Monopolies

[Ralph1]

I think I should change my name to pollster. Anyway, I believe monopolies should be legal because I strongly believe in pure capitalism. It may be bad for the economy at times but it's the most fair system. All social programs must be eliminated and the government should collect taxes for law enforcement and military only. Parks, libraries, schools, transportation, social security, medicaid, food stamps, the FDA etc should all be eliminated. If this were to ever happen the government could eliminate the income tax, state/local taxes, estate tax etc and just have one federal sales tax.

[Ehud]

Monopolies cannot be allowed to exist.  It's inefficient, unproductive, and stifles progress.  The reason the U.S. postal service sucks it's because they have a monopoly.  There's no reason for them to become more efficient and beneficial to their customers, so they don't even try.  Pure capitalism is unsustainable.  It is possible to have market failures where capitalism will not be able to lift itself out of a whole.  In some cases, there can be downward spirals in employment, output, consumption that lead to the complete collapse of an economy with no way to fix itself except with government intervention. 

There are also some but infrastructural things like public transportation, and libraries, that the market cannot possibly have an incentive to create.  Imagine if we had unbridled capitalism with no FDA.  That would be a DISASTER.  Think about all the unsafe drugs, food that your children will eat that would be completely unregulated if we had no FDA. 

[Ralph1]

I agree with everything you said, but so what if the FDA were gone and we had unsafe drugs. It's not about what's good for the public it's about what's fair. As long as government has to provide services for it's citizens there has to be taxes that some must pay disproportionately to others. The richest 1% pay 40% of the taxes and the bottom 50% pay 3% of the taxes and this is in the United States which is more capitalist than Europe.

[Ralph1]

I'm not talking about Muslim oil. I think the US military should ban oil imports.

[Dan]

The only Monoploy I like is the Parker Brothers version. 

[Ehud]

I agree with everything you said, but so what if the FDA were gone and we had unsafe drugs. It's not about what's good for the public it's about what's fair. As long as government has to provide services for it's citizens there has to be taxes that some must pay disproportionately to others. The richest 1% pay 40% of the taxes and the bottom 50% pay 3% of the taxes and this is in the United States which is more capitalist than Europe.

Not if there's a flat tax.  What is "fair" anyway?  Is it fair to make a single mother with 3 children pay 50% of her income in taxes while a multi-billionaire only has to pay the same amount which amounts to a tiny percentage of his income? 

Is it fair that a person should only be required to pay what he is able, and if he is able to pay more he should pay more, especially given the incredible benefit he's been given by society? 

Is it fair to expect that someone who has benefited so much from society has a duty to society in turn?

There is no such thing as "fairness".  It all depends what side you're looking at it from. 

[Ralph1]

I think what's fair is not paying more taxes than I'm using regardless of my income.

[cjd]

I agree with everything you said, but so what if the FDA were gone and we had unsafe drugs. It's not about what's good for the public it's about what's fair. As long as government has to provide services for it's citizens there has to be taxes that some must pay disproportionately to others. The richest 1% pay 40% of the taxes and the bottom 50% pay 3% of the taxes and this is in the United States which is more capitalist than Europe.

Not if there's a flat tax.  What is "fair" anyway?  Is it fair to make a single mother with 3 children pay 50% of her income in taxes while a multi-billionaire only has to pay the same amount which amounts to a tiny percentage of his income? 

Is it fair that a person should only be required to pay what he is able, and if he is able to pay more he should pay more, especially given the incredible benefit he's been given by society? 

Is it fair to expect that someone who has benefited so much from society has a duty to society in turn?

There is no such thing as "fairness".  It all depends what side you're looking at it from. 

The problem we are facing now with the tax situation is that unless you have almost no income or have a large family even folks who make a moderate income get taken to the cleaners. While people who have a few extra bucks and not  many mouths feed should expect to cough up a few extra bucks towards the good of society the point we are getting to now is confiscation of wealth. People who are in business are able to play with the books they can hide income however folks who have hourly income and make a good pay get taken to the cleaners unless they get creative at tax time. The correct path is somewhere between where we are now and a flat tax. If something isn't done soon people will start to see there isn't much point in working hard because in most cases you will not be able to hang on to your hard earned money anyway. This is what doomed Communism. What makes people believe that a system that shares the wealth will work any better here.

[Ralph1]

The problem we are facing now with the tax situation is that unless you have almost no income or have a large family even folks who make a moderate income get taken to the cleaners. While people who have a few extra bucks and not  many mouths feed should expect to cough up a few extra bucks towards the good of society the point we are getting to now is confiscation of wealth. People who are in business are able to play with the books they can hide income however folks who have hourly income and make a good pay get taken to the cleaners unless they get creative at tax time. The correct path is somewhere between where we are now and a flat tax. If something isn't done soon people will start to see there isn't much point in working hard because in most cases you will not be able to hang on to your hard earned money anyway. This is what doomed Communism. What makes people believe that a system that shares the wealth will work any better here.

The only solution to tax shelters is the elimination of the income and corporate tax. Business owners have this advantage.

[Bodhi]

  FDA is not a monopoly it is a regulatory agency........I don't agree with what they do for the most part, but I agree they are necessary.  Monopolies are for example the American Medical Asslociation or the American Dental Association, where they limit the number of students by only accrediting a certain number of schools, artificially raising the price....cost for a dental filling where I live $30, when I was in the US I had the same work done and it cost $450, and I had to make two separate visits...it's obscene...anyone facing a major surgery is better off flying to a nice country without a monopolized system, you can save tens of thousands of dollars and get a free vacation as well......The problem with the FDA is that in the US you pay 3-5 times what people in other countries pay for the same medicines, and you must have a prescription (doctor visit costing hundreds of dollars) for the privilege of paying 3-5 times what people in other countries can get over the counter in any pharmacy...it is sickening especially because many lower income seniors can no longer afford their medication and have to choose between one necisity and another (like food, or transportation or heating oil, and medicine).......Monopolies should not be allowed to exist IMHO.

[Daniel]

I'd vote for a third choice, "Depends"

[Groucho Marxist]

The reason America has flourished so much was because we abandoned the mercantile system and put consumers first.

"In a free trade an effectual combination cannot be established by the unanimous consent of every single trader, and it cannot last longer than every single trader continues of the same mind...The monopolists, by keeping the market constantly understocked, by never fully supplying the effectual demand, sell their commodities much above the natural price."

- Adam Smith on monopolies and cartels

This man was the champion of our founding fathers! There would not be a middle class if his ideals were ignored. There would not be an America just another British colony.

[New Yorker]

Monopolies are evil, they undermine free trade and capitalism, early leaders of this country recognized this and outlawed them. Today, the modern day equivalent is outsourcing and globalism, where a company can run all of it's business overseas, hire foreign workers, and yet be treated as a domestic company. It is just as evil as monopolies and the laws need to catch up and outlaw that as well, if a company is conducting it's business overseas, it should be treated the same as any other FOREIGN company, subject to tarrifs, customs, fees, etc.