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Comment by mattmaroon | Hacker News Reader

Our options shouldn’t be see no concerts from successful musicians or pay monopoly pricing. This is something government should solve.

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Expecting the US government to properly handle monopolies and anti-trust issues is a fool's errand. It's like saying the US government should solve the issue of gun proliferation in the US: it's simply not going to, in our lifetimes.

I don’t think that’s accurate. They’ve successfully handled plenty of anti trust issues in the past and very recently got on this one.

When was the last time they did it?

I googled "us government anti trust wins" and found a few articles that point out some recent ones, e.g. Adobe and Figma in December 2023, and an Apple lawsuit in March 2024.

Biden's FTC and Justice Department are in the process of suing Apple, Facebook, and Google for antitrust violations. And Ticketmaster.

On the contrary, the US government is probably a lot easier to influence than an entrenched monopoly.

It probably would require less money.

You're right, of course, those shouldn't be our options. But that's just how it is. If you aren't willing to stop playing, the game will never end.

Again, not true, that's a false dichotomy. Political pressure is an alternative. The justice department is already suing. Clearly it can be done.

You writing your congressperson is more likely (albeit, still not at all likely) to make a difference than you not going to your annual concert.

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