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Or "monopolistic price gouging" is a dysphemism for having a stable business in a tough market. They need to make enough profit to avoid capital outflow.
by xapata 6y ago
Or "monopolistic price gouging" is a dysphemism for having a stable business in a tough market. They need to make enough profit to avoid capital outflow.
- tsimionescu 6y agoBuying a competitor is always a dubious move towards monopoly. If the ideal free market is supposed to have all sorts of advantages, then anything which reduces the ideal-ness of the actual market must be viewed as negative.
- xapata 6y agoNo, that logic doesn't hold. Further, I think you're conflating two meanings of the word ideal. In the context of an ideal free market, the meaning is closer to hypothetical and is pretty far away from the sense of ethical or practical goodness. Also, it's not clear that an "ideal" free market is a stable equilibrium. And lastly, if an ideal free market permits the existence of corporations (I'm not sure that it does) then it must allow one to purchase another.
- xapata 6y agoSeems like I should have better explained why the logic doesn't hold. Even if we grant that an ideal market is a good thing (which is debatable), it's still not certain that all motion towards an ideal market is positive good. The space through which one moves may not be monotonically increasing in the goodness direction.
- hinkley 6y agoExcept now they have to make an extra half billion a year just to justify spending the money instead of putting it into a more liquid investment. Or themselves.
- LeonB 6y agoWhat do you mean by “capital outflow” here? Do you just mean “spending” or something more?
- xapata 6y agoNot spending. Disinvestment, or the refusal to reinvest, either way meaning that the capital flows elsewhere.