[ryanwaggoner]

I find people's short term memory and myopia in this area to be amusing. Not to say that oversight and regulation aren't sometimes needed (probably more often than we get them in the US), but still, we should take a step back every now and then.

I see a lot of people fretting that companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon are becoming so powerful that they're crushing their competition and taking over entire industries, and they just can't be stopped unless the government steps in.

Most of the companies people are wringing their hands about today effectively didn't exist 20 years ago. Back then it was another set of companies that were unassailable monopolies who were going to take over the world and rule with an iron fist for 1000 years, ruthlessly crushing all their upstart competitors.

And in another 10-20 years, no one will be concerned about Google, Facebook, and Amazon, and they'll instead be screaming bloody murder for the government to break up the otherwise-unstoppable companies X, Y, and Z before they destroy all that is good in the world.

Yes, yes, I know..."this time it's different!"

So it goes.