Trusts and monopolies are concentrations of wealth in the hands of a few. Such conglomerations of economic resources are thought to be injurious to the public and individuals because such trusts minimize, if not obliterate normal marketplace competition, and yield undesirable price controls. These, in turn, cause markets to stagnate and sap individual initiative.
To prevent trusts from creating restraints on trade or commerce and reducing competition, Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890. The Sherman Act was designed to maintain economic liberty, and to eliminate restraints on trade and competition. The Sherman Act is the main source of Antitrust law.
The Sherman Act is a Federal statute and as such has a scope limited by Constitutional constraints on the Federal government. The commerce clause, however, allows for a very wide interpretation and application of this act. The Act applies to all transactions and business involved in interstate commerce. If the activities are local, the act applies to transactions affecting interstate commerce. The latter phrase has been interpreted to allow broad application of the Sherman Act.
Most issues in economics raise parallel moral concerns. Should we have a social safety net, or does this merely decrease the incentive to work and increase the incentive to fall into the net? Should the public be taxed to provide "public services," or does this coercively impinge on the value of private property itself? Should monetary policy be used to drive up rates of employment in the short run, or does this approach risk setting off inflation in the long run? In each case, the violability or inviolability of private property, the meaning and application of justice, and the morality of adhering to strict standards of individual liberty are at issue as much as questions of economic efficiency are............
