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As we stray further away from true market competition, this sort of behavior for those at the top to collude against the market versus compete for it is going t

As we stray further away from true market competition, this sort of behavior for those at the top to collude against the market versus compete for it is going to be too great for them to resist.

jrochkind1 6y ago
When has it ever been any different?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- octoberfranklin 6y ago
  When our economy was less concentrated. Basically anytime before now. The proportion income tax returns reporting "self employed" drops every year. The average number of internet service providers a household has to choose from drops every year. This has been going on for 30-40 years now, at various rates of speed. Things were much worse at the turn of the century. Then we got Teddy Roosevelt and an era of trust-busting. It's time for history to rhyme a bit better.
  - lotsofpulp 6y ago
    >The average number of internet service providers a household has to choose from drops every year. In the US, there's always been only 2 companies with wires going to people's houses, the phone company and the cable company. And for 99% of people, the choice is shitty DSL at 3Mbps which doesn't really count as broadband, or okay-ish cable internet with no upload capacity.
    - frabcus 6y ago
      In constrat, in the UK, we unbundled our ADSL monopoly, and forced them to sell access to the cables wholesale. And then let competitors put their own hardware in the local exchanges too. It still needs more work as everyone seems to have to charge a fixed line fee. There are though plenty of providers with varying prices and qualities. Plus cable (fibre) too. Competition and capitalism only function if a state heavily regulates the market to be an actual market.
- awhitby 6y ago
  Indeed. > People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. – The Wealth of Nations, Book I, Chapter X.

As we stray further away from true market competition, this sort of behavior for those at the top to collude against the market versus compete for it is going to be too great for them to resist.

jrochkind1 6y ago

When has it ever been any different?

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
octoberfranklin 6y ago
When our economy was less concentrated. Basically anytime before now. The proportion income tax returns reporting "self employed" drops every year. The average number of internet service providers a household has to choose from drops every year. This has been going on for 30-40 years now, at various rates of speed. Things were much worse at the turn of the century. Then we got Teddy Roosevelt and an era of trust-busting. It's time for history to rhyme a bit better.
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  >The average number of internet service providers a household has to choose from drops every year. In the US, there's always been only 2 companies with wires going to people's houses, the phone company and the cable company. And for 99% of people, the choice is shitty DSL at 3Mbps which doesn't really count as broadband, or okay-ish cable internet with no upload capacity.
  - frabcus 6y ago
    In constrat, in the UK, we unbundled our ADSL monopoly, and forced them to sell access to the cables wholesale. And then let competitors put their own hardware in the local exchanges too. It still needs more work as everyone seems to have to charge a fixed line fee. There are though plenty of providers with varying prices and qualities. Plus cable (fibre) too. Competition and capitalism only function if a state heavily regulates the market to be an actual market.
awhitby 6y ago
Indeed. > People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. – The Wealth of Nations, Book I, Chapter X.