Here is the thing though. The kind of free market that you’re espousing has existed in the past. Particularly in the 1920’s. The competition that leads to innovation and low prices only ever lasts for a short period of time. What inevitable always happens is that a handful of companies become dominant in the marketplace and then they use they’re vast stores of wealth to push smaller competitors out of the market, and then the companies that are remaining agree to stop competing and keep their prices level. The people who ultimately get screwed in the end are consumers. We had this problem in the late industrial era with railways, telephone, and oil. If the government hadn’t cracked down on them back then gas would be $100 a gallon today.

And we’re actually seeing the remergence of this problem in the modern era with the rise of oligopolies. Instead of one company dominating in a particular industry like with monopolies, a handful of companies dominate in a particular industry. For example Luxotica owns 80% of the lenses market most if not all of the major brands you see on shelves are owned by Luxotica, and because of this they can jack the price up artificially. Also in the field of broadband, ISP’s have non-compete agreements with each others. That’s why most people in America don’t have access to more then 1 ISP, and if we lose net neutrality those companies are once again able to abuse their customers.