Re: Antitrust: Is there really a point?
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
d) Many firms. This is foolish. If by definition you are a monopoly when you provide a product that no competitor produces, every inventor or newly differentiated product would make one a monopolist. The only long running market "monopoly" that I know of was Standard Oil, who only maintained their market dominance by providing such an excellent product at such a low cost that no would-be competitors could profitably enter the market.
[/ QUOTE ]
Actually, you'll be pleased to discover that standard oil actually did use government to establish their monopoly.
Once it became clear that Standard was buying up refineries, every joe schmoe decided to build one, in the hopes of getting bought out. Rockefeller quickly got tired of spending money buying up all these rinky-dink guys, so he convinced the government to enact "safety standards" which created a high barrier to entry.
[/ QUOTE ]
Damn. You learn something new every day. Thanks!
|