[tlb]

By itself, becoming a monopoly can be legal & ethical.

But once you have a monopoly, you're not allowed to do certain things like buying competitors for the purpose of crushing them.

[deeThrow94]

I think the ethics of private enterprise is far from sorted long, long before getting to market-manipulation. Particularly in the US, where you're essentially obligated to take peoples' money at any cost.

[Juliate]

What verifiable existing/attempting monopoly today is ethical?

[tlb]

They are about as ethical as non-monopoly businesses. Which is to say that some are bad and most are OK.

I guess some people think all business is unethical, but for those people monopolies don't change the sign.

[Juliate]

> They are about as ethical as non-monopoly businesses.

No, my point/thesis is that, whatever non-monopolies can be, a monopoly is de-facto unethical.

If there is a legitimate reason that there's a monopolistic control over something, it then _has to_ become a public service, in the general interest.

And there is no actual existing monopoly today that could serve as a counter-example to that thesis.