Howard Brazee wrote: > On Tue, 08 Mar 2005 11:12:37 -0500, Ken Koester > <kkoester at email.ers.usda.gov> wrote: > >> 19th century Standard Oil was far worse than Walmart could ever hope >> to be, and 19th century Appalachian coal mining companies might have >> been worse than that, not to mention railroad companies of the era >> generally--cf. Twain. Or, just wait a few more years & you can live >> through the horrors of the Gilded Age yourself & discover firsthand >> why they were so bad. > > > In both cases, competition hated the successful companies - but > consumers got cheaper goods. > > So "worse" depends on whether you are a corporation or a consumer. > No, *people* hated the "successful" companies because they had the nasty habit of dynamiting competitors, suborning judges & juries, "disappearing" witnesses--sometimes permanently--& when all else failed, bringing in Pinkerton or the state militia and shooting workers--and their families--right and left. "Successful" companies--all companies, for that matter--did everything they could to keep prices as high as they would go, because they didn't understand that mass production had led to a deflation of prices. Monopolism was their watchword, and there were no laws they wouldn't break to try to create & maintain monopolies. Rockefeller Sr was not the most hated man in the country in 1900 for no reason at all. And then there was the little ditty they sung about JP Morgan in the afterlife: Morgan! Morgan! That great financial Gorgon! Get out of that spot, We're keeping it hot For Morgan! Snarkhunter