Flashback Friday | #532: Breaking Up Monopolies
The United States government created the Sherman Anti-Trust Act in 1890 because the country was facing serious problems due to the centralization of power into the hands of oligarchs in the oil, steel, and railroad industries. Standard Oil had 91% of the market share in the oil refining industry when it was broken up in 1911, but the remnants remain in the form of Exxon Mobile, Chevron, Amoco, Conoco, Marathon, and Atlantic Richfield. U.S. Steel almost felt the wrath of the Department of Justice, but market forces intervened, and Microsoft could have been broken up in 2001 had it not been for…
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