Amazon does have a monopoly in ebooks. I believe they are using that market power in anti-competitive ways. This is against the Sherman act today.
There's no such thing as what you're claiming. Whether their actions are in violation of anti-trust law is overwhelmingly a subjective finding that can't be determined ahead of time in the manner you're claiming. It's a subjective decision reached through a long, typically drawn-out government process, involving trial/s, judges, DOJ prosecutors, witnesses, etc.
Amazon is directly responsible for ebooks being so cheap today. The publishers and Apple wanted prices for ebooks to be high.
If Amazon's monopoly power results in low prices for me forever, then I say bring it on.
The ONLY purpose of monopoly laws is as a consumer protection. And if prices are permanently low, like they are in the ebook space, that is GOOD for consumers, not bad.
In another 20 years, those "inevitable" price increases aren't going to come either.
Blimey, here I thought ebooks are ridiculously expensive, often costing more than trade paperbacks, especially after a year or two.
No, it's about protecting the marketplace. Consumer protection is a second order effect. Here's a quote from the U.S. Supreme Court with respect to the Sherman Act:
The purpose of the [Sherman] Act is not to protect businesses from the working of the market; it is to protect the public from the failure of the market. The law directs itself not against conduct which is competitive, even severely so, but against conduct which unfairly tends to destroy competition itself.
As you can see, the court concluded that anti-trust law is about policing market failures, and specifically about the destruction of competition.
There's another player being squeezed in a theoretical e-book dumping. Writers. Amazon doesn't do for them what publishers do(editing to marketing), and taking out the competition could benefit consumers at the expense of the writers.
But price dumping to drive out competitors is fantasy boogieman strategy that basically never works. There has to be huge barriers to entry, for it to work. Because if there aren't, then a competitor can just jump back into the market when the prices rise again. It is just not a profitable strategy for a monopoly to engage in.
Price dumping just result in lower prices for consumers.
IE, even though there are a dozen or so big players in the airline industry, there is often only 1 carrier going from X to Y.
Other examples would include the telecom/internet cable industry, electricity/water.
[0] http://authorearnings.com/report/february-2017/ [1] http://authorearnings.com/report/october-2015-apple-bn-kobo-...