice money to create societal wealth.
- peteretep 6y agoBreaking up monopolies gives us more free markets, and is a move towards capitalism, not away from it.
- kevingadd 6y agoIt's fair to say it's a non-capitalist power, I think. It's the government interfering in the operation of companies instead of allowing it to be entirely controlled by the market players - for good reason, of course. A capitalist alternative would probably look more like levying fees or capping prices to try and balance the market... which is something that also happens from time to time.
- sudhirj 6y agoEven fees and price caps would not be considered capitalist or free-market - they both interfere with the market dynamics. In all cases, we need to interfere with the free market to improve goodness for society as a whole. But we don't need to attach moral connotations to this – the companies have done nothing illegal, and the executives are doing their jobs. The issue is when technology is applied to natural free markets, a monopoly logically results, which kills the market if left unchecked.