AT&T CEO Warns of Higher Prices in Wake of T-Mobile Failure

tether said:
Exactly. Let's also let them merge into 1 or 2 companies and charge us WHATEVER they want to. No problem. If anyone doesn't like it, START YOUR OWN CELL COMPANY THEN. Free & Open Markets should work exactly like this. Let's not stop here, let's have McDonalds buy every fast food chain & change that BS "$1 value-menu", to a "$100 value-menu" where they can finally make some money on that small fry! I tell you, I stay awake at night worrying that AT&T's CEO may not be able to buy that 6th Bentley or 3rd vacation house.

I think you might have missed my point.

Free markets and open markets are not the same thing. Free markets (in the purest sense) allow players to fix prices, consolidate, monopolize and bully competitors to whatever extent their resources will allow them.

Open markets allow competitors to operate within a framework that allows other firms to compete without the impact of collusion and huge economies of scale.

I prefer mostly free markets, operating under the smallest level of government possible level of regulation that will ensure they also remain open markets.