Message from @Leo (BillNyeLand)
Discord ID: 531238427291549707
Ye
Do you support trumps tariffs?
Because that sort of discourages trade
Not really no
Oh
I don’t think tarrifs are good
Oh yeah
But I support him bringing free trade from other countries
I did research on Rockefeller once
as in other countries lowered tarrifs
Standard oil is also a myth
He did all sorts of questionable things to secure his monopoly
That’s a HUGE myth
Yep
The companies also kept on lobbying to keep monopolies legal
He’s get his monopoly to boycott any railroad that served his competitors, since losing his business would destroy the railroad
He’d buy all of the pipeline networks surrounding competitors’ oil refineries so they couldn’t ship in new oil
He’d even buy every single piece of land around a competitor’s refinery so they couldn’t build their own pipelines out
He just had that much money
But he also did plenty of good stuff with the money
Refined oil prices fell from over 30 cents per gallon in 1869, to 10 cents in 1874, to 8 cents in 1885, and to 5.9 cents in 1897.
But he acquired it through very questionable means
There’s too many myths surrounding standard oil
That’s due to a huge increase in supply
as a monopoly
He wasn’t exploitative of consumers
Just of his competitors
The companies did questionable things
Natural monopolies , when they exist they’re efficient
You can't deny that
How?
he didn’t want to raise prices due to fears of competitor.
Competition
Monopoly = No competition
When a competitor arises, they can crush them
Because they wouldn’t be able to raise prices as competition would come in, wouldn’t be able to give back quality etc
Yes but they would be efficient
They also have a large money supply
Standard Oil was pretty efficient, but that was only because oil had yet to gain traction in the economy and so he had to lower prices to make it a viable fuel
Economies of scale