Subject:
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Re: Gotta love Oracle...
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Wed, 10 Oct 2001 13:30:31 GMT
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Viewed:
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508 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Frank Filz writes:
> I don't think ANY product requires a monopoly. Certain products may be
> most efficient with localized monopolies, but so long as the overall
> freedom of the market is high, a localized monopoly must still compete
> with the localized monopoly of the same product in another region.
That's fine in a macroscopic sense, but it could easily mean that two
whole populations of consumers get hosed in pursuit of that will-o-wisp
named The Free Market. In my region, for instance, AT&T holds a de facto
monopoly on cable service, and as such they charge a bundle for really
substandard offerings (does anyone truly want a classic golf channel, a
classic hockey channel, and a classic boxing channel? I surely don't, but I
have to pay for them if I want anything more than basic cable). Locally,
therefore, the monopoly power sets the market and charges whatever it feels
like charging. I suppose one could make an argument for satellite tv, but
in an area in which most of the populace pays rent rather than owning
property, the installation of an obtrusive dish is not an option. (I know,
I know: they could buy property and install whatever they like, but that
comes back to my perennial problem with this aspect of the free market model.)
So it seems to me that the "free" market being proposed is only "free" of
government contol but would embrace the authoritarian control of a single,
private, monopoly power--correct?
Dave!
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Gotta love Oracle...
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| (...) De facto or de jure? My experience has been that it is almost always de jure. <snip true (I have them too) account of horrific service and product offering> (...) No. Sans barriers to entry there are no natural monopolies. You have a (...) (23 years ago, 10-Oct-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
| | | Re: Gotta love Oracle...
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| (...) Or they can rent from a place which allows installation of satellite dishes. I see several in my apartment complex (and for some folks, they even seem to be easy to install, they're bolted to the folks 2nd floor deck railing). As Larry has (...) (23 years ago, 10-Oct-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Gotta love Oracle...
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| (...) You may not have space for a choice of roads, but people can chose where to live and work (or should be free to - free marketting the road system won't help if other parts of the economy are not free markets). (...) Probably true, though not (...) (23 years ago, 10-Oct-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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