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Yes it became bad for consumers and they were broken up. My point is that if you want a shot at calling in antitrust regulations on Apple (you know, potentially

Yes it became bad for consumers and they were broken up. My point is that if you want a shot at calling in antitrust regulations on Apple (you know, potentially destroying billions of other-peoples’-dollars), you have to prove not that they’re crushing their competition but that 1) they’re doing so unfairly and 2) with negative outcomes for consumers.

2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago
Standard Oil wasn't bad for consumers though. https://fee.org/articles/the-myth-that-standard-oil-was-a-predatory-monopoly/ https://fee.org/articles/the-myth-that-standard-oil-was-a-pr... > By 1874, his share of the petroleum market jumped to 25 percent, and by 1880 it skyrocketed to about 85 percent. Meanwhile, the price of oil plummeted from 30 cents per gallon in 1869 to eight cents in 1885. Put simply, Rockefeller increased production and lowered prices while creating thousands of well-paid jobs along the way (he usually paid his workers significantly more than his competition did). His business was a model of free-market efficiency. > But neither his competitors nor the US Supreme Court seemed to take note. In 1911, the court declared Standard Oil a monopoly and ordered its breakup. Revealingly, as scholars have noted, the court made no mention of either predatory pricing or withholding production, as monopoly theory maintains. In fact, economist John S. McGee reviewed over 11,000 pages of trial testimony, including the charges brought by Standard Oil’s competitors. Publishing his findings in the Journal of Law and Economics, he concluded that there was “little to no evidence” of wrongdoing, adding that “Standard Oil did not use predatory price cutting to acquire or keep monopoly power."
- ethanbond 4y ago
  Interesting! So why should this be something we do again?
  - 2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago
    To increase competition. https://www.justice.gov/atr/antitrust-laws-and-you https://www.justice.gov/atr/antitrust-laws-and-you
    - ethanbond 4y ago
      Right there in the first paragraph: "these laws prohibit business practices that unreasonably deprive consumers of the benefits of competition"
      - 2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago
        What are the benefits of competition?

2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago

Standard Oil wasn't bad for consumers though. https://fee.org/articles/the-myth-that-standard-oil-was-a-predatory-monopoly/ https://fee.org/articles/the-myth-that-standard-oil-was-a-pr... > By 1874, his share of the petroleum market jumped to 25 percent, and by 1880 it skyrocketed to about 85 percent. Meanwhile, the price of oil plummeted from 30 cents per gallon in 1869 to eight cents in 1885. Put simply, Rockefeller increased production and lowered prices while creating thousands of well-paid jobs along the way (he usually paid his workers significantly more than his competition did). His business was a model of free-market efficiency. > But neither his competitors nor the US Supreme Court seemed to take note. In 1911, the court declared Standard Oil a monopoly and ordered its breakup. Revealingly, as scholars have noted, the court made no mention of either predatory pricing or withholding production, as monopoly theory maintains. In fact, economist John S. McGee reviewed over 11,000 pages of trial testimony, including the charges brought by Standard Oil’s competitors. Publishing his findings in the Journal of Law and Economics, he concluded that there was “little to no evidence” of wrongdoing, adding that “Standard Oil did not use predatory price cutting to acquire or keep monopoly power."

ethanbond 4y ago
Interesting! So why should this be something we do again?
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago
  To increase competition. https://www.justice.gov/atr/antitrust-laws-and-you https://www.justice.gov/atr/antitrust-laws-and-you
  - ethanbond 4y ago
    Right there in the first paragraph: "these laws prohibit business practices that unreasonably deprive consumers of the benefits of competition"
    - 2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago
      What are the benefits of competition?