"Duopoly"?

The BevMo chain is all over my part of the world and I suspect that there are many like them across the U.S.  Their site mentions 1,330 beers.

Ths mornings' NY Times includes an editorial that supports Justice Department action against a proposed merger of two beer giants "America's Beer Duopoly".

Together the two companies sell about 46 percent of all beer in the United States and more than 50 percent in big cities like Houston and Los Angeles, according to the department’s antitrust division. The proposed acquisition would leave the country with just two companies — the second being MillerCoors — controlling more than 70 percent of the beer business.

These people do not get competition. We know what happened to Detroits' Big Three automakers and many other industries with seeming concentration.  But that was then.  Apple now has to worry about Samsung and others.  If the "duopoly" with about 70% of beer sales misses a beat, they will be up against more imports, more local craft brewers -- and even the possibility of beer drinkers looking at other alcoholic beverages.

If there really are budget negotiations in Congress, I can think of some lawyers that the Department of Justice should do without.