Governments are the worlds largest monopolies

[ghost_stalker]

Monopoly, Exclusive control by one group of the means of producing or selling a commodity or service

I always hear about companies sueing Microsoft over a monopoly of the computer industry(well it doesnt have an entire monopoly over the industry due to govt intervention, mainly Operating Systems)
I think this term describes governments quite well,

As with all non monopolistic industries, a product or service is provided, and consumers choose which company will provide the product or service provided by the many companies

With any monopolistic industry (or at least partially monopolistic), a product or service is provided and there is no other provider of the product or service.

Well governments work the same way as monopolies do, they provide the service of lawmaking and law enforcement (as well as protection), and there are no other providers of that service.

So when the government trys to position itself as being anti monopolistic and tries to stop monopolies, shouldnt it (logically) stop its own monopoly??
It stops Microsoft from buying out smaller companies, yet all governments take other countries (or some land from them)?? Is this not in the same realm of microsoft??

Or governments stop other countries from forming that may (or mat no0 cause competition,
Monopolies also stop other companies from forming competition,

So in reality the government (by definition) is the worlds largest monopoly

[tman_ndsu08]

Except that the government isn't selling anything to us. They simply take our money.

[SteveA]

Yes, governments are enforced monopolies.

Monopolies tend to stagnate and provide poor services (look at the ex-soviet union and the DMV).

[ghost_stalker]

Quote by: tman_ndsu08 Except that the government isn't selling anything to us. They simply take our money.

Yes it is, (maybe not exactly selling, as we have no choice if we want it or not) the government provides a service, and we, in return pay for it in taxes

[SteveA]

...the government provides a service...

...the government provides a disservice..

(ok, just kidding).

[PatrickHenry]

Quote by: tman_ndsu08 Except that the government isn't selling anything to us. They simply take our money.

Oh, they are selling allright. They just don't deliver! Washington, DC is a bazaar with active trading for every commodity including favorable tax treatment. But you won't be getting what you paid for. You're in the wrong bracket...

[Prometheus]

Well by definition, a government has the monopoly on violance in a given geographical area. So yes, you are right.

[SteveA]

Oh, they are selling allright. They just don't deliver! Washington, DC is a bazaar with active trading for every commodity including favorable tax treatment. But you won't be getting what you paid for. You're in the wrong bracket...

And consider the FTC, you'd think you could trade company stocks freely, but no, the Federal Trade Commision has a reach outside DC also.

Here's an interesting statistic:

Geographic Area 1-Apr-00 1-Jul-05 1-Jul-10 1-Jul-20 1-Jul-30 Growth
Nevada 1,998,257 2,352,086 2,690,531 3,452,283 4,282,102 114%
Arizona 5,130,632 5,868,004 6,637,381 8,456,448 10,712,397 109%
...
Dist. of Col. 572,059 551,136 529,785 480,540 433,414 -24%

This is why there's been a pressure for more central control in government - people keep running away from it, so you have to control where they're running to also.

[PatrickHenry]

Source for your statistics, Steve? And your argument is unclear...

[Milton Bradley]

Quote by: PatrickHenry Oh, they are selling allright. They just don't deliver! Washington, DC is a bazaar with active trading for every commodity including favorable tax treatment. But you won't be getting what you paid for. You're in the wrong bracket...

Oh, I like that writing style Patrick.


Nice summation.

[SteveA]

Source for your statistics, Steve? And your argument is unclear...

Those were projections made by U.S. Census department

http://www.census.gov/population/pro...mmaryTabA1.pdf

Geographic Area 1-Apr-00 1-Jul-05 1-Jul-10 1-Jul-20 1-Jul-30 Growth Nevada 1,998,257 2,352,086 2,690,531 3,452,283 4,282,102 114% Arizona 5,130,632 5,868,004 6,637,381 8,456,448 10,712,397 109% ... Dist. of Col. 572,059 551,136 529,785 480,540 433,414 -24%

The worse population growth prediction is for downtown federal governmentville the District of Columbia. With a -24% growth prediction by 2030. (Looks like an extrapolation from previous years).

The best population growth areas are in Nevada and Arizona. Both have governments and people that more actively support smaller governments. (Though New Hampshire, the "Live Free or Die" state is one I'd recommend looking into also ) Check out my signature if you're interested.

Anyway, the reason why politics tends to become centralized, is because there's no way for any group of states to have a monopoly otherwise - if you make gambling illegal in 49 states, people will still head to Nevada and Arizona has a lot of libertarian type supports as well with smaller government and lower state costs.

No, the only way government can abuse their power is through monopolizing local laws, which means centralizing things, which means federal government, which means D.C., which happens to be the area with the worst predicted population growth. You get to Nevada and Arizona through D.C., that's how the monopoly game is being played.

(I believe this applies to foreign nations as well. If policies in the U.S. cause people to leave for Canada and Mexico, well, they'll just do the same thing and make sure the laws in those countries are the same also ... etc. etc. etc. My guess is even the middle east is part of it)