Political Crossfire Forums

[Jehan]

Perhaps one of the most important parts our history, and the most overlooked, is the Gilded Age that lasted from the end of Reconstruction to the Progressive era of the early 1900s. Although the privaleged few have traditionally held the majority of the wealth, this concentration rose to unprecedented heights in this period as the "Trusts" such as Standard Oil, Carnegie Steel, General Electric, etc. etc. The Trust was an invention of a lawyer for John D. Rockefeller, who came up with the idea to circumvent antimonopoly laws (however weak they may have been.) Soon, more than 5000 companies were reorganized into less than 300 trusts. The result was that wages were scandalously low, competition was nonexistant, and prices were ridiculously high. These trusts soon used their endless tide of cash to package Congressman, judges, even the White House. Eventually, the trust-busting era, started by Theodore Roosevelt, put these men of power in their places, and new laws were enacted to prevent such a monopoly of power to form again.

However, it cannot be ignored that these monopolies are forming again. Fifty years ago, if you wanted to buy groceries or hardware supplies, you would head down to Joe Hardware or Mom's General Store. Now, the average consumer will head down to Stop 'N' Shop or Home Depot. Corporations are making a comeback, as the monopolies are on the horizon. Corporations are beginning to partner up to "offer our customers better options than before!" But, you know the history. What do you think?

[Xenophen]

Walmart.

[edge9611]

I don't think that Wal-mart and Home Depot are monopolies as they still face legitimate competition from K-mart and Lowe's. Although I would say Wal-mart is on its way to monopolizing many sectors of the retail industry, but eventually it will out grow itself and fail. Even if companies do monopolize their industries now, there is nothing the government can do about it because most companies could easily move to another country where the government doesn't regulate coporations as much as the U.S. government does.

[Luigidel]

Quote: Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2006 10:13 pm Post subject:

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I don't think that Wal-mart and Home Depot are monopolies as they still face legitimate competition from K-mart and Lowe's.


Walmart faces relatively little competition. This is evident in the corporation hourly income of $23 million. In my opinion, Walmart is becoming just as big a risk, if not a bigger risk than Microsoft.

[LockeAdvisor]

The gilded age mainly consisted on a lot of business and political corruption. It was also filled with un important presidents. I dont see this as being very important.

Locke

[Jehan]

LockeAdvisor wrote: The gilded age mainly consisted on a lot of business and political corruption. It was also filled with un important presidents. I dont see this as being very important.

Locke

It is VERY important, because it's coming back. The parallels in business and politics are quite striking. We need to know this period so as to prevent it from reoccuring. We must understand history or we are doomed to repeat it.

[LockeAdvisor]

i understand what you are saying. The gilded age is often overlooked in history, and anything that is forgotten is bound to repeat itself. It is only a matter of time before the business community of today has complete control of city governments and political rings. I guess remembering the gilded age is more important than i originally expected.

Locke