[parasubvert]

If you read Peter Thiel's latest book, his argument is for monopoly over competition.

Which is just another way of saying, all competition must fail.

So far, it's worked for Facebook. They have trampled their competition, or they just buy them.

[hkmurakami]

I read a piece by a (very reasonable) VC explaining the detriments of excess LP cash in the VC industry. The premise was that if 100 companies get funded in a space (say, local delivery) where normally, 10 companies would have, then even the ones who under normal circumstances would have "out competed" the others through superior service and product will have a tough time vs the torrent of cost cutting and "competition" from the slew of competitors, thereby making the entire industry unprofitable.

In a way, it reminds me of the consumer electronics market, especially the laptop PC market. Fierce competition forced down profits, and now seemingly every company is focused on cost cutting rather than making something we actually want to use. Both consumers and producers have lost out (woe is me who cannot buy a quality thinkpad anymore!).

[parasubvert]

This. So many software markets have this problem.

The only way out of it is if a clear leader breaks away eventually, or else a new market will disrupt and subsume the capabilities of the old one mired in cost competition.

[ap22213]

Makes sense. If I remember my economics correctly, with efficient markets and competition, profits should approach zero over time. But, if there's no competition....