Re: It certainly is a logical argument.

Post #192,106 by Booboo 1/28/05 1:51:40 PM Reply	Re: It certainly is a logical argument. Let me remind you about something that happened at or before the time of Lenin's "logical" conclusion: 1890, first measure passed by the U.S. Congress to prohibit trusts; it was named for Senator John Sherman . Prior to its enactment, various states had passed similar laws, but they were limited to intrastate businesses. Finally opposition to the concentration of economic power in large corporations and in combinations of business concerns led Congress to pass the Sherman Act. The act, based on the constitutional power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce, declared illegal every contract, combination (in the form of trust or otherwise), or conspiracy in restraint of interstate and foreign trade. A fine of $5,000 and imprisonment for one year were set as the maximum penalties for violating the act. The Sherman Act authorized the federal government to institute proceedings against trusts in order to dissolve them, but Supreme Court rulings prevented federal authorities from using the act for some years. As a result of President Theodore Roosevelt's \ufffdtrust-busting\ufffd campaigns, the Sherman Act began to be invoked with some success, and in 1904 the Supreme Court upheld the government in its suit for dissolution of the Northern Securities Company. The act was further employed by President Taft in 1911 against the Standard Oil trust and the American Tobacco Company.
Post #192,107 by mmoffitt 1/28/05 2:03:49 PM Reply	Heh. You talking about the law that worked so effectively against Microsoft? </me falls over> bcnu, Mikem Eine Leute. Eine Welt. Ein F\ufffdhrer. (Just trying to be accepted in the New America)
Post #192,109 by daemon 1/28/05 2:12:32 PM Reply	perfect example, the beast is decaying from within and without. So your centric vision only holds as far as the ingathering part of the lifespan of an economic entity but doesnt wait long enough for the slow death and dismemberment portion. regards, daemon I love her dearly, far beyond any creature I've ever known, and I can prove it, for never once in almost seventy years of married life have I taken her by the throat. Mind you, it's been a near thing once or twice. George Macdonald Frasier Clearwater highschool marching band [link\|http://www.chstornadoband.org/\|http://www.chstornadoband.org/]
Post #192,110 by mmoffitt 1/28/05 2:15:08 PM Reply	Last I looked, it's market share hadn't diminished much. bcnu, Mikem Eine Leute. Eine Welt. Ein F\ufffdhrer. (Just trying to be accepted in the New America)
Post #192,111 by Booboo 1/28/05 2:18:34 PM Reply	Re: Last I looked, it's market share hadn't diminished much. Look at Apple and Red Hat. They're doing well too. The law is working. Just not as fast as many people wish :)
Post #192,113 by Arkadiy 1/28/05 2:53:46 PM Reply	They just reported best quarter ever Double the profits. Look at the share price. The market knows something... -- - I was involuntarily self-promoted into management. [link\|http://kerneltrap.org/node/4484\|Richard Stallman]
Post #192,116 by mmoffitt 1/28/05 3:11:48 PM Reply	Ah yes, the vaunted market knows all. bcnu, Mikem Eine Leute. Eine Welt. Ein F\ufffdhrer. (Just trying to be accepted in the New America)
Post #192,122 by ben_tilly 1/28/05 3:54:27 PM Reply	But they've stopped growing And their attempts to enter new markets have been stalling at great expense. (See the X Box.) Plus their competitors in several markets are on a growth trajectory (Linux, Apple, Firefox...). None of this bodes well for their future. Cheers, Ben I have come to believe that idealism without discipline is a quick road to disaster, while discipline without idealism is pointless. -- Aaron Ward (my brother)
Post #192,341 by mmoffitt 1/31/05 8:29:47 AM Reply	OMG! They "stopped growing" at 97% market share. Go figure. bcnu, Mikem Eine Leute. Eine Welt. Ein F\ufffdhrer. (Just trying to be accepted in the New America)
Post #192,361 by ben_tilly 1/31/05 12:02:00 PM Reply	As pointed out already, no company has come close to that As a sample, last quarter Microsoft reported revenue of a bit over $9 billion. If they did that for the whole quarter, their total revenue might be $36 billion. Against a US GDP of 10 trillion. That isn't even a fraction of a percent of the US economy. Of course Microsoft is more notable for profits than revenue. Let's go with a bigger company. You don't get bigger than General Electric, with the largest market cap in the world. They have also been around for a long time - they are the only member of the original DOW to still be listed in the DOW. How has their quest for world domination gone? 2004 was a good year for them. Their revenues were $152.2 billion, up from $134.2 billion the year before. That's under 2% of our GNP. But they are a worldwide company - I don't know what fraction of that income was US based. However even so, if after a century the most successful capitalist company in history can't manage to get to 2% of our GNP, then the dreaded future of a single monopoly that owns everything is going to be a looong way off. Cheers, Ben I have come to believe that idealism without discipline is a quick road to disaster, while discipline without idealism is pointless. -- Aaron Ward (my brother)

Welcome to IWETHEY!