DiscoGary wrote:
Count Chocula wrote:...
I can't recall any instances where a company starting making more money and then turned around and passed the savings onto their customers.
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When Rockefeller was dragged before Congress to defend himself against accusations that he was running a monopoly and using that monopoly to gouge customers with high prices he pointed out that oil prices had fallen continuously as Standard Oil grew bigger and bigger.
More recently, Walmart.
Most companies make more money because they pass on savings to their customers. That's how free markets and businesses work. Any company that gains a large market share and then raises their prices will find competition undermining them, taking their market share, and driving their prices back down.
You are assuming Rockefeller was telling the whole truth?
It's a case by case basis. A company will only lower prices when it benefits their bottom line to do so.
Study the case of the Microsoft monopoly of the 1990's. Their unit cost to produce more copies of Windows and Office was essentially zero. But because they had almost no competition, prices remained sky high. Plus, they used their monopoly position to dominate new markets illegally. The government successfully sued.
It is a myth that companies pass on savings to their customers. All companies try to make as much money as possible. That's what they are supposed to do. If you believe otherwise then you are against capitalism.
Prices won't drop just because taxes are lower. Prices won't drop just because government lowers the cost of doing business. Companies never just "pass on the savings" to their customers. That's a total myth. Any CEO who did that would lose his job (as he should).