On Being Oppressed by Oligopolies

There are real problems trying to deal  with very large corporations and entities, like multinationals. Dealing with problems that arise from personal relationships can be simpler; you can try to solve the problem or leave the relationship. Usually in personal cases there is relatively equal bargaining power. Dealing with problems with an entity that has acquired a near monopoly of some kind or another cannot usually be solved; you can, of course, leave the relationship but you must then engage in another relationship with a similar large and over powering entity. Like the farmer in Grapes of Wrath, you learn there is no point in shooting the bailiff; another bailiff will arrive shortly.

Sometimes perhaps we can be over-fussy about being cheated by a bank or energy company or a shop that is a branch of a very large business, especially as we get older when we can see thing more clearly. It may be a small matter, those few hours that you wasted waiting for a delivery, or those few pounds that you were forced to pay which were grabbed unfairly from your pocket, but there is little you can do that is commensurate to the loss suffered.

I expect if I could devise a way of stealing just one penny from everyone’s bank account in the United Kingdom and the theft appeared on the bank statements under neutral words hardly anyone would bother to complain until someone realised that I had in fact stolen millions. How much time should we waste on such matters? No time at all should be spent, if we look at it from our own perspective, but plenty of time must be spent if we look at the grand scale of theft that is being carried out.

Banks, energy companies, insurers, retailers, search engine providers, telecoms businesses, petrol stations, train companies and airlines and governments have all learned that stealing a few pence from everyone that crosses their paths raises more money that trying to earn a few pounds properly. In fact the practices are so prevalent that we no longer think it unfair if a bank charges money for programming its computer to send out a letter to say that you have exceeding your limit, or if an insurer charges you a princely sum simply for noting that you have moved your home down the road a few yards, – I could go on.

The problem that we suffer (and we all do suffer as money from our pockets which we have usually earned by working ultimately goes to swell the coffers of those who are already far wealthier than us) arises from one simple fact; all of these institutions have become too big and it is now a perversion of language to claim that they “compete” with each other in any way.

So we are oppressed by a myth – a myth that we are in the most cases buying goods and services from businesses that compete with each other. There is an element of predatory competition usually when the early stages of a business there is a rush to develop a monopoly. Ultimately you know, if you run a business which tries to acquire a monopoly you will never be permitted to become a monopoly unless it is some relatively obscure activity. So probably trying to achieve a monopoly is impossible in western democratic countries but achieving an oligopoly (where several businesses control a market) is possible and if you can be part of an oligopoly, riches will follow you for the rest of your days.

In the United Kingdom there are six major suppliers of electricity and natural gas to the market. In order to fix a market, they do not need to collude; one of them will simply push up its prices knowing the others will follow. We are told that we need an energy oligopoly in order to provide investment in energy infrastructure, but that makes no sense to me. The energy companies do not raise money from their shareholders, but from their customers and it is awfully hard to avoid being a customer of an energy company, or a bank or an insurance company.

So I suppose we have no choice but accept the fact that we are oppressed by oligopolies and there is little we can do about it and nothing the government wants to do about it.

Filed under: climate change Tagged: oligopoly