I agree, but at the same time I have to wonder just how "free market" the market is, when the government will step in to prevent a monopoly. Where do we draw the line between price gouging lawsuits and monopolies? I'm not sure I see "monopoly" and "price gouging" as completely different things, they just lie on different regions of the spectrum, with "monopoly" near the extreme end.I wondered if someone would go this route.
The key phrase in a "free market economy" is "FREE MARKET".
When a monopoly exists, then a free market economy cannot. This is what the antitrust/anti-monopoly laws are about.
That's not the same as you or I having an entire garage full of toilet paper we've bought/invested in waiting for the time some crazy Chinese virus might be unleashed upon the world and all the Karen's across the country march upon the stores and deplete the entire national stockpile of butt paper.
But, again, I admit that "monopoly" is outside the scope of this discussion.
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