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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (39762)12/18/2009 7:41:58 PM
From: TimF  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 71588
 
GIVING taxpayer money TO THEM is what makes it 'welfare'

Wrong. Giving it to them in order to help them out, make them richer, keep them from going bankrupt, etc. is welfare.

Giving it to corporations for some other purpose, in order to achieve some other objective than their well being, isn't corporate welfare.

Exercise of monopoly power BY DEFINITION means NO FREE MARKET.

An enforced monopoly means no free market. Just being the only seller or buyer (monopoly or monopsony) does not.

That force doesn't have to be government force, if the monopolist hired thugs to take out competitors, or intimidate their potential buyers it still would not be a free market. But as long as competition is no restrained by force or threats of force (including laws and regulation as force), then a monopoly doesn't preclude their being a free market.

OTOH if there is no force used against competitors, you usually get competitors, so in a free market, except possibly in some areas that are "natural monopolies", you tend not to have monopolies.