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this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2025
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Technology
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In an unfettered marketplace, what stops a dominant player from introducing fetters?
Competition.
Without force, how can they stop a small player from offering a competitive option?
Whoah, whoah. Why'd you rule that out?
Your business plan: quality goods at reasonable prices. My business plan: hire some goons to kill you and take your stuff.
Historically, this has a lot of precedence.
Because I'm not an anarchist. There is a role for government in maintaining its monopoly on the use of force.
But nothing else.
OK, cool. That definitely helps things.
I think where we're disagreeing is that I think in a capitalist society the promise of money will inevitably corrupt the government (because it's made of people). Maybe it can be avoided if the government performs additional regulatory action to stop anyone from getting too wealthy, but that sounds like beyond the limits that you want to set for government.
There's no need for the government to prevent people from becoming wealthy.
The only ways to become that wealthy all involve monopolies.
But every single monopoly that has ever existed, has only managed to become a monopoly due to help from allies in government. AKA Regulatory Capture.
When governments are large, and filled with bureaucrats that aren't answerable to the public, monopolies are far more likely to emerge, as those same bureaucrats enact more and more regulations that make entering the market more and more difficult for those of modest to little means.