this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2023
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[โ€“] Tb0n3@sh.itjust.works 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I've seen them claim that a natural monopoly cannot exist and that monopolies we see today are all enforced by government regulation.

It's like they've never opened a history textbook.

Or played Assassin's Creed 2, the fuckin philistines.

[โ€“] deafboy@lemmy.world -3 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[โ€“] Micromot@feddit.de 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[โ€“] weastie@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Well, I wouldn't go as far as to say that a natural monopoly doesn't exist, but I think it's pretty clear that big companies have a lot of influence on the government, and typically can lobby the government to pass policies that benefit them, and make it harder for competition.

And I think there's an argument to be made that if the government were less powerful, then there would be less potential harm done when a corporation is able to influence the government.

I'm personally torn on this, because on one hand I think the government can be a useful tool in preventing monopolies, but on the other hand, I think expecting the government to not always work in favor of big companies seems naive.