AT&T was a national monopoly. Merck has a monopoly on a few drugs. The difference is huge. > lower profits... I don't care about Merck's shareholder dividends

AT&T was a national monopoly. Merck has a monopoly on a few drugs. The difference is huge. > lower profits... I don't care about Merck's shareholder dividends Aaand we're back to terrible incentives. You can't force people to do things that don't have incentives. Even the Soviet Union had incentives. The more you mandate regulation, the more people will find ways around it, either by finding creative ways around your regulations or just moving to other nations with more friendly policies (e.g. China, Europe). The only regulations that work are the ones where peoples' incentives are aligned with what government wants to achieve.