6 ms·

because our utilities work so well and don't function at all like monopolies

• oblio 5y ago
  Utilities are super heavily regulated. I'm not sure for the US, but for example frequently they can't enter new markets, so they can't leverage their monopoly to crush competition in other markets. And regarding working well, aren't a lot of people in favor of municipal broadband (an utility) vs Verizon & co. (oligopoly, not even a full blown monopoly)?
  • jjaammee 5y ago
    California PGE which provides electricity and gas to big portion of public is a moving train wreck. It's corrupted and dangerous. Pipeline explosion, electricity transmission line caused fire burn a whole town happened with worrying frequency. Heavy regulations don't prevent big bonus to executives and degrading infrastructure.
    • ncphil 5y ago
      Making an electric or gas company a government entity would at least provide a chance to prosecute its corrupt operators for official misconduct and criminal fraud (see the slow moving train wreck called CalPERS, some executive frog-marching would fix that quickly).
• dalbasal 5y ago
  Utilities aren't regulated to function like "non-monopolies," generally. They're regulated because (ATT, at least) they were seen as inevitable "natural" monopolies. There really isn't one "theory of monopolies" that is useful in all times and places. Social Media is not Telecom or electricity. Amazon is not a railroad. Trustbusting is an anti-monopoly strategy, and it doesn't really work in spaces where monopoly is unavoidable.