It is amazing to me that the government continues to allow these mergers when time and time again it shows that the consumer end up paying more, not less.
It's because government is run by people from/with close ties to the businesses and take massive bribes that we quaintly call "campaign contributions" from them.
Any excuse to allow the mergers will be found because of that.
In a word, it's plutocracy.
Exactly this. Our leaders are directly compensated for supporting monopolies.
Absolutely. Didn't mean for my reply to make it seem like I was too naive to understand WHY it happens. Just amazed that it keeps happening and has happened for decades.
Next election you're going to be voting around one or two big potential issues like abortion or gun rights. As long as we keep focusing on these things the corporate class can buy whatever regulations they want.
Because when the company is talking to regulators, the conversation isn't about the benefits to the consumer, the conversation is how to word it so the consumer doesn't realize they're being fucked.