Without regulation you don't have a market at all, you have war, where the best and cheapest way to beat your competitors is to murder them. Even the Mafia found it was better to establish a council to work out beefs and reduce inter-family violence. Market law goes back to the Middle Ages in Western Europe, where it was international in scope and enforced by private courts paid for by the merchants themselves.
We don't have actual war yet. But we do have a world of duopolies, in which two (or three or four) control almost all of the business between them. That's not good for customers or suppliers or retailers; it's only good for the rent-seekers who own those companies.
Unfortunately, the U.S. has for several administrations now basically not enforced the antitrust laws unless a short-term rise in prices is visible. Long-time rises in prices, as well as knock-on effects like reduction in quality, are simply ignored.
We don't have actual war yet. But we do have a world of duopolies, in which two (or three or four) control almost all of the business between them. That's not good for customers or suppliers or retailers; it's only good for the rent-seekers who own those companies.
Unfortunately, the U.S. has for several administrations now basically not enforced the antitrust laws unless a short-term rise in prices is visible. Long-time rises in prices, as well as knock-on effects like reduction in quality, are simply ignored.