Post 11 - Sherman Antitrust Act

-

 


Sherman Antitrust Act:

    The Sherman Antitrust Act was established in 1890 and is named after Senator John Sherman of Ohio. Sherman was the Secretary of the Treasury under President Hayes. This act was the first act passed by congress that outlawed the practice of monopolistic businesses. This act prevents a business or a person in that business from getting too powerful. Monopolies were and still are seen as dangerous and one business having executive power isn't good for business. People during the time of the 1890s were in favor of the Sherman Antitrust Act because they felt it would protect small businesses. According to FTC.gov, "The Sherman Act outlaws "every contract, combination, or conspiracy in restraint of trade," and any "monopolization, attempted monopolization, or conspiracy or combination to monopolize" (ftc.gov). This act was passed on April 8, 1890, by the Senate with a resounding vote of 51-1. It was then sent to the House on June 20, 1890, for a vote which came out in their favor of 242-0 before eventually being signed on July 2nd by President Harrison. People were excited and felt hopeful about this law because it protected the small businesses and people who might otherwise not have had a voice. 

    This Act was abided by for many years and business monopolies weren't an issue. Throughout the years since 1890, there was a shift in how businesses were operated and monopolies started to take over again. Congress didn't really uphold the Sherman Antitrust Act nor do anything to stop businesses from getting overly powerful which is how we got in the situation where we are today. There are major corporations all around us that have completely monopolized the business industry. Corporations like Walmart, Amazon, Google, Apple, and Target are some examples of huge companies that have a lot of power and employ a lot of powerful people. In recent news, it was just announced that the Department of Justice is suing Google because the company uses its power and money incorrectly and dishonestly. Congress hasn't upheld the Sherman Antitrust Act as strictly as it should have been allowing companies to grow bigger and stronger but by inforcing a lawsuit like this one they are showing that the government is starting to crack down on it again. The positives of this act are that it allows companies to be treated fairly and not get too powerful. But the negative of this is that the act is not being upheld through the government and there have been no consequences for companies that have monopolized their business.  The government is becoming more aware of monopolized businesses and they are in the process of putting a stop to it. They are finally starting to uphold the Sherman Antitrust Act after ignoring it for so long. 

https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/competition-guidance/guide-antitrust-laws/antitrust-laws

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/10/antitrust-suit-against-google-watershed-moment-0


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog 7- Something New I Learned

-
Image
  Something New I Learned     During the Technology History presentations today I learned so much about early technology. One thing that stood out to me that I hadn't been aware of came from the Printing Press presentation. During this presentation Drew mentioned how Albert Einstein said that religions wouldn't be the way they are today if it wasn't for the printing press. She said that people used to not believe things unless they were written down and prior to the printing press it was hard to produce writings. Once the press was invented bibles and other religious writings were now able to be typed out and mass-produced. Because of this more and more people became aware of religions and were able to switch if they wanted. They were unaware of options before but the printing press made that easier. Einstein credits the printing press for the expansion of religions.      According to the presentation, the printing press opened the door for so many literary works. It allowe
Read more

Post 12 - My Online Pesence

-
Image
 My Online Presence:      In middle school and high school, social media is the biggest thing. All that matters is what you post and how many likes you get. Once I got out into the real world I realized how little social media matters. I noticed myself posting less and not worrying about how many followers I had. I had other things to deal with and real problems to face. I saw how artificial people's social media accounts were and that they only posted the highlights of their lives. Because of this, I would say I have a medium-sized online footprint. Online doesn't just mean social media, so while I don't use social media that much I do go "online" in other ways. I use google for everything even though I know it tracks what I'm doing. I also do have a personal website. This website has projects I've worked on and my contact info. Due to that, I would say I have more of an online footprint than I thought which is why I think it is medium-sized.      My most
Read more

Blog 2- U.S. Supreme Court

-
Image
  Blog 2 - U. S. Supreme Court      The U.S Supreme Court is the highest form of court the United States has. It is made up of nine justices who have been appointed to the position. The Supreme Court is the place where court cases go if they feel they were wrongly decided upon in lower court. The job of the Supreme Court is to uphold the Constitution and determine if these cases were tried unfairly or not. If a case is brought to the Supreme Court their ruling is final and the case is then closed for good.  The Supreme Court gets sent about hundreds of cases a week and they can only open up half of those. It is very difficult to get your case seen by the court simply because of how many they get at a time. The nine justices have lots of help sorting through the cases and finding which ones to take on. It is a very difficult and long process.     It is very interesting to think of all the types of cases that get sent to the Supreme Court. Anyone can send their case to them so they get a
Read more