Pure ignorance about monopolies. They see monopolies controlling the US government and they think that the government is the problem and that without government monopolies can’t form because a monopoly controlling the market will then manipulate the government into giving them free money, therefore…monopolies can’t exist without a government because who else would they extract wealth from?
I…think. I’m not sure. Every ancap I’ve spoken too knows nothing about groups like the East India Company or factory towns in the US, they’re completely and utterly ignorant about government’s interaction with private companies. Which makes sense, considering their political ideas.
Yeah that’s basically right. The idea is that a monopoly represents a market failure in the technical sense–it’s a condition in which the free market is failing to efficiently allocate resources. It’s basically an article of faith for these guys that all market failures are the result of distortions caused by government interference into market functioning, since they think that by definition free markets always allocate goods and services in the maximally efficient way. Therefore, if you get rid of government, there will be no distortions, and thus no monopoly (or other market failures). They think that if a monopoly ever started to form in the absence of a government, a scrappy young entrepreneur would just found a company to outcompete the monopolist.
all libertarians believe monopolies are impossible under a Truly Free market
How do they figure? I’m not up to date on my ancap “theory”
Vibes
Pure ignorance about monopolies. They see monopolies controlling the US government and they think that the government is the problem and that without government monopolies can’t form because a monopoly controlling the market will then manipulate the government into giving them free money, therefore…monopolies can’t exist without a government because who else would they extract wealth from?
I…think. I’m not sure. Every ancap I’ve spoken too knows nothing about groups like the East India Company or factory towns in the US, they’re completely and utterly ignorant about government’s interaction with private companies. Which makes sense, considering their political ideas.
Yeah that’s basically right. The idea is that a monopoly represents a market failure in the technical sense–it’s a condition in which the free market is failing to efficiently allocate resources. It’s basically an article of faith for these guys that all market failures are the result of distortions caused by government interference into market functioning, since they think that by definition free markets always allocate goods and services in the maximally efficient way. Therefore, if you get rid of government, there will be no distortions, and thus no monopoly (or other market failures). They think that if a monopoly ever started to form in the absence of a government, a scrappy young entrepreneur would just found a company to outcompete the monopolist.
Because that would so clearly ruin every other part of their ideology