Anybody here feel that this law was necessary? Anyone have the idea that you would be taken advantage of if not for laws such as this? http://www.answers.com/topic/sherman-antitrust-act Predatory pricing..... Interesting concept......sounds like gotcha capitalism to me. Sounds like Credit Card companies gouging the f**K out of ya after the fact and you have no recourse. Sounds like healthcare companies gouging the f**k out of ya for premiums and not paying squat when it comes to claims or denying claims alltogether for whimisical reasons that protect their greedy bottom line. Hey......but everyone here seems to think those things represent the American Way. Glad they didn't think that way in 1890. Damn...and all this time I thought our way took the high road.
I believe in free markets...the reason they work is called competition. The Sherman Antitrust Act was enacted to ensure competition in the marketplace. So what is your point? BTW, John Sherman (brother of William Tecumseh Sherman) practiced law here in my hometown and is buried here. My mother used to teach at John Sherman Junior High School.
The law also protects against price fixing, collusion and predatory pricing. Somehow the credit card companies have been getting away with it for the past decade and escalating it over time until finally consumers and politicians both said enough is enough. Even now.... after the CC Reform Act I am sure they will maneuver to find a way to cheat and steal....or in more mild terms....practice their "gotcha" version of capitalism.
You mean like making a profit? How unfair. Everything is "predatory" to you...everything is cheating and stealing. Every profit is an obscene profit. Every corporation is evil. You see the boogie man under every bed. I'm not going to defend unfair banking practices...they have happened. That's why we do have regulatory agencies and why laws continually get fine-tuned.
Where do you read that making a profit is predatory....price fixing or collusion? Those terms are real terms and real practices by some. Profits can be made without those practices. Why do you think there is a CC Reform Act? If I loan you $500.00 under good faith and then come back later, after the fact and say you owe me $1,000.00 or else......is that OK so I can make a profit. AS I stated....I have been quiet on this pretty much because the CC Reform Act says it all IMHO.
This is the kind of crap I object to. I stand by my last post. I object to your tone, and your condescending attitude towards the rest of us. You want to discuss what interest rates should be...what disclosures should be made...what reforms should be made...then fine, come on in and we'll discuss it. You undoubtedly know more about it than I do, and I know that others here do as well. But don't come in here with your nose stuck in the air demeaning us and telling us what we think is the American Way.
Stu....I have been paying healthcare for a family of five for many years....definitely in that timeframe in the last decade of exorbitant increases....I just sold my house in April at the same price I paid for it 18 years ago......and I got caught by the credit card companies with my pants down when I lost a job in a tragically poor economy....a job that heretofore enabled me to effectively manage paying those CC companies off in large chunks and mostly avoiding their "gotcha" tactics....tactics that were so shady that they brought about such a sweeping reform as recently enacted. I get a little frustrated with this crowd because all I hear is how bad it is now....how bad it will be and how they didn't notice all of this other crap going on that I alluded to above in the post-Clinton years. The one-sidedness of the mindset gets a little frustrating and it makes me wonder just who are these guys and where have they been living for the last ten years. I guess then that the biggest point of difference I have had here on this subject is that I contend the American Way was not meant to be the way it has been in the past decade. Maybe those elements have always existed in the shadier side of business but those elements have been parading in the mainstream of American business in recent years as if they are acceptable tactics. I don't recall studying business in college and reading about executive losers and charlatans expecting to paid millions upon millions in bonuses when they failed miserably for their companies. Since when did Gordon Gekko set our economic policy? OK....all done now.
:roll: I was going to post something here when I first saw this topic. After all, I'm a history teacher and I know the whole story of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act backwards and forwards, but then I reconsidered. What was I going to tell this bunch that they didn't already know? I've known most of them for a very long time and they're a formidable crew: lawyers, doctors, teachers, bankers and businessmen. Nearly all of them have at least one university degree and most of them have two or three. They're smarter than the average bears and I've never heard any of them blame society or the system for personal setbacks...
...and therein lies the frustration.....with the indifference and the purposeful ignoring of realities.....an ignorance rooted in a feverish desire to protect and defend all things far right.. Times have been different....that's my contention and the proof lies in the unprecedented reform of healthcare, Wall Street and Credit Card companies. It's not a "personal" thing....it's a nationwide phenomena. Laws don't get reformed because of a few individuals having a "setback". I do realize Skybox is a cocoon environment for most of you conservatives. Too bad we don't have equal numbers of members able to debate both sides of the argument.
:roll: I agree with virtually everything that Stu has written here and I'm having a hard time following your trend of thought or what it is that you want us to respond to. The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was written by conservative Republicans to insure that competition existed in American industry. In the 19th Century, many American businessmen, such as John D. Rockefeller, (My dad actually met him.) had both vertically and horizontally integrated and connected entire industries into huge monopolies called "trusts." Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company became the ONLY oil company in America and it exterminated all potential competitors by keeping oil and gas prices artificially low. The Sherman Anti-Trust Act broke up the Standard Oil Company into smaller companies, such as Exxon, Chevron, Mobile, Amoco and Conoco (34 in all) with different boards of directors. The result, was that the price of oil and gas went up as Rockefeller himself became the richest man in the world... More recent times have seen the Sherman Anti-Trust Act used to break up the Bell System into smaller telephone companies with similar results. The theory being that competition is always good and monopolies are always bad, because they limit choice and restrict freedom... Now what was your point? As I understand it, you seem to be in favor of the government having monopoly power over entire industries and perhaps even over the entire economy itself. How is that good? You've lost me. ......JO'Co
:cry: ok Dave enough is enough first it was the house.... now credit cards I worked for HFC (now HSBC Bank) for 15 years...... did you bother to asked about programs for those who had lost income.. Bet you didnt because if you had you probably would have qualified for the reduction in int and payments. of course they close your account but why would you use it if you cant pay it back,,, infact most credit card companies have programs to reduce int and pmts. and have had for over 3 years I worked for the biggest bank that charges the highest int rates... if you read the terms of contract when you applied for it you agreed to let them charge you what they wanted. basically they are regulated by different state laws that regulates int rates but the minute you accept their terms... kiss all other goodbye..... My question to you again in common sense why use a credit card knowing you dont have the income to cover it.. that puts all responsibilty on you. not the banks or credit card companies.. Credit Cards were for convience not for misuse... But again did you bother to ask the cedit card companies about any special programs. or how about the non profit consumer credit conselling services. there are some very good ones. Why do you keep blaming everyone else for your decision and then insult people who dont agree with you. Believe it or not some people can work w. budgets some people can control their spending... no one said it was easy.... No one said crdit cards was access to free money.......
Simple answer....My wife and I haven't used a credit card in over 1 1/2 years....since I was laid off from the job that enabled me to pay off credit cards.