Laws against monopolies

[Entrails Konfetti]

What are some laws against monopolies, and what affect do they have on business?

Do they really stop monopolies?

[midnight marauder]

Sherman Antitrust Act, 1890. The intended effect is to encourage commerce and promote a healthy economy.

This is usually the law we turn to when we talk about monopolies. Then again, the law was origionally focussed on keeping prices being inflated for consumers, and not outlawing certain companies from dominating markets. This is why companies like Walmart don't quite apply.

I suppose laws are only as good as they are enforced, eh?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Antitrust
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clayton_Antitrust_Act

[The Bitter Hippy]

laws against monopolies encourage competition between corporations, which underpins the capitalist system. They're kind of a fail-safe for the system: If a monpoly was allowed to exist and the economic opportunities one provides exploited, the abuses would just be too much for the proletariat to take.

It would also give too much power to one sector of the economy in the one-dollar-one-vote system: if it was possible for a company to withhold electricity, they could cause the collapse of a capitalist government, and so dictate to it.

It gets interesting when we look at international monopolies, specifically the OPEC cartel. Their exercise of power over the oil economy has led to an unacceptable situation for the U$A, where arab dictators and a "crazy commie" can cripple them economically. Hence the invasion of Iraq, the up-and-coming intervention against iran, and the perparatory cooling of relations with the saudis, and the provocation of venezuala.

Of course i'm not saying that the plutocrats in washington will invade all of these, but they will force concessions by threatening to topple regimes, air strikes etc.