Clayton Antitrust Act
Summary: The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 did just as the title implied: it attacked the large, monopolistic, trusts. The act first illegalizes monopolistic price discrimination (for different consumers buying the same goods). It also banned corporate actions seeking to create a monopolistic level of market domination, and perhaps most importantly, it banned one corporation from holding a majority share of stocks in another. This prevented a common system of monopolizing undertaken by business "fat cats" like Carnegie in the previous century. Although this act in no way totally killed the trusts, it was another critical step to restoring competition to the American markets.
(Similarly, in the present day, the airline industry has become more and more oligopolistic, as more companies merge and are bought out by the "big fish" like Delta).
No comments:
Post a Comment