The oligopoly was established where all of the market power was concentrated in a few hands of a few companies.
The oligopoly has a clear hierarchy for the company’s shareholders.
The best example of the oligopoly is the phone company. With the advent of the Bell system in the 1950s and the AT&T monopoly in the 1970s, the phone companies became extremely powerful. But that power is now concentrated in the hands of just a few companies. No other medium of communication (TV, radio, TV, music, video) is controlled by a few companies.
The phone companies have long since been caught in the oligopoly’s cross hairs. The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has been trying to regulate them for many years. The result has been a series of lawsuits, court decisions, and eventually a ban on the Bell system. And no one can really blame them. The entire industry is dominated by a handful of companies that have the power to make or break the entire industry.
The result of these laws and regulations is that while companies like Alcoa, Exxon (with their $5 billion in profits), and Microsoft are able to control the price of oil and gas, the rest of the industry is left in the hands of the oligopolies. This creates a situation where in the middle of the last century, the price of oil was $100 per barrel, but today it’s $2,000 per barrel.
The oligopolies control the market price of oil and gas.
This is a point that I found hard to understand. There may have been a time when the oligopolies controlled the price of oil, but today the price is in the hands of the companies. The oligopolies make the market prices, and the companies are the only ones willing to sell the product. Of course, it wouldn’t be a problem if the companies controlled the oil and gas itself, but it’s not like that has happened yet.
The problem is that the oligopolies are not interested in being the best at pricing the goods. Instead, they want to control the prices, and the only way to do that is by controlling the market. As a result, the price of oil and gas is rising, while the prices of other goods keep falling.
