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naaskingyesterday at 3:19 PM5 repliesview on HN

> Thiel's book has influenced so many entrepreneurs into believing Monopolies are Good.

Haven't read his book, but the idea that monopolies are good isn't typically made in a vacuum, it's made relative to alternatives, most often "ham-fisted government intervention". It's easier to take down a badly behaving monopoly than to change government, so believing monopolies are better than the alternatives seems like a decent heuristic.


Replies

layer8yesterday at 4:29 PM

How would a bad monopoly be likely to be taken down if not by government intervention?

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mrcincinnatusyesterday at 4:02 PM

Good for whom, exactly?

billiamyesterday at 4:17 PM

This seems like a classic straw man argument. Plutocratic oligarchs have been making the argument that private monopolies are better than representative democracy at basically any societal function for decades without any actual data.

billiamyesterday at 4:08 PM

This seems like a classic straw man argument. Plutocratic oligarchs have been making the argument that private monopolies are better than representative democracy at basically anything for decades.

vonneumannstanyesterday at 3:47 PM

>Haven't read his book, but the idea that monopolies are good isn't typically made in a vacuum, it's made relative to alternatives, most often "ham-fisted government intervention". It's easier to take down a badly behaving monopoly than to change government, so believing monopolies are better than the alternatives seems like a decent heuristic.

What? How is the first alternative poor government instead of multipolar competing companies? When was the last time a Monopoly was actually broken up in the US? ATT/Bell 50 years ago? lol