Thread by @unseen1_unseen

1. In the USA price fixing is illegal. Price fixing is an agreement between a group of people to buy or sell a product, service or commodity only at an agreed upon price or control the market via supply and demand so that the item has a stable price..

2. Price fixing requires a conspiracy between people. The goal is to coordinate the market for the benefit of the group. Price fixing is easier to do with a market that is controlled by an oligopoly. Oligopolies occur when a market is dominated by a few companies.

3. Some examples of oligopolies in the USA include: the cellular market, media market, oil market, social media, big AG, computer OS companies, internet companies

4. Oligopolies are not inherently bad or good. It depends like everything else on their actions.

5. Because of their nature and power, the temptation to engage in collusion with each other is very high. The most common type of collusion is trying to set the price and/or supply of markets (price fixing) but it also involves efforts to control the market via market entry.

6. Collusion between oligopolies/monopolies and government has become the main driver of crony "capitalism". However, the companies themselves can collude will each other to stop others companies from entering their market.

7. The companies can use such things as having banks deny others credit, getting laws passed to increase costs to the market(making smaller companies unable to compete with larger richer companies), denying companies access to the market itself because they control and fund it.

8. Knowing all of the above, let's also remember Rule# 1 when dealing with the left.

Leftists are not Capitalists.

This means, among other things, they really don't care about profit for profit's sake.

9. What happens if a group of leftist CEOs come to power within an oligopoly where profit is no longer the overriding or even the main objective to those CEOs. Yes they make widgets, code or provide a service but they also have another. "product", their ideology.

10. This additional "product" has no price to fix but the very same actions that oligopolies use to fix price and control markets can be used to control the market so only their "product" is "sold" in the market.

11. They can deny others with different ideas access to their market, deny those that believe other ideas access to credit, buy out start ups and install CEOs with their ideas at the helm, and pay off politicians so laws like antitrust are not enforced and a host of other actions

12. People attempt to control markets for many reasons. Groups like the mafia, wall Street, commodity traders, drug dealers all have attempted it at one time or another. Most groups are motivated by profit but power and influence also plays a part in the reason why.

13. Once you start thinking of ideas as products the companies are selling then, at least for me, it becomes easier to understand what some companies are doing. They are colluding with other companies to control the market place of ideas so only their product is "sold"

14. And they are using unfair/ illegal market practices to do it. Denying ad revenues to other ideas, denying access to their app stores to companies with different ideas, paying off politicians, changing search results to promote their product over others,......

15. ....colluding with other industries like the media or film to only sell their "product", blacklisting companies/people in those other industries selling another "product", granting kickbacks to companies/people to sell their "product".

16. The 1st amend basically ensures the government has keep a free public square of ideas not a safe space for one and only one idea. Antitrust laws as well as RICO and other laws try to ensure a free market for products devoid of illegal activity. You can combine the two.

17. It's time for the government to open up the market place so that the product of "ideas" are freely exchanged in that marketplace and consumers have the option of "buying" any idea they think is correct and good for them at the price they are willing to pay.