I am still reading F.A. Hayek's The Road to Serfdom and the following paragraph was really well written. The argument being debated was that in a truly Free Market, the end result is that monopolies will eventually be able to provide the best products at the lowest costs, and will eliminate competition; which we all know is a very valuable thing. The claim continues to say that technology will help monopolies cut costs and extend their control.

The superior efficiency of large establishments has not been demonstrated; the advantages that are supposed to destroy competition have failed to manifest themselves in many fields. Nor do the economies of size, where they exist, invariably necessitate monopoly...The size of the sizes of the optimum efficiency may be reached long before the major part of a supply is subjected to such control. The conclusions that the advantage of large-scale production must lead inevitably to the abolition of competition cannot be accepted. It should be noted, moreover, that monopoly is frequently the product of factors other than the lower costs of greater size. It is attained through collusive agreement and promoted by public policies. When these agreements are invalidated and when these policies are reversed, competitive conditions can be restored.

F.A. Hayek - The Road to Serfdom pg 92-93

quoted from:

Clair Wilcox, Competition and Monopoly in American Industry, Temporary National Economic Committee Monograph, No. 21 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1940), pg. 314.

Yep, people just like things to be sugarcoated. Forget fact and real economics....just convince the people to keep spending, and we'll be OK.

Just testing out my new camera. Make sure and watch in HQ!