Monopoly

I'm sure most people remember from American history the immoral practices of corrupt railroad companies of the early industrial revolution. This problem was solved through government regulation, where many laws were made to prevent immoral business practices. A little later in history antitrust acts are installed to prevent monopolies and market control. These seem to be good improvements that help the individual man as well as the economy overall. However, many businessmen and economists are skeptical of all these government regualtions and lack of "laissez faire".

As I said before Daniels seemed to imply these problems could be solved without government intervention, and the free market would prevail. While bad business practices create a demand for other companies with good practices, a high barrier to entry can make it unlikely another business will arise. This is especially true when monopolies can be built around products with inelastic demand, such as medicine or even water. Maybe certain products will need to be protected or social action will be required in this instance.

It is important to remember that capitalism relies on the human mechanism of reason to work. This means capitalism not only operates on people's desire to advance and better them selves given incentive, but also relies on people making smart decisions to progress. Every other system of economical and social concern stifles the individual's own reason and does not protect essential rights every person deserves. Other systems count on the goverment to make these decisions for the individual. I feel much more comfortable making these decisions for myself.