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This is why one of the government’s jobs is to break or stop monopolies. Capitalism only works when competition is possible, probable and realistic.

piloto_ciego 3y ago
Regulatory capture though…
- t-writescode 3y ago
  It's a bit orthogonal to monopolies being broken up by the government; but, yes, another danger to sustaining the healthy competition that capitalism promises to us lay people is regulatory capture, where small players are literally unable to enter into the fight. The specific tools to break down monopolies are, I presume, different from the tools that would be used to permit future companies to compete with established companies in danger of becoming a cartel or monopoly.
p_l 3y ago
"Free market". The point of capitalism is gathering of capital and preferably making capital only by virtue of having said capital. Competition is for chumps who don't have enough capital to get rid of their competitors or form a cartel.
- t-writescode 3y ago
  Could you elaborate on what this conversation adds? When I said "works", what I should have said is "exists in a sustainable way that benefits the regular citizen". I would consider cartels and monopolies and similar to be capitalism "not working" - that is "bringing about harm to those under it". The assumptions we're taught in grade school about how capitalism breeds competition and competition means the customer wins only work when capitalism has reins on it to stop it from becoming a bunch of monopolies so that there can still be competition.
opportune 3y ago
Some monopolies are naturally occurring or at least much more efficient than competition provided the monopoly isn’t abused. In other cases, temporal monopolies happen simply due to competition (if Spacex’s starship becomes reality in the near future, they’ll have a monopoly on that tech for years or even decades) and technological advancement. In some cases I think the government should simply operate (in the case of utilities) or heavily regulate monopolies while allowing them to exist. IMO a monopoly is only bad insofar as it overcharges customers, stifles innovation, and abuses its position to prevent competitors from arising or gaining market share. It’s not the monopoly itself that’s the problem
- swagasaurus-rex 3y ago
  > It’s not the monopoly itself that’s the problem If all of those bad things happen only because they have monopoly power, then yeah the monopoly itself is the problem.

piloto_ciego 3y ago

Regulatory capture though…

t-writescode 3y ago
It's a bit orthogonal to monopolies being broken up by the government; but, yes, another danger to sustaining the healthy competition that capitalism promises to us lay people is regulatory capture, where small players are literally unable to enter into the fight. The specific tools to break down monopolies are, I presume, different from the tools that would be used to permit future companies to compete with established companies in danger of becoming a cartel or monopoly.

p_l 3y ago

"Free market". The point of capitalism is gathering of capital and preferably making capital only by virtue of having said capital. Competition is for chumps who don't have enough capital to get rid of their competitors or form a cartel.

t-writescode 3y ago
Could you elaborate on what this conversation adds? When I said "works", what I should have said is "exists in a sustainable way that benefits the regular citizen". I would consider cartels and monopolies and similar to be capitalism "not working" - that is "bringing about harm to those under it". The assumptions we're taught in grade school about how capitalism breeds competition and competition means the customer wins only work when capitalism has reins on it to stop it from becoming a bunch of monopolies so that there can still be competition.

opportune 3y ago

Some monopolies are naturally occurring or at least much more efficient than competition provided the monopoly isn’t abused. In other cases, temporal monopolies happen simply due to competition (if Spacex’s starship becomes reality in the near future, they’ll have a monopoly on that tech for years or even decades) and technological advancement. In some cases I think the government should simply operate (in the case of utilities) or heavily regulate monopolies while allowing them to exist. IMO a monopoly is only bad insofar as it overcharges customers, stifles innovation, and abuses its position to prevent competitors from arising or gaining market share. It’s not the monopoly itself that’s the problem

swagasaurus-rex 3y ago
> It’s not the monopoly itself that’s the problem If all of those bad things happen only because they have monopoly power, then yeah the monopoly itself is the problem.