Why allow a few corparations that have primary goal of making profits to damage every other market.?

Question

Some areas of the free market like gas, energy, and health care effect many other markets. If you can not keep prices low in these critical areas it hurts a ton of other markets so it is my belief that it is important to either price fix or have the government run it, becuase it is the only way to keep prices steady. So why do we allow a few corparations that have primary goal of making profits to damage every other market.

Answer 1

I agree with the basic pemise that certain industries affects other marksets.  But, I think the government cannot effectively run anything. Look at the Pentagon.  They were buying 600 dollar toilet seats etc..  It's too big and no one manages with a steel fist.  There needs to be strong repercussions for not being able to keep track of money and to have strong policies to reduce fraud and abuse.  I don't think corporations are great and that too many execs are geniuses either.

But, because nothing gets lost with $ like that for long, the corporation is going to follow up a bit better.

I'm not sure if price fixing could constitute a 'taking' under the constitution.  Definitely, they either need to give up the idea of free trade, secure the borders, and up minimum wages or the inflation with continue unabated and everyone will topple.

Answer 2

cuz people want money and nuthin else. we cant destroy corporations, but i think we should balance them out.

Answer 3

The US government does not have a free market and in those areas you named: gas, energy, and healthcare government regulations drive up costs for consumers. People rush to point the finger at corporations without doing a little research on their own. It really sickens me.

Gas- price has risen currently because of government environmental regulations that require additives placed into gasoline to lower US global emissions. These emissions are expensive and are driving up the cost of gas.

Energy- Many of these energy sources are nonrenewable and the supply is growing increasingly limited which is part of the reason for the spike in energy costs. Switching over to multiple energy sources would help lower the overall cost of energy.

Health- A lot of the costs that accompany healthcare are government created. The best example is the affect of patents on the high cost of prescription drugs. Drug companies are elgible to recieve patents upon the creation of new drugs. This means that the creation of a generic drug, a non-brand name drug, that is much cheaper is not able to be created. The presence of patents for prescription drugs greatly spike costs.

There is a movement to lower the costs of drugs. A few years ago, Wal-Mart moved to lower the costs of many generic drugs to only $4 and a lot of other companies like Kroger and Target have since followed suit. Wal-Mart is soon to be opening up various health  care clinics to the public under various names with a $40 down payment, regardless of health insurance (sometimes the visits do cost more depending on if blood tests or x-rays are done). This will do a lot to also lower the costs of healthcare because other health places will have to tell people the cost of seeing a doctor before treatment or tell how much it will cost a patient to see a doctor without health insurance (a lot of places can't tell you).

My links are below.

The first link is to government accountibility office's report on special gasoline blends that reduce emissions and improve air quality but complicate supply and contribute to higher prices.

The second link is to a New York Times article about the controversies between brand name and generic drugs because some generic drugs are rising in price.

The third link is to the Wal-Mart health care clinics.

Answer 4

why not simply have the government break up the corporations?  price fixing is a dangerous tool.

In fact it is probably more beneficial to let energy costs rise so that consumers and producers are invited to buy and use more efficient technologies, but who can say for sure?

Answer 5

Because this is america where anyone can hold and own a business, a country where the government wont step in unless it wants to. I understand what you mean, but things just don't work out that way. by the way they are investigating to see if what they say about "little oil being around" to make sure it's true and if they aren't i think well be in luck so don't panik