[hemphill.daniel]

“Only 10 companies control almost every large food and beverage brand in the world.”

I keep seeing this statement on Facebook as an argument against capitalism and people are claiming this is why we should have anti-trust laws and more regulation to keep a few companies dominating the market.

I get that these companies employ millions of people which is a good thing, but does this make it harder for smaller businesses to compete? Would this be considered a monopoly on the market?

[daniel_newhouse]

Patents are a government granted monopoly. A patent prevents any other company from using any proprietary invention when making their products. But do patents ever really belong to the institution you work for? If the CEO or the chairman of the board of directors moves to another company, do patents move with him? If I understand employment agreements properly the patents are supposed to belong to the company you work for.

Now, what’s wrong with preventing other companies from using your propietary patented material? What if someone who generates the patented material moves from one company to another? They can’t use it at the new company. This reduces their individual value on the job marketplace. You may look at a resume of someone who is reponsible for patents and be impressed. But what good does it do them to get a new job and not
be able to use their old inventions?

I say all patents go anonymous GPU!

Also, copyright. I say, if you copy something (transcribe in techno-can) from one employer to the next you have violated the law. If you remember it, it’s fair game.

[jmherbener]

It is a common error to conflate “monopoly” with “bigness.” The social inefficiency of monopoly comes through a restriction of output and a raising of price. With genuine monopoly power, say through government legal protection, prices continue to rise (even faster than general price inflation) and quality declines. Examples are government schools and healthcare.

Bigness, on the other hand, can be obtained by superior service to consumers, offering them lower prices than the competition or higher quality. Examples are Amazon.com and Apple, Inc.

Here is a chart of the percent of GDP spend on healthcare. Americans spent 6% of GDP on healthcare in 1965 and 18% in 2011.

A Brief History Of Health Spending Since 1965

Here is a chart of the percent of a typical budget spent on food. Americans spent 17% of their income on food in 1960 and 10% in 2013.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/03/02/389578089/your-grandparents-spent-more-of-their-money-on-food-than-you-do

Here is Tom DiLorenzo on Monopoly and Competition:

[hemphill.daniel]

Thank you so much! Good information!

[Author]

Posts