I'm not sure if economists have developed some sort of model that would show when a consolidation would be beneficial in the long term for consumers, but I'd sure like to see one. We tend to not like it when firms collude with each other to control prices or stave off competition, in fact, we make it illegal to do so. But we rarely give them much trouble when they want to merge, which really isn't any different from collusion, don't you think?