Politics
Out of context: Reply #18822
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- TheBlueOne0
@yurimon re: your love of repeating like a parrot the "only the state has a monopoly on violence" propaganda meme:
"One of the canards libertarians like to sell is that the state has a monopoly on violence. They need to get a handle on some basic economic concepts, for starters:
Economies of scale
Network effects
Barriers to entry
Those three alone, which operate in many fields of commerce, means that the natural of that industry will be towards fewer and more powerful players, unless something intercedes (such as disruptive technology that changes industry boundaries or regulation). Fewer and more powerful players means oligopoly or monopoly pricing, which even neoclassical economists will admit happens and depict as a Very Bad Thing. This reason alone is why the overwhelming majority of economists that say they are in favor of “free markets” favor regulation to make them work properly. This is one of the many reasons we describe “free markets” as an oxymoron.
Concentrated power allows companies to behave thuggishly, sometimes in a literal rather than figurative manner. It is remarkable how, in the US, the story of the physical risks that early labor organizers and protestors took has been virtually airbrushed out of the record."