[smoothsailing]

normally I would agree with you..

Why? Or to put it another way, what to you is "normally"?

there must be some government regulation..

Oh my, now you've totally lost me. :)

[unseen]

normally the free market works in the short term. Over the long term free markets tend to become unfree markets due to monopolies. It is the government's responsibility to regulate commerce so that a free market is always there. When one company has a product that is necessary to the continuation of our economy it is the governments resposniblitity to ensure that that company does not do the economy harm in its pursuit of profits. For instance, one company could conceivable buy all the electricity plants in the country and charge whatever they want. Because they would have economy of scale they could put any new electric company out of business and raise rates to the point that they maximize profits. This rate could be more then a large percent of the population could afford and many deaths may occur. These deaths could be from eating spoiled food, lack of air conditioning during warm spells, lack of heat during cold spells, like of water due to pumps not working, etc. In this example it is the government's responsibility to ensure a free market so that prices can be kept at market prices and not artificially high. with only 5 major oil companies left in the USA it is not technically a free market.