10 Left Wing Economic Misconceptions
Monopolies-
What the Left Believes: Without government intervention monopolies will rise and give way to customer exploitation. Inferior, overpriced goods and services will become the norm as relatively few hands will control and abuse the economy.
The Truth is: Absent the intervention of government, the emergence of monopolies is very rare. Instead, it is larger companies that wield government regulation, policy, or taxation at their competition. Wal-Mart, for example, is currently supporting the MarketPlace Fairness Act which would impose internet sales taxes on online purchases. Wal-Mart knows the move will hurt smaller online retailers who can’t compete with the retail giant’s prices. Without government intervention, monopolies are very rare. The ones that do arise are ones of public choice. A good example of this would be the NFL. The NFL is the standard for professional football in America. Consumers don’t want another football league. Other leagues are free to try and compete, and they have, but they have failed. But as far as harmful monopolies go, they are almost always a product of government action, this exact opposite of what the Left believes to be true.
Milton Friedman educates us here about government created monopolies:
[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6LLQdpY7wU[/youtube]
