Dat inequality

[Renton]

I agree whole-heartedly. If people were benevolent, selfless and smart, we wouldn't need governments, rules, laws, regulations, police, military, or anything like that. I see government as the necessary "evil".

It's because people are malevolent, greedy, and stupid that we need NOT to have a strong government. The worst thing you could possibly do is give them a monopoly on force. At least in a free society people would face negative consequences for doing destructive things, whereas governments only insulate people from such consequences and often elevate them to being above the law.

What safeguards do free markets have against coercive monopolies?

I've gone into great detail in this thread as to why true monopolies cannot form without government sanction. There are no safeguards. Reputation harm, the threat of competition if not actual competition, and consumer substitution are always forces bearing down on monopolistic enterprises. These forces require no top down regulation of any kind, and are in fact constantly subverted by governments all over the world.