. . . at least bash an actual free market. Over on Delawareliberal there is a post entitled See, Free Markets Bring Lower Prices , which lambasts the government auction of cell-phone frequencies in which AT&T and Verizon (the two largest carriers) won a greater swath of radio spectrum in the government auction that ended this week, heading off new competition that could have led to lower prices for consumers. Pretty sweet huh? I love our brand of capitalism. Aren’t these the same guys that when asked to break the law, did so? And shockingly the government had the bidding done in secret. Wonders never cease… The auction raised $19.12 billion for the Treasury after more than seven weeks of secret bidding. OK, let's unpack this one with recourse to the original NYT story . There we find out a couple of important points left out in the post. First: note that it was the bidding that was secret, not the auction . The fact of the auction was a matter of public record; in fact, the ...