<i>&gt; The popular narrative that, unchecked by government, a business will eventually rise to absorb everything is not borne out by practice.</i><p>I get your point, but there <i>are</i> exceptions. In particular,  utilities come to mind. All locations I&#x27;ve lived except 1 provided exactly one option for high-speed internet. I don&#x27;t see that changing in most parts of the US any time soon. Ditto for water and electricity, depending on locality. Even temporary monopoly abuse in either of those two sectors can have devastating humanitarian impacts.