The End of the Free Market

 Americans may think we have a free market, one in which anyone can compete in the sale of goods or services. We do not. And have not for quite sometime. I am not an economist. But I am a historian, and am fully capable of seeing what has gone down. The end of the free market began in the late 19th Century. The Industrial Revolution as well as new technology like the telephone allowed large corporations to rise and some of these became monopolies. It all started with larger railroads buying up smaller ones in the 19th Century. Then the same happened with the banks. The government begin to see that there was no more such a thing as free competition. Smaller competitors were quickly eliminated through unfair trade practices. As a result there was the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. It prohibited 1) anticompetitive agreements and 2) unilateral conduct that monopolizes or attempts to monopolize the relevant market.  This fight against Big Business continued into the early 20th Century.  President Theodore Roosevelt  sued 45 companies under the Sherman Act. Next  Standard Oil Company was taken to task by the government for economic threats against competitors and secret rebate deals with railroads to create a monopoly in the oil business. Such was much the business climate until after World War II as the government sought to maintain a free market.

Over confidence and special interest killed the free market following World War II. The government was confident that fair business practices existed, and that we had a fully competitive market. The problem was the major corporations had learned to buy politicians. The last act of the government against a major corporation to create a truly free market was the breakup of Ma Bell in 1982. Since then, the government has allowed monopolies to flourish in an unfair and non-competitive market. The end result, five major corporations account for a large portion of the world market.

At this point, there is little we can do about it, other than support small businesses, refuse to buy the goods of the major corporations, and elect officials that cannot be bought. If we put honest men in office they can then enact laws to ensure fair competition. This year, we have already seen the what happens when only a few control the global market. What they are calling inflation, and blaming on work shortages and issues transporting goods, is in reality nothing more than greed. The major corporations upped their prices, just because they could to make record profits. There is no labor shortage, or no issues transporting the goods. What this are a bunch of greedy millionaires and billionaires that do not care if we live or die.

The true goal of the Conspiracy Theorist, of the Patriot, of the true Conservative should be to bring down these corporations. Our enemy is not our government, but the corporations that bought the government, But they are few, we are many, and therefore we have the power to bring them down, even if it is in a bloody revolution.