Monopolies, Misconduct, and Manipulation...Oh My! (〃＞＿＜;〃)
This week's focus of study is on the Gilded Age (1877-1898). This time period largely consists of large economic growth, political corruption, and immigration. I will be examining more of the large economic growth of this time, more specifically the topic of monopolization and how it relates to today's time. Monopolies are when a company controls one specific business and disrupts the economic balance by preventing competition and forcing consumer to strictly buy from their own company. As a result, costs can be raised, innovation diminished, and unfair working conditions can be created within these businesses. The government worked really hard to get rid of monopolization for the most part, however, this doesn't completely stop companies from getting as close to building their own trusts as possible.
One such case today is the tech company, Google. There was a recent lawsuit against Google for breaking the Sherman Anti-trust Act, regarding their control over the digital advertising market. This act was created during the Gilded Age in order to break up large trusts/monopolies and ensure competition and choice for consumers. Google had seemingly dominated the digital advertising market, thus getting rid of almost all of their competition and forcing consumers to buy from them. This resulted in the horizontal integration of Google, as they began to bring competing companies under their own company due to their sheer control over the digital market.
In other words, Google had monopolized the digital market by eliminating their competitors and broke the Sherman Anti-trust Act. Businesses of the past, during the Gilded Age, would conduct their own businesses in the same manner as Google, but had no repercussions for their actions as there were no Acts or laws in place to protect the economy at the time. This economic malpractice forced the governments hand in creating the Sherman Anti-Trust Act in order to break up these monopolies and protect consumers so that innovation could continue. Bringing it back, the government today must uphold this Act in order to continue to protect this economic balance and prevent companies from monopolizing.
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