The blindspot of the libertarian laissez faire fantasy: corporations will gladly screw you over in place of bureaucratic governments. Freedom without a force preventing abuse by the powerful is just a power vacuum waiting to be filled.
I really don’t get why some libertarians are anti-net neutrality. Yes, it is a band aid on the real problem which is a lack of competition, but we shouldn’t hand these oligopolies more power as that is counter productive to the libertarian goal.
To be fair, libertarians generally believe these big corporations only exist because of the big "oppressive" governmental regulations that prevent little companies from starting up to provide true competition so the magic invisible hand of the market can do it's job.
I disagree with that belief, but there are certain kernels of truth in that idea. For instance, it's beyond doubt that these companies use lobbying to push regulation that hinders competition, examples include state governments passing laws to prevent municipal broadband.
FestiveVat on November 25th, 2017 at 04:39 UTC »
The blindspot of the libertarian laissez faire fantasy: corporations will gladly screw you over in place of bureaucratic governments. Freedom without a force preventing abuse by the powerful is just a power vacuum waiting to be filled.
MrOz1100 on November 25th, 2017 at 06:06 UTC »
I really don’t get why some libertarians are anti-net neutrality. Yes, it is a band aid on the real problem which is a lack of competition, but we shouldn’t hand these oligopolies more power as that is counter productive to the libertarian goal.
manachar on November 25th, 2017 at 06:51 UTC »
To be fair, libertarians generally believe these big corporations only exist because of the big "oppressive" governmental regulations that prevent little companies from starting up to provide true competition so the magic invisible hand of the market can do it's job.
I disagree with that belief, but there are certain kernels of truth in that idea. For instance, it's beyond doubt that these companies use lobbying to push regulation that hinders competition, examples include state governments passing laws to prevent municipal broadband.