this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2023
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In practice, the dominant player in the industry can operate at a loss to drive the upstart competition out of business, buy their assets for pennies on the dollar, then jack their prices up again when there are no alternatives. Or, if you don't like that one, choose any of the numerous anti-competitive strategies in use today.
If people collectively saw that behavior and said "We're not buying from you anymore", they could put that company out of business, but that simply isn't realistic when dealing with such a large number of individuals. So it continues to work.
Without regulating anti-competitive behavior, monopolies are inevitable and competing without an initial bankroll capable of operating at a loss for as long or longer than the existing monopoly is impossible.
The idea is cool in theory - that anyone who doesn't like how the current monopoly is operating can simply open their own competing business, be more consumer friendly, and steal the market share - but that's simply not the reality we live in.