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| Profits accruing to competitive package delivery services all could have been the province of the US Postal Service were it not for the political limits placed on what the post office could legally do (in total opposition to what should have been its "natural monopoly"). You should know all private package companies place their packages in the mail when they cannot deliver at a profit. |
In that they are the economic
Perfection of that system in
Which they serve or produce.
But when they are owned or
Governed by human beings
Susceptible to greed, then
Monopolies lose that efficiency
Which made them acceptable.
A greedy owner can use the
His unique control to benefit
Himself over his customers,
Suppliers, and workers. Thus
Thought John D. Rockefeller
To perfect the oil industry’s
Efficiency by eliminating his
Competitors. Very truly why have
Two refineries supplied by
Separate sources when his one
Could handle the output of
Both fields? Indeed, why two
Pipelines when his one could
Absorb the competition too?
The savings derived from
Opportunities of scale could
Be passed on to his customers
(Ha!) or go directly to his pocket.
Often enough he bought up the
His competitors’ equipment at
Bargain basement prices to be
Reborn, baptized into his system.
However, once his empire was
Found to be gouging wildly
Without opposition, government
Finally took steps to limit, if
Not totally undo, the damage.
Theorists, however, have argued
That there are natural economic
Monopolies which society can
Manage politically to provide
Optimum economic benefits,
For example, water and sewer
Utilities. Other industries once
Regarded as natural monopolies
Include electricity, telephone,
Broadcasting, mining, and most
Recently the internet. Postal
Service has lost its natural monopoly
As profitable package delivery
Has been allowed to various
Competitors, and its unique
Delivery of paper-based information
Has been buggy-whipped out of
Primacy first by telegraphy,
Then faxing, and finally internet
Messaging. But privatization
Has a checkered record. Consider
Broadcasting: once companies
Have leaped the hurdles to
Licensing they produce untold
Fortunes for their operators
With little to no benefit for the
Listener/citizens, their owners.
Mining has ripped whole vistas
To garbage dumps and given
Very little in return for their
Plunder of the surface. Were it
Not for the actions in Flint and
Other piracies now occurring
In many suburbs I would have
Said that the water monopoly
Was too sacred, too universally
Necessary to succumb to
Exploitation. How wrong I was.
But most particularly today
The internet is about to be
Carved up by wealthy media
Conglomerates for their own
Benefit, again to shaft the little
Guys (taxpayers) who paid for its
Development as a military
Necessity, for the moment,
Still available equally to all.
Tragedy of the Commons,
A play we see on the public
Stage all too often. With Dump
At the helm, the public stage
Won’t be here long either.
c. J.S.Manista, 2017
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