And even in the 2 1 century, there are almost no American internet companies? Monopoly? Even if you really want to monopolize the market, you have to learn from Intel and support an opponent in the same field.
Why are American companies so worried about antitrust investigations? Because the anti-monopoly law of the United States either does not crack down, but as long as an investigation is launched, it is basically not far from the fate of the enterprise being split. No American enterprise dares to test the red line of anti-monopoly law.
How does the US government have the power to split trust giants? Next, let's talk about the struggle between the US government and trust enterprises.
1, the growth of trust giants
The world in the nineteenth century belongs to Europe, but in the twentieth century, this is the century that belongs to the United States. After the civil war and the westward movement, the United States entered a period of rapid capital development, and then in just a few decades, the United States became the largest capitalist country in the world.
The development of industry and capital has made America rich rapidly. However, it is not ordinary American workers or the middle class who have eaten the biggest cake of American economic development dividend, but a very small number of people who occupy the top of the United States.
The rapid economic dividend in the United States has not benefited ordinary people, but the soaring prices have spread to all levels of society.
Take Standard Oil Company, the first monopoly group in the world and even in human history, as an example. Standard Oil Company controls more than 80% of oil development and transportation in the United States. At that time, the head of Standard Oil Group could proudly say that seven of the eight oil lamps sold in the United States came from Standard Oil.
However, the standard oil companies that basically monopolize the whole oil industry chain are still not satisfied. It continues to develop its power in manufacturing and financial industry by squeezing and merging, which is the strength of the world's first trust giant.
Trust enterprises did greatly promote the development and progress of the industry in the early days, but when they reached monopoly, it would greatly hinder the development of the United States. When the trust enterprise has not only become a stumbling block to the development of the country, but also aroused the dissatisfaction of the American people, the trust enterprise at this time is not far from the fate of being demolished.
2. The birth of the antitrust case.
After more than a hundred years of development, the United States finally ushered in the first crisis of capitalism. At that time, the United States divided the free market economy into two types. The first is a decentralized and multi-faceted free competition market. Due to many factors, such as small market scale, low entry threshold, and difficulty in monopolizing, it has completely accepted the free regulation of the market, and consumers have enough choices because of product diversification, such as the current social software market in the United States.
The second is the most dangerous market economy. Because an enterprise monopolizes market sales, consumers have almost no other choice, and monopoly enterprises often make a lot of profits without striving for progress. At that time, the United States was faced with this most dangerous monopoly market economy. Oil has standard oil, cars have Ford, and the financial industry has Morgan Alliance, which almost blocked the access of the upper class in the United States.
With the growing dissatisfaction of the bottom and middle classes, and the greedy fangs of monopoly tycoons, the US government finally promulgated the world's first anti-monopoly law. 1890, the U.S. Congress approved the Sefer Mann Antitrust Act, prohibiting monopoly agreements or markets, and any illegal market competition such as exclusive transactions and price discrimination will not be allowed.
However, in the United States at the end of 19 century, monopoly enterprises still occupy a strong position, and even the president is unwilling to touch the bad head of trust giants easily. Therefore, this seemingly beautiful Seifman Anti-monopoly Law has been shelved for a long time, and it is of no use.
3. Progressive movement and panic of trust.
If you want to split the trust giant, the then American government can't count on it. The American people will pray if they don't participate in trust enterprises. And to defeat the giants, we can only rely on the American people themselves.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the United States began a massive progressive movement. This social movement, which represents advanced ideas, includes opposing the monopoly of trust enterprises. At that time, standard oil, the boss of trust enterprises, became the first goal of this progressive movement.
The first public opinion attack on Standard Oil was a female reporter of McRuer Daily. The journalist's father, Ida Tabel, devoted his life to the oil field, where Ida almost grew up. However, with the squeeze of Standard Oil, Ada's father's oil enterprise was forcibly merged, and his life-long efforts were forcibly taken away by Standard Oil.
The female reporter used an 800-page investigation report in the newspaper to accuse the illegal monopoly of standard oil, and after the female reporter complained, a large number of Americans began to denounce the monopoly of standard oil.
If the opposition of ordinary Americans can be safely ignored by trust giants, then these trust giants who used to lie down and make money began to feel nervous after President theodore roosevelt took office.
Theodore roosevelt is a complete antitrust. During the presidential election, he promised voters that these long-term monopoly trust enterprises would be split up after he took office.
Theodore roosevelt is really accountable to the voters. With the support of the Roosevelt administration, the Lewis Federal Circuit Court filed a trust accusation against Standard Oil Company. The court held that Standard Oil Company has seriously exceeded the standards of trust giants. Finally, 1909, the trust company that monopolized more than 90% of the oil industry chain in the United States was formally dissolved in the court's judgment, while Standard Oil, which monopolized the oil industry for many years, was split into 34 independent oil companies after many discussions.
Strike while the iron is hot, the federal government of the United States once again promulgated the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act. These two new bills are supplements to Sefman's Anti-monopoly Law, which once again supplements the minimum standards for triggering monopoly enterprises, and completely abandons those trust enterprises that are lucky.
With the precedent that the giant trust that monopolized the whole oil industry chain was split, many American enterprises began to conduct self-examination. If they touch the bottom line of the anti-monopoly law, they will try to bow to the US government in the form of splitting the company. Even the Morgan consortium, which monopolized more than half of the American financial industry, was not spared. In the end, the Morgan family also chose to compromise the anti-monopoly law and split the Morgan consortium into Morgan Stanley and Morgan Corporation.
Generally speaking, the U.S. government has successfully seized the throat of trust enterprises, and no trust enterprise dares to be a demon on the head of the U.S. government. In order to further block the way of trust enterprises, the U.S. government has successively promulgated Miller Tyding Act, Wheeler Lee Act and Sailor Kefuer Act, and trust enterprises have no place to live in the United States.
4. Modern anti-monopoly law
A recent antitrust case initiated by the United States should be aimed at AT & amp； T communication company, mid-1980s, at & amp； T almost monopolized the entire American communication market, and even arbitrarily imposed standards on competing companies. If other companies don't implement AT & amp； T standard, their equipment can't connect to the public network.
In the end, this illegal seizure of the market angered the US government, at & amp； T communication company triggered an anti-monopoly investigation. In the end, at 1982, the giant that monopolized the entire American communication market could not escape the fate of being dismantled.
However, it should be noted that the US government also has a set of definitions of anti-monopoly law? Double standards? Definition of.
When like at&; Trust companies such as T Communication Company and Standard Oil monopolize the whole market in an illegal way, leaving people with little choice and hindering social development. They have always used anti-monopoly iron fists to deal with it. But companies like Boeing that can form healthy competition with European Airbus and promote the progress of related industries will even encourage them.
Like the merger of Boeing and McDonnell Douglas, according to the standards of American antitrust law, Boeing should not only be stopped, but also be dismantled. But what you didn't expect was that in order to promote the development of related industries and enhance the competitiveness with European Airbus, the US government promoted the merger of Boeing and McDonnell Douglas, which laid a monopoly foundation for Boeing.
From this perspective, even the anti-monopoly law of the United States has two sets of standards. If it can promote the development of the industry and enhance the overall competitiveness of the United States, it will not be stopped, but will be secretly promoted. However, trust companies like Standard Oil, which want to lie down and make money, cannot escape the sanction of anti-monopoly law. But in any case, the United States should be the best one in the world on the road of anti-monopoly.