Something needs to be done. Warren is not proposing regulating them: she is proposing that the government do its job and prevent the formation of monopolies.

I lived through Microsoft’s dominance. If we were to go into how that harmed the market, it would take several books. Associates of mine formed the company Marimba only to have Microsoft work with them but then suddenly steal their idea and launch a similar product. As another example, during the early ’90s there was a revolutionary operating system called Penpoint (the company’s name was Go) that was far superior to Windows, and Microsoft used its market clout with partners to destroy the company. I was an early Penpoint follower and this was a bitter disappointment to me, especially when I had to buy a Compaq Concerto computer with Windows for Pen, because Compaq sided with Microsoft and selected Windows for Pen over Penpoint.

Companies are not evil, but they are sociopathic: they care only about their own growth and profitability. Nothing else. Therefore, they can never be trusted: as soon as you stop watching them, they will push their own interests as far as they are able to, no matter who is harmed along the way — including you and me.

What is different today is the rate of change, and the scope of change. Today everyone uses the Internet, so the scope and reach is unprecedented. The rate of change is faster than ever, so monopolies now form in half the time. As a result, the entire economic landscape of the country and the world can change in a decade — less than a generation. US retail, which was greatly harmed by the mall explosion of the 70s and 80s, has been completely destroyed by Internet companies, most prominently Amazon. Retail was the primary way that someone in a small town could strike out on their own and have a chance at growing a business instead of working for “the man” — which today is Walmart. By allowing malls and now the Internet to destroy small retail, we have destroyed the major source of economic opportunity for mainstream Americans.

So something needs to be done. People should not have their opportunities taken away en-masse in less than a generation. That is too disruptive. It makes it impossible to make career plans, or move one’s family, or adjust expectations. It leaves people feeling disillusioned, especially when they see wealth flaunted by those who happen to benefit from the change.

Of course, given enough time, every business will lose its hold on a market — even a monopoly. But during the monopoly years, enormous harm can be done.

I like Warren’s approach because of the absence of regulation in it: breaking up a company is not the same as regulating it. Warren believes in a fair market, which is not the same as a free market. Free markets eventually produce monopolies or oligopolies, unless government steps in.