[lbo-talk] Re: Ok, I Need Some Education

[kjkhoo at softhome.net]

At 5:23 pm -0500 2/3/04, Doug Henwood wrote:
>BklynMagus wrote:
>
>>Eventually the free market will have losers and the winners who are 
>>left will tend to monopoly.
>
>Tend towards concentration, yes. Competition usually leads to 
>consolidation (mergers, takeovers, failures, etc.). But never 
>monopoly - there's always some upstart or technological change to 
>topple any would-be or near-monopolist. Even Microsoft will fall 
>someday.

Isn't this overstating it a bit?

There does appear to be a tendency towards monopoly/oligopoly. And 
once there, there seems to be remarkable stability, allowing for the 
emergence of new sectors, tech change. No matter the changes in faces 
and names: the overall structure pretty much remains -- automobiles, 
banking, steel and heavy industry, pharmaceuticals, chemicals...

The development of the IT software sector looks to me to be an 
excellent example of this (despite the wonderful tenacity of open 
source/free software) -- in compressed time, with some special 
features due to the need for inter-operability. And the push towards 
more and more restrictive IP legislation -- an attempt to obtain 
monopoly by fiat, if it can't be obtained in the economic and/or 
intellectual process.

kj khoo