Showing posts with label oligopolies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oligopolies. Show all posts

Sunday, May 14, 2017

Deception Among Oligopolies

        
                In November I had never heard of an oligopoly before.  I knew what they were, but until this last class I had (in economy) I didn't realize they had a specific name. I'm not saying all companies that happen to be in the Oligopoly or monopoly stage are necessarily bad companies.  The truth is the founder of the company may well have had extremely valid intentions (other than become a successful money maker who cares only about money) and may not even be involved with the company anymore as many founders are eventually kicked out of their own company (that doesn't seem right) but I am saying that there are many who make decisions, advertising for instance, that are done in a deceptive way.  Many businesses seem to get "too big for their breeches" that they have lost vision of what made the corporation great in the first place.  By the same token, consumers need to take responsibility also.  We don't have to put up with their malarkey, you know.  We have other options.  Or do we?

                I don't know how early it was proposed for a tax increase on businesses that could afford it to help the Oregon economy (see here).  I would guess that billions were spent on advertizing for or against.  Unfortunately, those against the proposal (the large companies, most I would suspect were oligopolies) had more to spend.  Both represented themselves as "small business owners" - the ones who actually were small business owners spoke from the heart.  They would give the reasons the economy would be changed if the voter voted "YES"

                The  large companies with money hired actors and actresses who read well and evidently were better at acting than say the geriatrics who "help me, I've fallen, and I can't get up" except THEY WERE READING - NOTHING WAS FROM THE HEART - they'd be ever so smug about it, using the name WILCO  - trying to deceive the public familiar with Winco perhaps (for example) and thinking they recognized the name.  Their deceitful ads worked.  The bill did not pass.  The small businesses suffer as a result.  But glory be to the oligopolies who were able to keep themselves from being taxed.  They must be so proud.




Saturday, May 13, 2017

Final Assignment


           

            As I have mentioned in my online-themed posts, there is a daily checkpoint question given each day.  For the most part the questions will be on the class subject of that particular week. The basic classes (the ones given to brand new students) will often throw in questions about finances and career choices. The economy class I had recently taken was/is a basic class.

            I had originally decided to approach my assignment from a different angle as I had asked my instructor about non-profit organizations during one of the lectures.  I had wondered it any would be considered oligopolies and so had pulled up references for that.  I had actually tried three or four approaches before I had about 20-30 references.  I knew I would not end up using them all and actually ended up going in the same direction as my post.  I called my final assignment  "Show Me the Money"  and added a thesis statement though I probably didn't need one since it was a starter class for many of my peers.

             APA Style is the writing style that is required by the school.  APA stands for American Psychological Association.  Many instructors seem to put a greater emphasis on the style itself than they do with the content.  I think that is annoying.  I had more examples, but it was only supposed to be 600 words and I have over 800.  I'm pleased that I have received full credit for this assignment.  I double spaced for the assignment itself, but will do not so here.  It just looks weird as a post.
                                                   Show Me The Money Conflict


            "Everyone  should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized. - Albert Einstein.

            All people deserve to be treated with respect regardless of  what position they hold.  A single mother struggling to put food on the table should not be treated as though she does not matter, nor should a president of a large company expect to be worshiped or take advantage of others because he has more money or power.  We are all human beings, not statistics. Oligopolies and poverty levels are statistics.
            An Oligopoly can be defined as a few large firms that control a larger percentage of the market than all the other competitors put together (Study, 2013).  Oligopolies form from competition and advertising enticing the customer into believing that theirs is the best product (O. Market, 2017) .  They do this by offering goods at a lower cost or a deal of "buy one get one free" or some other "reward" for purchasing said product from them and not their competitors.
            For example, there are several cell phone providers - but according to study.com (2013)  it appears that AT&T  and Verizon deal with more than half the consumers' cell phone plans, followed by T-Mobile and Sprint.  Those four cell phone plan providers make up for 99% of all consumers with cell phone plans leaving every other cell phone provider all lumped into one percent.
            Some of the lures these markets have used is, "keep your same cell phone number" "switch for free" "we will pay your old phone bill if you make the switch" and there are consumers who actually go back and forth between companies trying to get the best deal. Then there are those who choose not to deal with the larger companies because they all seem to fail at great quality customer service.  It is not just cell phone plans that have an oligopoly, but fast food chains as well.
            I have never considered the food industry as having oligopolies and yet Welker's Game Theory (2013) used two popular food chains to explain oligopoly.  Burger King and McDonald's have long time seemed like rivals - trying to outdo one another enticing consumers with prices or selling how the  meat is cooked or how fast service.
            Some people are under the impression that it is the American Dream to get ahead, to build an empire and earn billions of dollars.  That may be the case for some, but not all Americans have that dream.  According to The Founder, the McDonald Brothers had set up shop just to make an honest living.  It was not their dream to blow up so big that they would lose control over a concept they had.  Ray Kroc believed it was his dream to head a food empire and kept the McDonalds name, though the McDonald brothers were no longer involved.   Kroc paid a high price - though not as high a price as did the McDonald brothers (Hancock, 2016).
            According to 20/20  the top six fast food chains - including Burger King and McDonald's -  made up for 6.6 billion dollars in 2015 and yet 52% of their employees are on some kind of welfare assistance.  The cameras followed Terrance Wise, who worked for both McDonald's and Burger King.  As he spent most of his day either working or traveling to get there, it gave him little time to spend with his family.  It's disheartening as he watches unsold food being thrown away (Reality, 2017).
                        I live in Douglas County, which once was a thriving community.  Sawmill workers may have had dreams about how they would spend their money after they retired from the saw mill where they had worked for many years and expected more to come. When the sawmills closed in 1978, those who could afford to leave Myrtle Creek packed up their belongings or sold off what they could, to find work in another location, generally in another state.  Circumstances changed whatever dreams they may have had  (Heilman, 2014 p 78).  Very few people (if any) choose to be poor.
            A rich person may donate $1,000 to a local charity and  use it as a tax write off.  For him to write a check for that amount is no big deal.  For him, it may be just chump change.  Another man may spend only $7.00 on a swimsuit so that his daughter may have a birthday gift to unwrap (Reality, 2017) and though the amount of  $7.00 seems so much smaller than $1,000, the poor man is giving everything while the rich man gives something that he may consider small. 
            If we treat one another with respect, regardless of our position, we create better human beings.  Humans should be made to feel humane and not a statistic.  Respect may be the first step taken towards stamping out the poverty.
            The pictures were not a part of my assignment, but are there for the affect of the post.       On Monday I start to more classes.  Management: Entrepreneurship and Math.