[willcipriano]

> eliminating all the competition by undercutting them then jacking up prices

Standard Oil resulted in lower prices for consumers. They had a patent on railcars designed for hauling oil so their competition had to load and unload barrels on to standard railcars and that was much more expensive to do. Any monopoly they had was explicitly enabled and enforced by the US government, via the patent office. After they were broken up, prices for consumers went up.