aclockworkporridge

aclockworkporridge t1_ixfv7rz wrote

These activities are absolutely not rare. They are rarely prosecuted, but they are absolutely not rare. Fuel is a great example, both on a global level and a local one. Every year some local consortium of gas stations gets nailed for price fixing, and almost every industry has a landmark price fixing case that occurred in the last 20 years.

Internet is the current hot button topic in that regard, especially in Cambridge. A duopoly can be just as bad as a monopoly, because all it takes is an off the record game of golf and you've created massive profits with no risk of anti-trust or monopoly crackdown.

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aclockworkporridge t1_ixey408 wrote

Those are examples of things that were at one time private and have been nationalized for the most part. Aspects are still contracted out, and like you said, grids are privately owned, but much of the work to get rural areas electrified was federally managed.

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aclockworkporridge t1_ixexxc1 wrote

I also think it's good to note that the Postal service keeps private services from price gouging. Even if it doesn't turn a profit, if forced the leading corporations to compete against a third actor, which prevents them from colluding.

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aclockworkporridge t1_ixd56yp wrote

Which honestly I would say is a fantastic question, but I'm a firm believer in state-funded competition in privatized markets.

If a government can do it better and cheaper than capitalism, then it should become a public service.

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aclockworkporridge t1_ixck5bh wrote

I mean it's not just Cambridge obviously, but Boston-Newton-Cambridge has a GDP of $480 billion, which is more than 36 US states and puts it at #25 in the world if it were a country (that's using 2020 Fed numbers for BCN and 2017 global numbers, so not perfect)

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