Comcast hasn't dominated the market through market forces, it bought it from AT&T in 2001. Comcast has now ~21M customers - AT&T Broadcast, which they bought, had 22M.
AT&T, has one should know, was a legal monopoly; hardly a free market participant.
But the acquisition didn't create the monopoly; that was created by a company with legal privileges. I never claimed that markets automatically dissolved monopolies created by State policy. What I asked is if there are examples of free markets turning into monopolies.
But this is exactly what is happening here: Uber tries to get the legal privilege of being exempt from German regulations.
I don't see how; how are they preventing others from doing the same?
I'm not saying what they're doing is okay, but there's no privilege, anyone else (including incumbents) can decide to ignore the law and provide taxi services without the proper licenses.
Cartelization
Well, the you can surely provide an example of a cartel which has achieved monopoly without any help from States, just as the result of market failure.
I don't see how; how are they preventing others from doing the same?
There's a saying in Germany - Wo kein Kläger, da kein Richter (sort of a legal principle: Non ultra petita). Uber only could get away with breaking the law because no one complained. Someone now did. Case closed.
Well, the you can surely provide an example of a cartel which has achieved monopoly without any help from States, just as the result of market failure.
You really need references for that? It should be obvious. There are markets that lend themselves to big business. As soon as a few big players have cornered the market, it is in their best interest to play nice with each other so that 'everybody' wins (at the cost of their customers, of course). This creates a de-facto monopoly that might or might not be viable long-term (backstabbing probably will happen someday).
Historically, there's been a lot of that going on. The most recent case I remember were some German sugar manufacturers, but I could probably come up with hundreds of cases; it would be a waste of my time, though.
There's a saying in Germany - Wo kein Kläger, da kein Richter (sort of a legal principle: Non ultra petita). Uber only could get away with breaking the law because no one complained. Someone now did. Case closed.
I'm not seeing how is this relevant.
You really need references for that? It should be obvious. There are markets (...)
Yes, yes, I know the theory. It's just that in practice, it doesn't seem to actually have facts behind it. At least when people give examples (e.g. Comcast) there's almost invariably an extra-market process pushing things.
The most recent case I remember were some German sugar manufacturers, but I could probably come up with hundreds of cases; it would be a waste of my time, though.
Yes, it probably would. Convincing me is not a very good use of anyone's time :)
You were arguing that anyone else can decide to ignore the law and provide taxi services without the proper licenses. This obviously only works if you avoid getting caught, but Uber did not exactly fly under the radar. What they had going for themselves was an unusual entrance to the market, but that only kept them safe until their competitors complained to the authorities.
Convincing me is not a very good use of anyone's time
I did not say that. But it's not hard to do this 'research' by looking at Wikipedia or Google. Some examples I dug up in the last 30 seconds:
Tchibo/Melitta/Dallmayr (coffee), Südzucker/Nordzucker/Pfeifer & Langen (sugar, the one I was talking about), Unilever/Procter & Gamble (washing powder), De Beers (diamonds), possibly your friendly neighbourhood drug dealer (hey, I can watch TV with the best of them ;)).
As long as you don't get caught, it's good business sense - at least for a time. And that's why it will happen, time and again - no extra-market processes necessary.
Yeah, but for example, calling the sugar production market in Germany "free" is absurd. Agriculture subsidies and quotas are the core of the EU. You can't blame the market for working incorrectly when you heavily restrict its most important mechanism - competition.
De Beers is also a good example - how can it be a free market participant when its biggest mines are joint ventures with the States of Namibia and Botswana?
I haven't looked at the other examples yet, but I find these frankly unconvincing.
AT&T, has one should know, was a legal monopoly; hardly a free market participant.