another cartoon

This cartoon is actually intended for the issue of privatization of the water system, but I think I can relate it to monopoly. In the cartoon, the water vending machine is the sole supplier of water. The citizen can either purchase the water from the vending machine or go back without water because he does not have other alternatives (here we assume that all public water supply is destroyed or the nearest pump so far away that it can not be considered as an alternative for the citizen). However, this monopoly is artificially formed by deceiving the consumers as the free water supply is deliberately destroyed by the monopolist who claims that “the vandals took handle”.

There are also similar cases where the monopolist remains its monopoly power through illegal method or by deceiving consumers in our life. For example, some printer companies claim that only the cartridges of the same brand can fit into the printer and those alternative cartridges which are cheaper will cause serious damage to the printer and shorten its lifespan. By such, the company becomes the sole producer of the cartridges of its own brand. It can thus charge a high price as the consumers have to constantly purchase the cartridges in order to use the printer (highly price inelastic). However, these claims are sometimes merely the strategies used by companies to maintain its monopoly power. Nowadays, some firms have developed technology to recycle used cartridges or to produce “universal cartridges” of some different brands. These cartridges will do little harm to the printers but are much cheaper. As we can see from the above example, we as consumers cannot believe whatever the producers say. We have to listen selectively and critically.