[Hank Kerchief]

...a monopoly is a "cornering" of a market which can and does happen by market forces combined with human greed in laissez faire markets as well as government controlled markets.

If you believe a monopoly is evil only because there is one company alone providing a service or product, please explain why that is evil. On the other hand, please name one monopoly that was able to control or "corner" the market by market forces alone that did not do so by offering the best product at the best price (in which casw it was benevolent) or, if coercive, without the influence of government force. Just name one.

[VRWC_minion]

On the other hand, please name one monopoly that was able to control or "corner" the market by market forces alone that did not do so by offering the best product at the best price (in which casw it was benevolent) or, if coercive, without the influence of government force.

The Oracle at Delphi

[unspun]

...a monopoly is a "cornering" of a market which can and does happen by market forces combined with human greed in laissez faire markets as well as government controlled markets.

If you believe a monopoly is evil only because there is one company alone providing a service or product, please explain why that is evil. On the other hand, please name one monopoly that was able to control or "corner" the market by market forces alone that did not do so by offering the best product at the best price (in which casw it was benevolent) or, if coercive, without the influence of government force. Just name one.

Except that government was one of the major customers, and government naturally enforces it's contracts, Microsoft is a good enough example (although not a pure example). It used its position in the market to influence its business partners to disallow the competition, in one related 'commodity' after another, growing and usurping the market like "The Blob."

The governing force here was not government, but the perceived need for standardization, which government allowed to be addressed by the capitalists of Microsoft, instead of by the paragovernmental standards councils that have otherwise done such a wonderful job of securing order and free enterprise in information technology.

Rockefeller's oil complex was another example of a monopoly that didn't need direct government conspiracy to develop (though it may have gotten such "help," to worsen the situation -- I don't know all the particulars, just the main problem, of buying up and forcing out the competition).

Other monopolies exist due to government patents. I suppose you can argue against patents, but capitalists wouldn't like it. In the interest of preventing greedy (excessive, unbridled) self-interest from abusing monopolies as human nature will do, government limits the durations of patents.