What am I missing here Samuel?  For over a decade, The United Launch Alliance with their Russian built RD-180 engines had a monopoly on launch contracts with the U.S. Air force.  This allowed them to charge whatever they saw fit to launch a military payload.  And they took full advantage of that monopoly, charging well over $100 million dollars per launch.  In addition, they charged the Air Force over $800 million per year as a retainer fee, regardless of whether they launched anything or not.

Musk lobbied congress to break that monopoly so SpaceX could compete on future Air Force contracts.  But that did not give his company a monopoly.  ULA has received a reprieve on the RD-180 engine ban so they can still bid on the same contracts. All they have to do is beat SpaceX's $60 Million bid.

So here are two questions for you Mr. Postell.  1) How do you see SpaceX as having a monopoly? 2) Where were you when ULA actually had exclusive rights to launch for the Air Force?