General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAmerica is not the land of the free but one of monopolies so predatory they imperil the nation
Its growing economic crisis is in contrast to a thriving and newly innovative Europe... Except the latest research demonstrates the reverse is true. Britain is about to make a vast mistake. In the recently published The Great Reversal, leading economist Thomas Philippon of New York University and member of the advisory panel of the New York Federal Reserve, mounts a devastating attack on the conventional wisdom, so perfectly embodied by the witless Boris Johnson. The news is that over the last 20 years per capita EU incomes have grown by 25% while the USs have grown 21%, with the US growth rate decelerating while Europes has held steady indeed accelerating in parts of Europe. What is going on?
Philippons answer is simple. The US economy is becoming increasingly harmed by ever less competition, with fewer and fewer companies dominating sector after sector from airlines to mobile phones. Market power is the most important concept in economics, he says. When firms dominate a sector, they invest and innovate less, they peg or raise prices, and they make super-normal profits by just existing (what economists call economic rent). So it is that mobile phone bills in the US are on average $100 a month, twice that of France and Germany, with the same story in broadband. Profits per passenger airline mile in the US are twice those in Europe. US healthcare is impossibly expensive, with drug companies fixing prices twice as high or even higher than those in Europe; health spending is 18% of GDP. Google, Amazon and Facebook have been allowed to become supermonopolies, buying up smaller challengers with no obstruction.
This monopolising process gums up everything. Investment in the US has been falling for 20 years. Because prices stay high, wages buy less, so workers lifestyles, unless they borrow, get squeezed in real terms while those at the top get paid ever more with impunity. Inequality escalates to unsupportable levels. Even life expectancy is now falling across the US. But why has this happened now? Philippon has a deadly answer. A US political campaign costs 50 times more than one in Europe in terms of money spent for every vote cast. But this doesnt just distort the political process. It is the chief cause of the US economic crisis. Corporations want a return on their money, and the payback is protection from any kind of regulation, investigation or anti-monopoly policy that might strike at their ever-growing market power...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/01/america-is-not-the-land-of-the-free-but-one-of-monopolies-so-predatory-they-imperil-the-nation?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
JoeOtterbein
(7,702 posts)Kurt V.
(5,624 posts)democratisphere
(17,235 posts)And be certain, it will collapse!
Kurt V.
(5,624 posts)BeyondGeography
(39,379 posts)Hermit-The-Prog
(33,413 posts)Government agencies and regulations meant to encourage competition have been steadily dismantled or repurposed to encourage monopolization.
The system has been incrementally rigged to favor the richest donors and beneficiaries of GOP.
blm
(113,085 posts)might scare some of them from donating to the party.
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,413 posts)DENVERPOPS
(8,844 posts)A US political campaign costs 50 times more than one in Europe........
No wonder Trump had to go to Russia, Saudi's, China etc
Pretty soon, all these leaders of other countries will realize they can make alot of money for themselves simply by selling their country out to any one of these countries.
procon
(15,805 posts)large monopolies, denying media ownership if it made for fewer choices. Ma Bell gave us several spinoffs and increased competition, but today the mega corps are bigger than ever and actively eating up the competition. Gov intervention is totally absent, not surprising since out representatives are all financially obligated to turn a blind eye.
Bettie
(16,124 posts)they simply aren't enforced. Maybe someone needs to start enforcing those laws.
rhodytowny
(4 posts)Literally zero felony monopoly enforcement cases begun since the Microsoft case. Nearly 2 decades of no enforcement whatsoever. I see it everywhere. Here, scalping tickets is illegal, but EBay does it on StubHub every day. FedEx got slammed for misclassifying workers, but Uber and Lyft do it with total impunity. Worse? Underground small immigrant cab businesses always existed. They got busted for being unlicensed. Uber and Lyft don't. Amazon violates the Robinson-Patman Act every day. If you don't believe me, look at an item a few times, clear your cookies, then look at it again. Watch the price discrimination in real time. That's not to mention all the money stashed in the Caymans we do absolutely nothing about. So much criminality...
Pepsidog
(6,254 posts)Skittles
(153,185 posts)the very idea is OBSCENE
MsLeopard
(1,265 posts)At this point, as has been shown in study after study, the voice of the average American has as much influence as static noise on our elected representatives, while the voice of the 1% is heard and acted on well over 50% of the time. Its disgusting, and its maintained because our institutions have been taken over by moneyed interests. The media, colleges and universities, the courts, and more, have been entirely compromised by those who own and control them - the billionaires who love this fucking country.
We desperately need a progressive Democrat to win the presidency, and for turnout to put both the House and the Senate in Dem control. THEN we might be able to turn this ship of state around and form the country we want, one that that operates for the betterment of all people and not just the stinking, filthy rich. With our election systems its a toss up as to whether we can indeed vote our way to a progressive America. I guess well see in 2020.
Sophia_Of_PlanetX
(73 posts)In the new GOP, competition and small businesses are bad / Socialism, monopolies and lobbyists are good / "American." Power and wealth should be concentrated in as few hands as possible. Those at the top should have the government at their disposal to keep others from rising to their level.
McKim
(2,412 posts)I spent a month in southern Spain last summer. They had high speed trains all over the region and train stations that were gleaming palaces and fancy buses and fancy bus stations. They had a medical clinic that was low cost or free for citizens in every neighborhood or village. They had community art centers and third age centers, massive public housing and good investment in education. What used to be the poorest region in Spain is now thriving. It is amazing what a country can do without spending trillions on wars! Why cant we have that?
James48
(4,440 posts)All campaign spending by individuals, tax at 10%.
All campaign spending by PACs, Corporations, 501(c)s of any type, tax at 25%.
Weve got to get dark money in elections fully disclosed, and taxing them will both reduce their influence, and help our economy. Its the one thing all can agree that we can tax and have it help America.