The Big, The Bad, and the Monopoly Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Big, The Bad, and the Monopoly - Essay ExampleIn the ADM case, its size may abide been to the injustice of the consumer and taxpayer, while Berkshire may have been an innovator that saved jobs and created economic opportunity. The motives behind the move toward large-scale embodied entities may be suspect, but big business is not the fault. In fact, big business cigaret be a boon and is essential in promoting a healthier economy in todays orbicular tradeplace.Without big business, the world economy could not operate. Take the case of Intel and the development of the microprocessor. Certainly Intel dominated the market for years and has continued to do so. However, the product could not have been developed and manufactured by several(prenominal)(prenominal) littler companies with the same expertise and cost factor that was available to Intel. Microsoft operating systems and PC manufacturers were quick to terminal point their source of goods and self promoted a product that c onsumers demanded. As the decades passed, consumers were treated to greater computing power and greatly reduced cost. Along with these benefits came the necessity of standardization.Though it seems the threat of monopoly existed, the results indicate otherwise. In the end, manufacturers were dedicated to selling products and not exploiting the marketplace. As Carson, Thomas, and Hecht contend, a few(prenominal) can deny that product progress and relatively falling prices for most consumer and goods ... have resulted only from the great capital concentration and large scale marketing strategies of big enterprise (96). Few consumers would be happy to return to the early days of computing with its multiple operating systems, non-standardization, and inability to gestate data across operating system formats. The concentrated big business effort has made the US computing industry one of the worlds dominant industries.The downside of big business shows its force when price and productio n order are regulated such that profits are maximized at the cost to the consumer. This, in reality, rarely occurs. The OPEC confidence was an attempt to stem production and raise prices based on a shortage of supply in the 1970s. However, market forces have a way of dealing with monopolistic actions. The North Sea began production and the Soviet Union peaked at 12 million barrels per day making it, a non-OPEC member, the worlds trespass producer (Supply). The high price also made new technologies feasible that would have not been economical at the lower prices. These forces combined to increase supply and ultimately reduce prices. Cutthroat ambition is often viewed as a predatory and monopolistic practice. Larger firms, with more capital, may undersell their emulation at a loss in an effort to run them out of the marketplace. However, depending on the situation, it is often the smaller and more flexible companies that are able to compete in this environment. ... the smaller, m ore mobile firm, not overburdened with heavy investments, that is able to cut its costs ... and outcompete the larger firm. In such cases, of course, there is no monopoly-price bother whatever (Rothbard). The government has the power to limit monopolistic practices, though tends to express its power at the governmental whim of the administration currently holding office (Carson, Thomas, and Hecht, 97). Add to this the factor that there are several government-protected monopolies in existence. The postal service may be