Monopoly Mythology

Nobody has studied American economic history more than the University of Hartford's Dominick Armentano. And so when he says that he couldn't find one example of predatory pricing in U.S. history that is saying a lot.................................................................................Of course, it really shouldn't surprise us in that the theory really never did make much sense. I mean, yeah, companies are always trying to undercut each other but in those rare instances in which a monopoly does occur, the prices never shoot up because that would just invite new entrants to the market (entrants that have probably been able to take advantage of the fact that the prior businesses were forced to file bankruptcy that permitted pennies on the dollar acquisitions) and the process would have to start afresh. And I ask you, what type of company would be willing to take losses for 5,10,15 years just to put competitors out of business? Certainly not one that wanted to please its shareholders. If you're asking me here, this is just yet another paranoiac anti-capitalism temper-tantrum by a bunch of partisan historians who fail to understand the market.