A History Of Monopolies In The United States

What is a Monopoly? A Monopoly is when a Market is fully controlled by one Business, and this can be bad for the economy. Monopolies came into America in the late 19th century and are still present today. Once Monopolies have full control over the market, they can charge whatever they want, lower wages, and produce lower quality goods. Even though some monopolies can be good, most are not. So the Federal Government of the United States needs to put in place more regulations for Monopolies, because the ones in place now don’t work very well. Monopolies came into America in the late 1800’s with people like John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie coming out on top. Rockefeller had a monopoly over the oil industry, and disturbed over 90% of all

He dominated the steel industry, and would crush small businesses. Their Monopolies became so powerful that the government had to implement the Sherman AntiTrust Act, the text “A History of U.S. Monopolies” states “The Sherman Antitrust Act was passed in 1890 in response to a public outcry over price-fixing abuses by monopolies.” The full control over the market was unfair to consumers and hurtful to the economy, so the government had to take action. But it didn’t work very well, politicians were easily bought out and the Act had little effect on the Monopolies. Rockefeller’s oil monopoly became so profitable he made a new monopoly out of his waste, “By the time Standard Oil had cornered 90% of oil production and distribution in the U.S., it had learned how to make money off of even its industrial waste.”(A History of U.S. Monopolies. The Sherman Antitrust Act wasn't working very well if Rockefeller was able to create a new Monopoly off his company’s waste. So the Government needs to take stronger actions to prevent and shut down these monopolies. The Government needs more restrictions on Monopolies because they still exist today, one being

These Monopolies are still around today because there are not enough restrictions from the government. Some may argue that the restrictions are working because Monopolies have been on a decline in recent years. Although Monopolies are declining, it’s not because of restrictions, it’s because companies are controlling more of their market every year. A study in America shows that “Four giant meatpacking corporations control 85 percent of beef processing.”(America’s Monopoly Problem) So Monopolies are declining because the main Monopolies are becoming more powerful. Also, the text “America’s Monopoly Problem” states “All of this financial power has shifted to Wall Street, where just four big banks control more than $7 trillion in assets, or 41 percent of the assets of the entire U.S. banking system.” Monopolies in America are just becoming more powerful, due to the limited restrictions on them. So the Government needs more restrictions on Monopolies. Since the late 1800’s Monopolies have been in America, they have destroyed small businesses, bribed politicians, and lowered