On Wed, 3 Mar 2004, Doug Henwood wrote:
> kjkhoo at softhome.net wrote:
>
> >There does appear to be a tendency towards monopoly/oligopoly.
>
> Really? Where? In the Golden Age, there were three car companies in
> the U.S. market; now there are, what, ten? Steel was dominated by
> U.S. Steel - now we have minimills and imports. In computers, there
> was once IBM - now there are scores of computer makers. Oil was once
> priced by the Texas Railroad Commission, then OPEC - now it's priced
> by futures traders. Airfares were once regulated - now they're a mess
> (the big guys would like to be an oligopoly, but new entrants keep
> frustrating that). There's consolidation in retailing - but Wal-Mart
> is cutting prices, not raising them as a monopolist would.
> (Small-scale retailing can be less competitive than large-scale;
> Sam's Club is a lot cheaper than the corner hardware store or
> bodega.) So where's the increasing concentration?
>
> Doug
Mass media ownership?
Miles