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Microsoft's official "Bing Wallpaper app" does some nasty, malware-like things to Windows
(www.techspot.com)
this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2024
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I'm really not.
Free market capitalism differs from our current economic system in regulations and taxes, which manipulate normal supply and demand. For example, we subsidize EVs, which makes EVs more attractive than they normally would be, which encourages EV companies to keep prices higher than they normally would. We also subsidize roads, which makes cars more attractive than other modes of transportation. We also levy tariffs, which prioritize locally produced goods and goods from friendly trade partners, and may be unequally levied based on product type to protect certain types of domestic industries.
Free market capitalism does not prevent all regulations. You can still ban price fixing and other forms of collusion w/o violating those underlying principles of non-interference. Companies are not "free to do what they want," they are restricted from colluding w/ government to get special favors or handouts. A system with a properly separated government and market means the government only steps in if there's a crime, and the list of possible crimes should be limited and not target specific industries. Companies can still acquire others and whatnot to form conglomerates, but doing so is only profitable if they're breaking some other type of law so it may trigger an investigation.
Once you allow the government to directly regulate the market, you open the floodgates to cronysism. Regulations disproportionately hurt small companies because large companies can overcome it and use those regulations as a weapon against potential competitors.
Nobody challenges cable companies because cable companies can tie up competitors in court over permitting and whatnot to exhaust whatever investment capital they have on legal fees, so the only real competition possible is government (muni fiber) because they control the permitting or new tech (Starlink, point-to-point wireless) because they can sidestep the permitting. If permitting was substantially easier, we'd see more competition in the ISP space (and probably reuse of existing lines since it's better to make a deal than run separate lines or lose 100% profit).
The only way, IMO, for regulations to be a net good WRT competition is if government is sensible and untouchable by corporations. I don't believe that's feasible, so the next best is to limit the ability of governments to make laws that impact the market so corporations don't have anything to gain through lobbying.