The anti-monopoly movement has hit Canada, where a political economy revolution has changed the nation's antitrust laws from among the weakest in the world. As goes Canada, so goes the world?
Our parent corporation is Constellation Software, which is Canada based, and which has *seemed* to me to have pulled off dominant market share in a number of niche software verticals. I've long wondered if this was the sort of thing an American holding company would have had a harder time doing.
Matt, this also raises a related question I've wondered about. At what point does a given market become too small for there to be concern over a monopoly? For example, one company has 100% of the market share of the mud that Major League Baseball uses for rubbing baseballs, but that's such a weird and narrow niche that I have to think it's too small to be of concern. There's got to be a line somewhere though, right?
But I don't really understand how to think about the Canadian media. Right now we have the choice between the state-owned CBC, or the oligarchs.
This piece seems to treat them as different than all the other monopolies, and deserving of state protection. I struggle to see why. All the arguments made here can also be applied to our other industries. It seems very suspect that the one industry that is allowed monopolistic powers, and even funded and protected so, is the media.
Canadians LOVE to fight over the CBC. I worry this otherwise promising process is going to be derailed by this fight.
Since the two political parties in the U.S. have affirmed they are corporations and consist of a cartel that suppresses competition, why shouldn't they be broken up as monopolies?
Our parent corporation is Constellation Software, which is Canada based, and which has *seemed* to me to have pulled off dominant market share in a number of niche software verticals. I've long wondered if this was the sort of thing an American holding company would have had a harder time doing.
Matt, this also raises a related question I've wondered about. At what point does a given market become too small for there to be concern over a monopoly? For example, one company has 100% of the market share of the mud that Major League Baseball uses for rubbing baseballs, but that's such a weird and narrow niche that I have to think it's too small to be of concern. There's got to be a line somewhere though, right?
This is such a great development.
But I don't really understand how to think about the Canadian media. Right now we have the choice between the state-owned CBC, or the oligarchs.
This piece seems to treat them as different than all the other monopolies, and deserving of state protection. I struggle to see why. All the arguments made here can also be applied to our other industries. It seems very suspect that the one industry that is allowed monopolistic powers, and even funded and protected so, is the media.
Canadians LOVE to fight over the CBC. I worry this otherwise promising process is going to be derailed by this fight.
Since the two political parties in the U.S. have affirmed they are corporations and consist of a cartel that suppresses competition, why shouldn't they be broken up as monopolies?
Encouraging news indeed from up north.
I like Bester's phrase to "take corporate power seriously."
Yep, that's the starting point for recognizing and mitigating the harms caused by monopolies.
Thank you Canada!