… is from page 133 of economic historian Stuart Bruchey’s 1988 book The Wealth of the Nation: An Economic History of the United States:
In my view, there is something to be said for the suggestion that the main attention of the Congress during the years 1888-1890 was fixed on the tariff, that discussion of trusts was frequently interwined with it, and that since some opponents of the tariff had raised the cry that the tariff was the “mother of the trusts,” Congress enacted an antitrust bill to weaken opposition to the tariff.
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That sounds like normal political logic to me. The tariff proponents were worried that tariff opponents were winning the debate with their “mother of all trusts” claim so tariff proponents sponsored and passed anti-trust legislation to create the appearance that the tariff proponents were not trust proponents as well.
You’ve got to love it. Bad idea A often results in (is interwined with) unwanted result B, so simply legislate again the result. I think I will try this on my wife: “Honey, being unfaithful to you often results in divorce, so I will move to outlaw divorce and therefore I can be all the unfaithful I want. Right?”
I will let you know tomorrow how this worked. Assuming I survive.
LOL! I love your analogy…but I would not try it!
But…but…if government didn’t prevent monopolies, today we’d be overrun by monopolies? Who will protect the consumer?
Its amazing how many times I hear this even from people who are intelligent and highly educated etc.
They are highly educated, since that’s what they were educated to believe. It’s sad.
I’ve known some really stupid people with the talent to regurgitate information in such a way as to please an instructor and attain a degree, without much of any ability to independently evaluate and judge what it is they are being taught.
I wouldn’t call those people intelligent.
Well I know they are intelligent because they are my friends. But its very easy to have this mindset.
mindset…
mindset a – people need to be controlled. we need rules. orders. authority. supervision.
mindset b – as long as it’s consensual who cares?
I agree.
I’ll only say that I understood that scoring points on tests was important. I didn’t have to believe “answer A.”
If monopolies are so dangerous, how can we risk having a government?
I know, EG, and it is sad. They are intelligent people who believe what the media has told them. Yet, it is government that creates monopolies when it creates barriers of entry to, and exit from, any industry. The typical barrier is extensive regulation, which keeps people from starting a new business in the extensively- regulated industry to compete with the monopolist or the oligopolists. This gives the impression that the government is regulating the monopolist or the oligopolists, but the reality is that the monopolist or the oligopolists, which is already established in the industry, makes additional profits from limited competition that greatly exceed the additional cost and annoyance of stricter regulation. Thus, established businesses always love greater regulation.