"Big Daddy"

Conglomeration seems to be this taboo word; a “hot potato” getting gingerly passed around. And now for your enjoyment, vocabulary enhancement will ensue: Dr. Rudd’s word from Monday’s class: hegemonic—“preponderant influence or authority over others; domination.” (Thank you Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.)
The word strikes fear, resulting in huddling in the corner with a slow rocking of the fetal position. But let us look at it in this way. There are plenty of regulations regarding concentrations. A merger or takeover just cannot happen willy-nilly and overnight. There are measures in place to ensure that businesses do not practice anti-competitive measures. Since the late nineteenth century our government has taken action, in the form of the Sherman Antitrust Act, and broke up John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company and several other large firms that had abused their economic power. The government had to struggle to define differences between “bigness” and monopoly. The Clayton Antitrust Act laid out more of the ideas of what constituted violations, and the Fair Trade Commissions Act followed in the early twentieth century. With a foundation from the past, we now move towards more modern times. The appeal to merge is reviewed and in some cases has been denied. Though stating that retail in general is unconcentrated, in 1997 office supply company Staples and building supply company Home Depot had plans to merge, but it was ruled that these retailers “compete in distinctive economic markets” and would be anti-competitive. When SC Johnson bought out DOW Brands, SC Johnson had to sell assets because the FTC found that each company had leading products in household cleaning.
Can we not have a little faith in our authoritative figure then? The government isn't going to get it right all the time, I recognize. Like the progressive theory says, our faith in government and big business (power of the elite) will allow us to move forward. Advancements of varying nature aid us all in the long run, even the little guys.