The FCC is planning new net neutrality rules. And they could enshrine pay-for-play. - The Washington Post

Fri Apr 25 03:44:48 UTC 2014

On Apr 24, 2014, at 23:38 , Larry Sheldon <LarrySheldon at cox.net> wrote:
> On 4/24/2014 10:23 PM, Patrick W. Gilmore wrote:

>> The invisible hand of the market cannot fix problems when there is a monopoly.
>> 
>> Put in economic terms, a player with Market Power is extracting Rents. (Capitalization is intentional.)
>> 
>> Regulating monopolies allows a market to work, not the opposite.
>> 
> 
> Regulating monopolies protects monopolies from competition.
> 
> Monopolies can not persist without regulation.

You are confused.

Unless you are talking about "persist" on a time horizon spanning generations. If so, then nothing can persist, with or without regulation. And more importantly, I am not willing to wait that long for a fix.

> A regulated monopoly is a monopoly, with all of the powers granted to monopolies by regulation.

Regulations can work to ensure monopolies do not form. This is not supposition, but historical fact.

It is an open question whether our current regulator regime is capable of repeating that feat, however.

-- 
TTFN,
patrick

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