The Antitrust Laws

“The Antitrust Laws” Research Paper

There once was a time where dinosaurs roamed the earth. Some dinosaurs were stronger than others, making them the superior creatures. The Tyrannosaurus Rex is not that different from a corporate empire; both T-Rexes and monopolies ruled the land with little to no competition. They devoured the weak, crushed the opposition, and made sure they were king, but then, all of a sudden, they were extinct. The giants that once were predators became prey, whether it be a natural disaster or the Antitrust laws they no longer had control over the whole. The Antitrust laws have had a positive impact on American society through restricting monopolies; ensuring that no single business can control a market then using that power to exploit customers, protecting the public from price fixing, and producing new higher quality and innovative products through competition.

The “dinosaurs” that ruled the country at the turn of the 20th century were coming to a halt, JPMorgan, Andrew Carnegie, and Rockefeller would no longer have the grasp over the country like they once had. They all had their troubles building their massive empires, JPMorgan, Andrew Carnegie, and Rockefeller all had monopolies over one or more products, JPMorgan was a financial banker who controlled the electric, railroad and steel businesses, he acquired the steel monopoly from Andrew Carnegie, and Rockefeller controlled almost all of the oil business, producing oil products like kerosene and gasoline. The Antitrust laws would no longer allow the big businesses like theirs to grow and conquer like they did before. The lower class of the late 18th and early 19th centuries lived in filth and poverty that the monopolies had created through price fixi...

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...loit customers, protecting the public from price fixing, and producing new higher quality and innovative products through competition. Without these acts there would be more poverty than the United States would know what to do with, therefore making the acts, although created 100 years ago, still one of the most important acts of American history.

Work Cited

Letwint, William L. "Congress and the Sherman Antitrust Law: 1887-1890." Jstor: The University of Chicago Law Review. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.

Lowenstein, Roger. “When Titans Tie the Knot.” Wall Street Journal. 14 Feb. 2014: A13. eLibrary. Web. 28 Mar. 2014.

"Monopolies and Combinations in Restraint of Trade." U.S. Code Collection. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print. 28 Mar. 2014.

"The Antitrust Laws." Protecting Americas Consumers. Federal Trade Commission, n.d. Print. 28 Mar. 2014.