Monopolies Must be Eliminated in America
In this day and age, competition (to a certain extent) is considered healthy and, in many instances, encouraged. Every day, adults and teenagers alike struggle to outdo other well-qualified applicants in the job market. Even children as young as four years old can be found competing on the little league field. As one can see, competition is an integral part of everyday life; however, what happens when competition ceases to exist? It wouldn’t be very challenging or rewarding if an applicant received every job for which he applied. And a child wouldn’t enjoy playing baseball against himself. Even though it is hard to imagine a world without competition, there are a number of American media businesses that have no or relatively little competition in the market. In the best interest of the public, monopolies, as these competition-less companies are called, need to be eliminated immediately.
According to Ben H. Bagdikian, monopolies form for two main reasons: money and influence. It is common sense that the company with a very large number of consumers is going to produce more revenue than the small, independently owned business with a lesser number of customers. The advertising agency Backer Spielvogel Bates recently conducted a four-year study of 2,746 companies. This study showed that the companies with 1.5 times the sales of their nearest challengers were 52 percent more cost-effective. Also, it is important to recognize the fact that influence also plays a key role in the motives of monopolistic companies. It is believed that if a certain company can have a marked influence over the public’s news, ideas and culture, then this corporation will have a much better chance of wielding a significant amount of influence over the public concerning government issues. If this certain media company can manipulate all public ideas and information, it only makes sense that this business will also make a considerable difference when it comes to political news (Bagdikian 1997).
I agree with Bagdikian when he states that monopolies form due to a want for money and a need for power by influencing the public. It is an undeniable fact that money and power influence people in numerous ways. In an attempt to be the best, I believe that many companies simply came to the conclusion that they would have to “crush” any attempts that were made by a competing company.
Many companies and individuals have committed monopolies before they were considered illegal and afterwards. A monopoly is when one person has complete control over a company and makes close to 100% of the profits. Since The Sherman Antitrust Act passed on April 8, 1890, “combination in the form of trust and otherwise, conspiracy in restraint of trade;” monopolizing an industry became outlawed. In simple terms the act prohibited any forms of monopoly in business and marketing fields. Monopolies committed before the Act, at the time, legal, but unethical, some famously known marketers like John D. Rockefeller became extremely wealthy. While others took full control of corporations after The Sherman Antitrust Act caused a firm like Microsoft
There is much controversy about what a ‘good’ monopoly is and what a ‘bad’ monopoly is. Monopolies can have a positive impact on the market. One example is the history of telecommunications. The American Telephone and Telegraph “consolidate(d) the industry by buying up all the small operators and creating a single network—a natural monopoly” (Taplin). It became easier and more convenient for consumers to communicate. This is an example of a ‘good’ monopoly. Louis Brandeis, counselor of President Woodrow Wilson, agreed. He said it makes sense for one or a few companies to own‘“natural” monopolies, like telephone, water and power companies and railroads” (Taplin). The keyword here: natural monopolies. Natural monopolies are different from most of the monopolies in the market place today. A natural monopoly “refers to the cost structure of a firm” (lpx-group). A monopoly is “associated with market power and market share in particular” (lpx-group). Natural monopolies make
Second: The break of monopolies or “trustbusting” began in the late 19th century with President Roosevelt. However, it was the Sherman Act passed by Congress in 1890 that really began dismantled large monopolies. The Sherman Act “was based on the constitutional power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce” (Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890). This act helped dismantle many of the monopolies that had been formed by companies’ trusts such as Northern Securities Company, Standard Oil and the American Tobacco Company. These companies had shareholders put their shares into one trust so the company could control “jointly managed” businesses and keep their prices low. This gave little competition to the major monopolies as other smaller companies could not stay in business and have such low prices. With the help of the courts monopolies continue to be kept at bay and competition continues to be encouraged within industries today.
"We Real Cool" is a short, yet powerful poem by Gwendolyn Brooks that sends a life learning message to its reader. The message Brooks is trying to send is that dropping out of school and roaming the streets is in fact not "cool" but in actuality a dead end street.
A perfect competition is a microeconomics idea that depicts a market sector structure controlled totally by market sector powers. In a perfectly competitive market sector, all organizations offer indistinguishable products and services. Firms could not control winning market sector costs, piece of the overall industry per firm is little, firms and clients have immaculate learning about the market, and no boundaries to passage or way out exist. If by any chance that any of these conditions are not met, a market sector is not perfectly competitive. Perfect competition is a conceptual idea that happens in economics aspects course books. However, not in this present reality. Imperfect competition, in which a focused market sector does not meet
“We Real Cool” poem proves you can give a lot of personality and insight to a group of characters in eight lines. With the lines “We real cool, We Left school (Lines 1-2)” it tells us that these kids left school to chase after their perception of cool. The poet reveals the fact that these boys are also uneducated, rebellious and arrogant. This poem will be the prime example of quality.
