Americans voted for change last November, but after more than 100 days of that supposed change the citizens voted for I fail to see much that is different from recent years. The so-called change seems to be rhetoric more than action.

Take a recent news story that appeared on the business pages. It reported that the Obama officials have announced that they are moving to remove restrictions the Bush Administration made to hinder anti trust prosecution. We call such laws anti-trust laws while other nations call them anti-competition laws.

When I read the headline and lead to the story I got ray of hope. That drained though as I read on. They specifically earmarked Google, a firm that has grabbed a lot of the Internet business in the last few years. While the story told of the present administration opposition to the Bush Administration policies the eight years of the Clinton Administration certainly didn't earn any passing marks in trust busting. The battle the Clinton Administration against Bill Gates seemed more personal than anything else.

Until recent years the biggest trust (monopoly) in this country was formed during the 1920s and 1930s. The Capone operation may not have been incorporated but it totally controlled the trade in sin. It started with booze during Prohibition and when that noble but useless amendment was repealed the highly organized mob managed to control all other forms of sin - prostitution, gambling, drugs, and even wrecked honest endeavors like labor unions.

But the monopolistic practices of Al and Ralph Capone, Frank Nitti, Dutch Schultz, Lucky Luciano, etc have been upstaged. While those who got ripped off by the Mob cartel asked for it by seeking things they shouldn't been after in the first place, the biggest cartel today rips people who aren't looking for ways to be naughty.

The gasoline prices, which in the past week or so have escalated faster than the express elevators in the Sears Tower, is due to one of the biggest - but not only - trusts in the land today.

Anyone who thinks I'm being too tough on the oil business just consider this. Why else do all the gas outlets in a community increase their gas prices virtually the same amount at virtually the same time? People have been sent to prison for long terms and even executed for serious felonies on less circumstantial evidence than that.

We are told the fault lies with the guys wearing turbines in the Mid East. If that's the case, why did gas prices here continue to go up when the price of crude was sinking faster than one of Frank Nitti's rivals wearing concrete overshoes when thrown into Lake Michigan? We really don't need to look elsewhere. Americans tend to turn out the top quality of racketeers. Today the oil industry almost totally controls the retail sales of gas even setting the pump price.

It would be humorous if it wasn't so serious to hear these big business backers talk about the greatness of America's free enterprise business competition out of one side of their mouth while shutting out competition. Some of us remember looking at a DeSoto, Packard, Studebaker and Nash in addition to the Big Three models when shopping for cars. If we wanted a bottle of beer or soda pop the choices were great

We remember when it was necessary to go to the hospital we had a choice between the local Catholic one run by the nuns, or one by the local Methodist churches or even one run by a hospital operated by a committee of local citizens. Now most hospitals are operated by giant management firms headquartered and run hundreds and hundreds of miles away.

What's more, some of those firms now not only admit local doctors to practice in their hospital but actually hire them and put them on the payroll. The Chicago School of Economics blames the lack of competition for our loss of superiority on the world market. There are other reasons, too, but the growth of cartels is certainly high on the list.

I'm all for a major push to enforce our anti-trust laws, but the enforcement must be aimed at those areas that affect our American citizens the most.

Trivia Time
Why aren't arrivals and departures for Munich listed in German train depots? Answer to last question. John Marshall was the longest serving Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Contact George Frasher at
337-238-3433,
E-mail frasher@cebridge.net.