Orwell was not an economist. I think this is really silly. How about instead of quoting random opinions, let's look into what actually happened in the real worl

Orwell was not an economist. I think this is really silly. How about instead of quoting random opinions, let's look into what actually happened in the real world? For one thing I don't think the book industry has suffered much since the introduction of the Penguin books? This reminds me of the piracy debate. Was Microsoft helped or hurt by the rampant piracy of the Windows OS? I'm pretty sure they were helped a lot (how else achieve 99% lock in), but presumably the point could be argued back and forth indefinitely (people who would argue either point would be plentiful to find). Also the discussion is completely besides the point. Two businesses can't agree on a price. Neither of the two has a moral obligation to sell books for a certain price. If they don't agree, they simply don't sell books to each other. Why does that even concern anybody else?