An oligopoly is defined as "a market structure in which only a few sellers offer similar or identical products" (Gans, King and Mankiw 1999, pp.-334). Since there are only a few sellers, the actions of any one firm in an oligopolistic market can have a large impact on the profits of all the other firms. Due to this, all the firms in an oligopolistic market are interdependent on one another. This relationship between the few sellers is what differentiates oligopolies from perfect competition and monopolies. Although firms in oligopolies have competitors, they do not face so much competition that they are price takers (as in perfect competition). Hence, they retain substantial control over the price they charge for their goods (characteristic of monopolies).
That gives it a tremendous competitive advantage over any other company that tries to provide a similar product” (The Balance). Most industries become monopolies through vertical integration. (The Balance). This means that one person controls the entire supply chain from retail to production. Monopolies are not necessarily a good thing. They restrict free trade and prevents the market from setting prices. Since there is one company that runs one specific good, they can set any prices they want, also known as price fixing. (The Balance). “Monopolies lose any incentive to innovate. They have no need to provide "new and improved" products. A 2017 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that U.S. businesses have invested less than expected since 2000” (The Balance). Monopolies can also create inflation. Since they can set any price they want, they have no problem in raising prices. This is called a cost-push inflation. A good example of this would be
Monopoly is when a business or a single company owns nearly all its market for a given type of product and services. There is no competition in monopoly and the price of a specific product is set by the monopoly itself. Therefore, a monopoly's price is the market price and demand are market demand; the firm and the industry are the same. It can charge higher prices at any output consequently, consumers will not be able to substitute the good or service with a more affordable alternative. Monopoly’s soul goal is to make profit at any price and quantity. Still to this day, monopolies do exist but at a smaller scale.
The rate of death due to prescription drug abuse in the U.S. has escalated 313 percent over the past decade. According to the Congressional Quarterly Transcription’s article "Rep. Joe Pitt Holds a Hearing on Prescription Drug Abuse," opioid prescription drugs were involved in 16,650 overdose-caused deaths in 2010, accounting for more deaths than from overdoses of heroin and cocaine. Prescribed drugs or painkillers sometimes "condemn a patient to lifelong addiction," according to Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This problem not only affects the lives of those who overdose but it affects the communities as well due to the convenience of being able to find these items in drug stores and such. Not to mention the fact that the doctors who prescribe these opioids often tend to misuse them as well. Abusing these prescribed drugs can “destroy dreams and abort great destinies," and end the possibility of the abuser to have a positive impact in the community.
Monopolies are when there is only one provider of a specific good, which has no alternatives. Monopolies can be either natural or artificial. Some of the natural monopolies a town will see are business such as utilities or for cities like Clarksville with only one, hospitals. With only one hospital and there not being another one for a two hour drive, Clarksville’s hospital has a monopoly on emergency care, because there is not another option for this type of service in the area. Artificial monopolies are created using a variety of means from allowing others to enter the market. Artificial monopolies are generally rare or absent because of anti-trust laws that were designed to prevent this in legitimate businesses. However, while these two are the ends of the spectrum, the majority of businesses wil...
Monopolies have a tendency to be bad for the economy. Granted, there are some that are a necessity of life such as natural and legal monopolies. However, the article I have chosen to review is “America’s Monopolies are Holding Back the Economy (Lynn, 2017)” and the name speaks for itself.
...giving it boundaries and distinctive characteristics about the situation. Setting preys upon reader stereotypes and preconceptions about the certain time frame or location in which the story takes place in order to bring out more meaning. In this work, Chopin develops the story based on the reader's knowledge and understanding of a woman's place in late nineteenth-century America. But the specific setting--the time of year and the structure of the Mallard house--also gives clues to help readers understand Louise and attempt to determine the cause of her death. Louise may die of heart disease, as the doctors say at the end of the story, but setting indicates that the disease was not "joy that kills" (14).
With the death of Brentley Mallard, Louise sees the things to come and fantasizes about the life ahead of her. She thinks of “spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own.” She has ascended into a new life much like she ascended the stairs in the beginning, foreshadowing the good to come in her life. “She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.” By saying this Chopin implies that although Louise was alive, what’s the point in being so if you can’t feel it.
William Wordsworth has respect and has great admiration for nature. This is quite evident in all three of his poems; the Resolution and Independence, Tintern Abbey and Michael in that, his philosophy on the divinity, immortality and innocence of humans are elucidated in his connection with nature. For Wordsworth, himself, nature has a spirit, a soul of its own, and to know is to experience nature with all of your senses. In all three of his poems there are many references to seeing, hearing and feeling his surroundings. He speaks of hills, the woods, the rivers and streams, and the fields. Wordsworth comprehends, in each of us, that there is a natural resemblance to ourselves and the background of nature.