Monopolies, Oligopolies, and Freedom

Capitalism is an economic system in which private enterprise competes in a free market. Competition is vital to maintaining a free market. Capitalism without competition isn't capitalism---it's an oligarchy. Competitive capitalism enables economic freedom. As Milton Friedman famously declared, “economic freedom is a necessary condition for political freedom.” In other words, without economic freedom, political freedom cannot exist. But capitalism that we see today is a far cry from the competitive capitalism that Milton Friedman defended.
Since the 1980s, antitrust enforcement has been virtually nonexistent and, as a result, market concentration has sharply increased. Today, many industries are controlled by, at most, a few large players---monopolies or oligopolies. The economic and political consequences of this market concentration of power are profound: less investment; lower productivity; less innovation; higher prices for consumers; lower revenues for suppliers and small businesses; lower wages and more wealth inequality; fewer jobs, higher unemployment, and lower labor force participation; withering of American towns and the American Dream; less localism and more centralization; low economic growth; corporate wokeness and crony capitalism; corporate and government collusion.
This enormous concentration of market power has fostered a culture of "regulatory capture," whereby a few dominant players cozy up to government regulators in an effort to rig the system and the rules---including lax antitrust enforcement that lowers competition and enactment of regulations that keep out new entrants---in their favor, and donate to politicians who then turn around and pass legislation favorable to them. We don't live in a democracy. We live in an oligarchy.
We discuss the insidious effects of monopolies and oligopolies on our economy, democracy, and freedom; regulatory capture, revolving door, Big Tech, horizontal shareholding; corporate and government collusion; the rise of the Great Reset, totalitarianism, and the 21st century fascism; the midterm elections; and, as always, we connect the dots.
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