This is Libertarianpatriot. Whoever asked this question has fallen for a traditional leftist/liberal argument that free markets lead to monopolies and therefore we need extensive regulation such as antitrust laws. In fact, this has never been supported by the facts where free markets have actually existed. Read the book "The Myth of the Robber Barons" by an author whose name escapes me. Or read Roger Roots' article "When Laws Backfire" in the July 2004 issue of The American Behavioral Scientist.
As Roger Roots points out, "Antitrust laws generally harm businesses that sell goods and services of high quality at low cost while benefiting competitors whose products are more expensive and of lower quality" (p. 1379). Thus, "breaking up monopolies," as the questioner puts it, actually screws consumers. There are no real monopolies in a free market that are perpetual anyway. Most of the so-called monopolies you can point to were the creations of government regulations rather than freedom. Again I refer you to "The Myth of the Robber Barons"
--Libertarianpatriot
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This is Libertarianpatriot. Whoever asked this question has fallen for a traditional leftist/liberal argument that free markets lead to monopolies and therefore we need extensive regulation such as antitrust laws. In fact, this has never been supported by the facts where free markets have actually existed. Read the book "The Myth of the Robber Barons" by an author whose name escapes me. Or read Roger Roots' article "When Laws Backfire" in the July 2004 issue of The American Behavioral Scientist. As Roger Roots points out, "Antitrust laws generally harm businesses that sell goods and services of high quality at low cost while benefiting competitors whose products are more expensive and of lower quality" (p. 1379). Thus, "breaking up monopolies," as the questioner puts it, actually screws consumers. There are no real monopolies in a free market that are perpetual anyway. Most of the so-called monopolies you can point to were the creations of government regulations rather than freedom. Again I refer you to "The Myth of the Robber Barons" --Libertarianpatriot