Products Companies Competition Laws Businesses Services Antitrust Eslpod

The United States has many laws against businesses that do not compete "fairly" (in a way that is open to other businesses and not secretive). Specifically, there are many "antitrust laws" that "prevent" (do not allow) businesses to form "trusts," where businesses "illegally" (against the law) work together to "minimize" (make something as small as possible) competition.

In the U.S., many people believe that free competition is important because it means lower prices and greater "selection" (variety of products and services) for "consumers" (people who buy products and services). When companies illegally create a trust, they become a "monopoly" (a business that is the only business offering a particular product or service) and are able to "charge" (ask for a specific price when selling something) as much as it wants. Monopolies often offer products and services with very low quality for very high prices.

U.S. antitrust laws "prohibit" (do not allow) "price fixing," where different companies agree to charge the same price for their products and services. Antitrust law also prohibits "market allocation," where different companies agree to sell their products and services only in a certain area, so that there is no competition among the companies. "Monopolization" (an effort to become a monopoly) is also not allowed, so the laws try to prevent companies from buying all of their competitors.

All of these antitrust laws were created to help the economy be as "efficient" (good at doing something quickly and inexpensively) as possible. By "maximizing" (making something as big as possible) competition, consumers have the largest number of buying choices at the lowest possible prices, and companies are "motivated" (want to do something) to make and sell the products and services that consumers want to buy.