I disagree with Aaron’s thesis, which flies in the face of the fact that no alternative to Big Tech has emerged in the last 15 years in spite of (because of!) extraordinary levels of VC funding that relied on selling to Big Tech and valuations pushed up by that prospect. In reality, both the high valuations of Big Tech as well as the derivative valuations that startups achieved counting on being acquired by Big Tech depended on the monetary fuel of the big bubble. The net result is concentration of monopoly power by Big Tech.
Asking the government to go easy on acquisitions by Big Tech does nothing to reduce this monopoly power, in fact it increases it, as we saw over the past 15 years. This concentration of power and wealth in Big Tech mirrors the rise in inequality in the broader society. The underlying cause of the rise in inequality and the rise of Big Tech monopolies is the same and found in the bubble.
Asking the government to allow more acquisitions to help stimulate startup investment makes these trends worse. We must build lasting companies slowly.