Sherman Antitrust Act free essay sample

There are 4 main pieces of legislation that are collectively known as the Anti-trust laws. They are the Sherman Antitrust Act, The Federal Trade commission Act, The Clayton Antitrust Act and the Celler-Kefauver Act. The Sherman Antitrust Act is legislation enacted to protect Americans against monopolies. It makes it illegal to make contracts or conspire to restrict trade or commerce. It also outlaws monopolies. The Federal Trade Commission Act established the Federal Trade Commission and set up how it would be run, with a group of 5 people that did not follow party lines that would be chosen for 7 years terms and would make sure no antitrust laws were being broken. The Clayton Antitrust Law closed a lot of the loopholes that the Sherman Antitrust Act had left open; it went more into detail about what exactly were prohibited actions and what would be done about them. The Celler-Kefauver Act closed a major loophole in the Clayton Act that prohibited companies from buying up all the physical assets of a competing company rather than the stock of that company. We will write a custom essay sample on Sherman Antitrust Act or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page B. To protect consumers there are specific regulations put into effect. In an Oligopoly market structure there is a small number of sellers. What one seller does, in terms of cost structure or product for example, can greatly affect the other firms in the oligopoly. Because of these, sometimes the sellers will join together to try and set certain price points or collude with each other. When this happens naturally, it is ok but regulations have been set forth that companies cannot contact each other about these. Regulations are intended to protect the consumer from the large firms working together to drive prices higher and higher. A great example of an Oligopoly is the Mobile phone market. In a monopoly, rather than multiple companies owning the market, only one company owns the market. If left unchecked this would allow that company to inflate the price of their goods. Some examples of this would be the gas company. Since you have to go with only one choice for services if left unregulated they could set the price as high as they wanted since they have no competition. Regulations on monopolies protect consumers. C. There are three primary federal and state regulatory commission, they are the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the State Public Utility Commissions and the Federal Trade commission. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulates the interstate sale of electricity, oil pipelines, natural gas, etc. They can impose reliability standards and can also fine companies that try to manipulate the pricing of those utilities. The State Public Utilities Commissions is tasked with protecting each individual states right to a fair price for electricity, gas and telephone. The Federal Trade Commission has the job of consumer protections. They make sure that no monopolies are being created. They also make sure that businesses are having fair practices such as mergers, advertising and not participating in fraud. D. Social Regulation is intended to protect the population along socially acceptable. They focus more on how the goods are made, employment practices, and how safe the goods are for both consumers and the environment. All market structures and most companies have to take these into account so societal regulations are much broader reaching than industrial regulations. Social regulations can lead to higher prices and operating costs, but in many cases the benefits to society outweighs the cost. Social regulations can defiantly increase economic efficiency for companies. It leads to better and safer working conditions, safer products, and helps to avoid costly litigation for companies. E. There are five primary federal regulatory commissions that govern social regulation. They are the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting consumers from the products they buy. They make sure that things such as appliances, cribs and car seats follow certain safety requirements. They ban dangerous goods and can issue safety recalls if products are deemed unsafe. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration make sure that workplaces are safe for employees. They have certain regulations on how to handle chemicals and even bodily fluids. They also set forth rules on training and enforce the whistleblower laws. The Food and Drug Administration makes sure that our food and medicines are safe for consumption. Their job is to promote public health through regulations on food, tobacco and even some medical devices. They also oversee vaccinations. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was established to ensure that all people regardless of race, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, color and added recently sexual orientation are not discriminated against in the workplace. The Environmental Protection Agency is in charge of protecting the environment and human health. They can conduct environmental studies to see how building a factory may affect the surrounding environment and also how a company’s waste and emissions maybe effecting the health of near by citizens.