## The Illusion of Choice

When you walk into a mall, you might see a LensCrafters, a Pearl Vision, and a Sunglass Hut. Inside, you must choose between Ray-Ban, Oakley, Prada, Chanel, or Versace. It feels like a competitive free market. It is a lie. A single Italian corporation controls almost the entire supply chain.

### FAQ

**Q: Why do simple plastic reading glasses cost $380?**
A: Vertical Monopoly Integration. A few decades ago, Ray-Bans were sold in gas stations for $20. An Italian conglomerate named Luxottica began buying up the brands. They bought Ray-Ban and Oakley. Then they realized they needed to control the distribution, so they bought LensCrafters and Sunglass Hut. Finally, they bought the second-largest vision insurance company in America (EyeMed). It is a perfect closed loop. Luxottica manufactures the $4.50 plastic frame in China, stamps "Prada" on it, puts it in a Luxottica-owned retail store, and uses their own Luxottica-owned insurance company to tell you what the price is. Because they have eliminated the mechanism of market competition, they can artificially fix the price of a necessary medical device (corrective lenses) at $380, extracting billions in pure monopoly profit from nearsighted citizens.