[Red_Leaves_Flyy]

The housing and finance markets seem like a fitting example. Under and over investment respectively fueled bubbles that fed each other until their inevitable pop took the entire economy down and required a decade of artificially suppressed rates backed by trillions in debt setting us for bigger problems when an actual economic crisis occurs (Covid). We’re still weathering this storm of financial mismanagement on a national scale. Narrowing in, housing is now being over invested in fueling a bubble while the communities houses exist in are victims of underinvestment.

Zooming back out, whatever pain comes from breaking Google up today will be less than the pain of doing so in a decade. Even more broadly, the pain of breaking up any monopoly (a matter how small) today will be less than when their breakup is as or more pressing than any of the historical antitrust cases.

As Senator John Sherman put it, "If we will not endure a king as a political power we should not endure a king over the production, transportation, and sale of any of the necessaries of life."

Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, ATT/Verizon/Tmobile, and hoards of smaller but similarly situated companies behave as kings shaping markets, acting without accountability or culpability, and shaking down the public at their whims. The gospel of the stock market has paralyzed our legislators from taking action to put these corrupt, wasteful, polluting and abusive businesses in their place or out of operation.

[chipdart]

> artificially suppressed rates

I don't follow your point. All rates are set arbitrarily according to the monetary policy followed on any specific moment.

What leads you to believe that arbitrarily setting a rate one way is natural, but arbitrarily setting it another way is more natural?

> Zooming back out, whatever pain comes from breaking Google up today will be less than the pain of doing so in a decade.

Will it, though? Think about the problem for a second. Do you think it would be more painful to break up Yahoo now than it would have been a decade ago? What about Intel? What about IBM? I mean,do you think Google of all companies is doing great?

[Red_Leaves_Flyy]

This is an active area of debate and research among economists - of which I am not. That said, looks like you have some homework to do.

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-hutchins-center-expla...