1. A conservative might criticize this chapter’s emphasis on anti-trust law and question whether the chapter does a good job of fully presenting the ways in which anti-trust laws discourage free-market competition.
2. Anti-trust laws were deemed necessary during the Gilded Age and the Industrial revolution, when big business was prospering at the expense of labor, as well as stifling the competitive market by forming trusts and monopolies. The first law to address monopolies was the Sherman Act of 1890, which “made monopoly and ‘restraints of trade’ … criminal offenses.” It established the basic premise for antitrust philosophy. Subsequent acts improved upon the Sherman Act; for instance, The Clayton Act of 1914 made more explicit the conditions
2. Anti-trust laws were deemed necessary during the Gilded Age and the Industrial revolution, when big business was prospering at the expense of labor, as well as stifling the competitive market by forming trusts and monopolies. The first law to address monopolies was the Sherman Act of 1890, which “made monopoly and ‘restraints of trade’ … criminal offenses.” It established the basic premise for antitrust philosophy. Subsequent acts improved upon the Sherman Act; for instance, The Clayton Act of 1914 made more explicit the conditions