Strangle Hold

Isn't it amazing how some companies have been able to maintain a strangle hold on certain segments of our economy and even the world economy. When I think of computers my thoughts keep running to Microsoft and Intel. With Intel you would have thought that new chip factories would have been opened up somewhere in the world that would have been able to compete with them, but this is not really the case. It seems that Intel is in the position that General Motors was in years ago, when it dominated automobile manufacturing all over the world. Some still say that there are other chip makers around like AMD that are competitive, but they are not really competitive and are falling further and further behind. Sometimes I think that Intel is just letting them exist so that they aren't called a monopoly and broken up by the government. There are some chip makers around that make specialty chips, but they are hardly a challenge to Intel.

Microsoft is the king of the hill. They have figured out how to remain on top of that hill despite all sorts of competition. At one time they could have been just one company competing with others for a piece of the market, but companies like IBM missed their chance to compete against them and now that they are the defacto operating system for the business world and most of the rest of us, it is almost impossible to dethrone them. We keep hearing about Linux and how it is going to become the main operating system, but what we are never told is that this is an impossibility, unless the business world decides to not only give up the Microsoft operating system but also the software that runs on it like the Microsoft Office Suite which is used by almost every business. Even when Sun came out with a viable alternative to this suite called Open Office that is completely free, business would not use it because all their files are Microsoft files and they want pure 100% compatibility. Does anyone really think that a medium or large business would switch just to save a couple of hundred dollars per copy on Office when they are taking in so much money?

Medicine
Photo Source: Stock.xching

If anyone thinks that only computers and software companies can control the economy they are sadly mistaken. Sometimes several companies will get together and control the price of certain drugs and their equilivents. In one way I have to be fair. These companies know that after a certain amount of years their drug will be open to becoming a generic, so they drain as much money from us for it as they believe they can. Absurd prices are charged for some of these drugs, which can run into the thousands of dollars for a jar of pills. If one tries to get a different brand that might have the same effect, he or she finds that it is just as expensive and may not work exactly they way needed for that person. That leaves generics. I am not putting China down, but most generics will all be from China soon, if they aren't already. We know how the quality control has been there lately. Knowing this, who would want to take generics if they could afford a brand name. Another problem is that sometimes the exact same drug is made for animals. The quality control is the same and yet the pills are only a fraction of the cost of the ones for humans. This sort of reminds me of a complaint I heard once about working conditions. Someone went to the boss and complained that another worker was working one hour a week less and getting the same pay. He thought that by complaining he would be allowed to work one hour less too. Well the other guy had an hour added to his workweek. If we complain about the low price of drugs for animals as compared to humans for the same drug, the price for animal drugs will just go up.

Insurance is another industry that has us where it wants us. Home owners and most apartment owners pay for insurance. This insurance is supposed to compensate them if something happens to their dwelling, or their possessions. Year after year we pay ever increasing rates and if we complain we are told that that there was a storm somewhere that caused our premiums to increase due to claims. Like all other Americans I thought that maybe this was on the level at one time, but that was years ago, because my eyes have been opened since then. One big eyeopener was the disaster in Florida. Thousands of claims were put in after a hurricane struck some areas a few years ago. The insurance companies that had insured the homes there fought the claimes tooth and nail, trying everything to avoid paying. In some cases it took years to get the repairs made and if people went ahead and paid, expecting to be reinbursed, they were told they paid too much and were offered reduced rates or were told those repairs were unnecessary. Rates were raised nationwide while claims were being avoided for as along as possible, or even challenged. These companies had no problem taking premiums, only meeting their financial obligations. Some companies now refuse to even insure anyone in those areas anymore, leaving those homeowners to dangle on their own petards.

Gassing Up
Photo Source: Stock.xching

I think we all know about big oil. It used to be that big oil could be controlled somewhat. Teddy Roosevelt broke up some of the giant oil companies, because they were controlling prices in the rest of the industry. Today many oil companies have become international so that they can avoid this happening again. Not only that, but it puts them in a position where they can manulipate shipments so that even domestic oil can look like it is imported oil and be sold for more money. Some arrests were made for doing exactly this years ago. The price cooperation among oil companies is legendary. One has only to look at the pump price per gallon of gasoline at any station and compare it to the rest. It certainly does not vary very much in the area that it is in. We have become trained to think that if gasoline is 5 cents cheaper a gallon at one station, it is a bargain. The problem is that this figure might be the difference between $2.95 per gallon and $3.00 per gallon. This is less than a 2% difference in price and yet this is how close most prices are. I would have to say that the prices were planned well and the cooperation between companies is incredible.

A new industry has sprung up over the last few years and it can thank the poor water quality in some parts of this country for its start. It is the bottled water industry. Talk about profit and being overpriced, this is the industry that has it all. Some bottles of water are nothing more than tap water that has been ionized. To put this another way, an electrical current is run through it. Spring water is popular and in some cases the most expensive. Then there is tap water, usually from municipal sources. That is the stuff you usually see the cheapest. Selling water has become a big business and it has become a necessity in places where homes were built over former farm lands and the wells are contaminated. Look for the prices to rise as the supply of water shrinks in some areas such as Africa. Since the supply of fresh water is shrinking all over the world, this is the business to get into and already the same types of water go for about the same price.

There are other business that have us where they want us, but for now it seemed appropriate that I named the biggest and most necessary areas of the economy that are affected by these monopolistic practices.