56 sats \ 7 replies \ @_stacktoshi 19 Aug \ parent \ on: Grocery Store Price Gouging? econ
A better question to ask is how would someone corner that market? How can you as a meat producer, lock out competition when companies like McDonalds, Costco, Walmart, who compete with each other, definitely have the resources to compete directly with you if they feel they're not getting a fair price? Someone is going to sell them the inputs they need to put you out of business.
Four producers control beef in the US.
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And two companies control smartphones. So what? Show me how they prevent new entrants. Show me what's stopping the companies I listed from starting their own operations.
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The conpanies you listed all exert their own monopoly powers. Ask anyone supplying those companies about what extra capital they need to raise to meet the company's requirements. Walmart makes you buy into their RFID system. That is called a barrier to entry.
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Walmart is also thought to engage in monopsony, which is requiring sellers to sell to them at disadvantageous prices.
I’m skeptical of that claim, but it would offset collusive pricing from suppliers.
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you provide examples that prove my point. you just don't know it. You seem happy to pay more and more for marginally better products from fewer suppliers.
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No, I'm not happy to pay more. I'm just happy to take claims of price fixing with a large grain of salt because the solution is usually involving the authorities, and they're always for sale. It just hurts competition even more. Try actually freeing the market for once.
If the government wasn't taking such a large chunk out of the economy and just getting in the way of just about everything, you'd see a lot more entrants in every industry. The most heavily regulated ones are usually the least competitive (not the only anti-competitive ones - e.g. smartphones, event ticketing, etc.). The regs are typically written in favor of the incumbents.
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Did breaking up Standard Oil or Ma Bell harm competition?
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