"Kevin Oberman" writes:
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 1996 00:40:24 -0500 From: "Perry E. Metzger" <perry@piermont.com>
I'm arguing that they haven't ever really existed, except with government intervention to create them.
Guess this you could claim "government intervention" for most anything, but I suggest you read up on Carnagie Steel, Standard Oil, and a few others at the turn of the century.
I have. If you read my messages in detail, you would have seen my comments on U.S. Steel (Carnegie Steel never controlled the bulk of the market) and Standard Oil. I suggest that *you* read up on them. You are probably operating on the vague comments you heard in your high school history classes, not on real reading.
And, if you want to claim that these were local, go out and buy a diamond. While there are a few exceptions, DuBeers controlled the world's diamond market totally until the past decade and still could easily destroy the worlds diamond market in a day.
How could they "destroy the market"? Is there a "diamond market" sitting in a hallway somewhere that I can shoot or something? Perry