From: "Perry E. Metzger" <perry@piermont.com>
Monopolies are a chimera, a myth. Almost all monopolies that last for more than a couple of years have been the result of government regulation preventing market entry -- AT&T being a shining example.
It is disingenuous to claim that monopolies are a myth merely because they haven't existed in recent history. Monopolies have been illegal for the past 100 years. And unlike many other illegal activities, it's sort of hard to run a monopoly covertly. Why not just say that retail nuclear weapons outlets are impossible because no one can give you an example of one? Would you claim there have been no anti-monopoly or anti-trust actions ever (successfully) prosecuted under Taft-Hartley? Or that Taft-Hartley itself is just entirely the product of deluded morons? Actually, I suppose you would. -- -Barry Shein Software Tool & Die | bzs@world.std.com | http://www.std.com Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: 617-739-0202 | Login: 617-739-WRLD