I agree-I've worked for essential monopolies (like defense contractors). Or maybe it's just big companies. In any case, the waste boggled my mind.
To be clear my natural tendency is to want to "own" a market. However, I also recognize that you can't ever really do that, and if you do, no matter how good you are, people hate you because you're their only choice. If they have even a bad choice, you're fine, but they have to have a reasonable choice. I've seen examples of significant abuse of market position in a "past life" from the inside (which I won't enumerate for fear of legal repercussions, though the details are pretty fascinating, to me anyways...). What's interesting to me though is that the perpetrating company in this case is today ridiculed for its lack of innovation and not leading markets anymore. In other words, even though I believe the governments anti-monopoly powers are important, in this case I think the market corrected itself. Those abusive positions become addictive and then destructive. Chuck On Feb 5, 2010, at 10:10 PM, RickG wrote: > Then I fail your test. I dont want a monopoly. In th epast, I've worked for > both electric and phone companies and all it breeds is laziness and waste. > In competitive markets, I find the challenge invigorating. -RickG > > On Fri, Feb 5, 2010 at 11:18 AM, Matt Liotta <mlio...@r337.com> wrote: > >> >> On Feb 5, 2010, at 11:04 AM, Chuck Bartosch wrote: >> >>> That statement completely ignores history. The tendency of any >> unconstrained capitalist is to form a monopoly. Hell, *I'd* do it if I could >> ;-). And unconstrained capitalism that achieves a monopoly rarely acts in >> its customers own best interests. >>> >>> If nothing else, it's in our society's interest to prevent monopolies >> because innovation stagnates in a monoploy situation. >>> >> It should be every capitalist desire to become a monopolist. The >> government's role should be to encourage businesses to innovate and grow >> towards being a monopoly while hoping the market has sufficient competition >> to stop that ultimate result. If not, then step in to prevent the monopoly >> from abusing its position. The government must only set the rules of the >> game and ensure market fairness through their rules. The government >> shouldn't participate in the market either with its own entity or by picking >> winners and losers through its actions. >> >> -Matt >> >> >> >> >> >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> WISPA Wants You! Join today! >> http://signup.wispa.org/ >> >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org >> >> Subscribe/Unsubscribe: >> http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless >> >> Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ >> > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > WISPA Wants You! Join today! > http://signup.wispa.org/ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -------------- Chuck Bartosch Clarity Connect, Inc. 200 Pleasant Grove Road Ithaca, NY 14850 (607) 257-8268 "When the stars threw down their spears, and water'd heaven with their tears, Did He smile, His work to see? Did He who made the Lamb make thee?" >From William Blake's Tiger!, Tiger! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
