[presidio9]

I'd suspect that the Automotive Cartel (GM, Ford, DCX) used their political influence to PREVENT similar consolidation of the domestic steel industry throughout most of the 20th Century.

And your evidence for this is? The steel industry was regulated against consolidation after the trustbusters broke up US Steel.

[Hermann the Cherusker]

The steel industry was regulated against consolidation after the trustbusters broke up US Steel.

Umm ... since US Steel is still around, when was it broken up? "Not surprisingly, U.S. Steel was prosecuted for violating antitrust laws. It escaped dissolution by only one vote in the U.S. Supreme Court." (http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_35/b3696013.htm)