> But they don't actually need to be price-fixing with each other in a classical way.
Spot on. There doesn't have to be a conspiracy. Like entities with like goals and finite ways to maximize will follow similar or like paths.
The example I like to use are starlings (birds) and murmurations. Obviously, the birds aren't conspiring in any way. And yet they magically move in sync. Business competitors can do the same. So do political parties.
It's not a conspiracy. It's murmuration.
p.s. There's actually a more scientific term. I think it's in the math theory field about the study of such patterns. Starlings are simply the goto example.
Yes; flocking behavior is sufficient to explain how two or three supposed competitors can simulate a free market while profiting from monopolistic behavior. And it's also a fantastically nifty adaptation to allow any one entity to skirt the legislative hammer.
Cronie Capitalism does help as well. When the gov puts it thumb on the scale and clears a clear-enough path, only a fool wouldn't follow the path of least resistance.
Suppose the government did put its thumb on the scale here, how would it impact consumers? Will they now be able to shop for lower prices at a business that earns 1% profit margin or less instead of the 2.6% profit margin that Costco has managed to climb to?
The government is not supposed to be in the favoritism business. When that happens, as we're seeing, there are unexpected and/or unwanted consequences. The government is supposed to level the playing field, not the other way around.
Regulation. Be it local, state and/or federal. The larger the organization, the more resources it has to mitigate / remedy such friction.
The irony? Regulation is also self-serving to gov in the sense it perpetuates ththe gov's need to prove it needs to exit, "create more jobs", etc. But that's another discussion for another day.
Two, lack of national *affordable* universal healthcare. Again, larger companies are better able to fill this gap, offer the benefit, and thus draw better employees, etc.
Spot on. There doesn't have to be a conspiracy. Like entities with like goals and finite ways to maximize will follow similar or like paths.
The example I like to use are starlings (birds) and murmurations. Obviously, the birds aren't conspiring in any way. And yet they magically move in sync. Business competitors can do the same. So do political parties.
It's not a conspiracy. It's murmuration.
p.s. There's actually a more scientific term. I think it's in the math theory field about the study of such patterns. Starlings are simply the goto example.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uV54oa0SyMc&pp=ygUVc3Rhcmxpbmd...