DIYbanter - View Single Post - Harper CANNOT be trusted with a majority Gov't.

HeyBub[_3_]

wrote:
Markets do NOT fix the private sector where "essential services" are
involved.
If they did, you would have private fee-for service fire protection,
and "policing" as well. When a private company/consortium, like, say,
BIG OIL gets a monopoly, they have the country (and the world) by the
short and curlies - and they will NOT let go.

Big oil a monopoly? How can seven same-sized companies constitute a
monopoly? Nevertheless...

Monopolies are, in almost all cases, GOOD.

Even the poster boy for "bad" monopolies, Standard Oil, drove down the price
of Kerosene from $3.00/gallon to five cents! And did it within three years.
Of course the providers of whale oil were screwed, but for the rest of us
the night became bright.

Most of the evil monopolies are those enabled by the government: Cable TV is
one example.

No, in general, the fight against monopolies is not waged by the consumer -
who almost always is better off from monopoly actions - but by the
competitors of the monopoly.

Finally, our Constitution specifically encourages and protects monopolies.

"Article I, Section 8:
The Congress shall have the Power... To promote the Progress of Science and
the useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the
exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;... "