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We unambiguously differentiate by setting a threshold. Does your water heater produce hot water? We can decide this unambiguously if you provide your required
by burfog 6y ago
We unambiguously differentiate by setting a threshold.
Does your water heater produce hot water? We can decide this unambiguously if you provide your required temperature and the actual temperature you are getting.
Despite the lack of a universal definition of "hot", we can unambiguously determine if your water is hot or not.
For your water heater, you probably set the threshold based on how much you enjoy your shower, how well your dishes get clean, and so on. For a monopoly, we can set the threshold at the point where there is an unacceptable amount of market control.
Measurement of market control is more difficult than measurement of water temperature, but that is no excuse to give up. We measure beauty, intelligence, bad driving, poverty, odor, and misery.
- raincom 6y agoWell, at least measuring temperature doesn't depend on the K-street, campaign contributions, or ideologies.
- daniel-s 6y agoYou have provided no definition. "Unacceptable amount of market control" defines nothing at all. In fact, it only supports what I said. "Unacceptable" will be what the bureaucrat/politician has decided he wants to go after. Perhaps you want to try again?
- burfog 6y agoDefine "pain", so that we know if opiates are appropriate. (or we give them to everybody who asks?) Define "reckless driving", so we know who the police should stop and who should be charged with that crime. (or we just give up on that concept?) Define "nuisance odor", so we can fine or arrest people who make entire neighborhoods unlivable. (or we let a condo smell like a huge industrial pig farm?) Define "mentally disabled", so that we can pursue rape charges (due to inability to consent) or appoint a financial caretaker. (or we just let the profoundly unintelligent get abused?) Life and law are full of fuzzy judgement. Pretending otherwise is a terrible idea.
- pdonis 6y agoYour hot water heater can be set at a different temperature from mine if we have different personal preferences for how hot the water should be. In other words, nobody gets to declare by fiat what an "unacceptable" level of hot is and force everyone to set their hot water heaters accordingly. The corresponding concept in "market control" is a free market, where nobody gets to declare by fiat what the threshold is for an "unacceptable" level of market control. So your analogy leads us to the conclusion that antitrust laws should be abolished.