Yves here. Oddly, this useful post entirely omitted the words “monopoly” and “oligopoly”. Is there some weird code of omerta in Europe about their use? We’ve been able to see the evidence of excessive corporate pricing power for some time. One proof is in the US profit share of GDP. This has been running in the 11%-12% vicinity for some time, which is twice the level Warren Buffett deemed to be unsustainable in the early 2000s (6%). Another proof is so-called “greedflation” of recent years, of companies raising prices under the cover of price increases in other sector, as opposed to as the result of increases in the costs of their inputs.

An issue with anti-trust enforcement is that it can be hard to define the proper boundaries of a market (this is fiercely fought in litigation). Private equity is skilled at identifying niches where they can acquire a competitively

Keep reading this article on Naked Capitalism (Yves Smith) - Blog.