RE: Power RE: Authority of the marketplace?

[Nick Arnett]

> At 04:15 PM 7/16/01 -0700 Nick Arnett wrote:
> >Our
> >system seems to be concentrating power (no pun intended) in a relatively
> >small number of big energy corporations, and I think it
> inarguable that the
> >result is less innovation.
>
> Do you have any evidence for this?   Either the first part, or the second?

I assumed that most people are aware of the large energy company mergers
over the last few years.  There have been many utility mergers (Enron has
grown through acquisitions, El Paso Energy, through a series of mergers, is
now the No. 4 company, for example), as well as the more visible big company
mergers: Exxon-Mobil, BP-Amoco (and possibly ARCO), TOTALFINA ELF, and
Repsol-YPF.  Those are all top-ten oil companies.

Please bear in mind that I'm not arguing a problem with mergers per se.

Nick