Comment by specialist

> corporatism and monopoly, not "tech"

Yes and: Corporatocracy

> strong network effects

Yes and: aka Preferential attachment leading to winner-takes-all.

It's just math. Not some kind of weird moralistic blather.

The tendency towards concentration necessitates some counter balance, backpressure, redistribution, whatever.

> need to be about four major players before markets push prices down.

Yes and: I believe, but cannot prove, unifying markets (nationalization, globalization) accelerated monopolization.

Alas, I don't have any ideas on how to put the toothpaste back into the tube. Clearly, we're not reverting to regionalism or localism any time soon. Economically or politically.