All you need to know about how rentier #capitalism works in one bit of data:
The UK's water firms were privatised without any outstanding debts over thirty years ago.... now, the privatised #infrastructure (regional) #monopolies have around £62bn in debt, but are still failing to deliver an adequate service.
If that debt has not been used to invest sufficiently in the #infrastructure, which the firms now (grudgingly) admit,, you might wonder where has it gone?
"Medical costs are up and wages are not for one reason that is very easily understood by Americans: #monopolies. Hospitals, doctor’s practices, health insurance, pharmaceuticals, ambulances, nursing homes, rehab facilities: Every part of our health care world is increasingly controlled by greedy bankers who kill people for money."
David Dayen and Matt Stoller, "Moving Past Neoliberalism Is a Policy Project"
There's a cheat-code in US #antitrustm it's been increasingly used since the #Reagan administration, when the "#ConsumerWelfare" theory ("#monopolies are fine, so long as the lower prices") shoved aside the long-established idea that antitrust law existed to prevent monopolies from forming at all.
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
"When we blame "laziness" for ... #monopolies, we send the message that our friends have to choose between life's joys and comforts, and a fair economic system that doesn't corrupt our politics, screw over workers, and destroy small, local businesses. This isn't true. It's a lie that monopolists tell to justify their abuse."
Stop shaming individuals for systemic problems. I'm talking to YOU, fellow liberals.
"At the end of 2023, Americans were paying at least 30% more for beef, pork, and poultry products than they were in 2020.
Why? Just four companies now control processing of 80 percent of beef, nearly 70 percent of pork, and almost 60 percent of poultry. So of course, it’s easy for them to coordinate price increases and prevent price cuts."
Reminder, the government is requesting your feedback on new Mergers Guidelines. I commented. I encourage you to do the same. The Guidelines are easy to read and understandable. You can have a say in increasing the prevention of the consolidation of U.S. industry in the hands of the few. If wealth accumulates at the top, they simply consume any competition. Think GDP. Think innovation. Think climate change. Think education. Think access to healthcare. Think what your vision for the America of the future looks like. Yes, consolidation or absorption of competition impacts all of these. Read the new guidelines, authored by the DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission and let our government know your opinion and suggestions.
I'm a very #leftist kinda lawyer in a very rightist kinda region.
In meeting with clients over the years, I note that they often like to talk about politics. I'm not entirely sure why. Some, perhaps do so to "feel out" whether I'm their type of attorney. Some maybe think lawyers have some deeper political insight due to their connection to the law. I don't know. I just know it happens with great regularity.
And being a leftist in an extremely rightist world, you can imagine my discomfort.
Fortunately, I've found a strategy that seems to allow me to bond with clients no matter how rightwhackadoodle they seem. Are you ready for it?
I talk to them about #billionaires. I tell them I think the problem in this country comes from billionaires shipping our industrial base to slave labor countries so they could dodge taxes.
I talk about how there is no difference between democrats and republicans because, at the end of the day, they are all #IvyLeague back-slapping buddies.
The U.S. Justice Department and a group of state attorneys general are expected to announce an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation as soon as Thursday, ABC reports. Details of the suit are unclear but it follows a two-year investigation into whether the company created a monopoly over the concert ticket market. Here's more.
I can’t go a day without hearing about Boeing’s woes on the news. @pluralistic provides some interesting context with his take on the blocked Spirit Airlines/Jetblue merger.
#LiveNation#TicketMaster#Antitrust#Monopolies: "It's been a minute since Ticketmaster was last in the news, so let's recap. Ticketmaster bought out most of its ticketing rivals, then merged with Live Nation, the country's largest concert promoter, and bought out many of the country's largest music, stage, and sports venues. They used this iron grip on the entire supply chain for performances and events to pile innumerable junk fees on every ticket sold, while drastically eroding the wages of the creative workers they nominally represented. They created a secret secondary market for tickets and worked with ticket-touts to help them run bots that bought every ticket within an instant of the opening of ticket sales, then ran an auction marketplace that made them gigantic fees on every re-sold ticket – fees the performers were not entitled to share in.
The Ticketmaster/Live Nation/venue octopus is nearly impossible to escape. Independent venues can't book Live Nation acts unless they use Ticketmaster for their tickets. Acts can't get into the large venues owned by Ticketmaster unless they sign up to have Live Nation book their tour. And when Ticketmaster buys a venue, it creams off the most successful acts, starving competing venues of blockbuster shows. They also illegally colluded with their vendors to jack up the price of concerts across the board:"
Prices Rise Again. We Must Dismantle Canada's Telecom Oligopoly.
You're paying more for less because the country's wireless providers are the ones in charge.
David Moscrop
Jan 9, 2024
Thanks to my student Lino Sengkhamvilay (below) for today's story about how the citizens of Norman, OK rejected a 25-year deal with the local power company, leaving the city and utility w/out an operating agreement.
I have spent some of today learning about the 2011 #Norwegian "butter panic".
#Butter saw a serious #shortage in late 2011 after too much rain & mismanagement. #Christmas was near & prices soared to €39/NOK 300 for 250g.
#Swedish supermarkets gave butter handouts to Norwegian customers & the #Danes had a TV special to help their neighbours, resulting in 4000 buttery gifts.
It's actually an interesting study in #monopolies & the problems of #rich countries.
This extended essay from @pluralistic has at least three themes.
I’m highlighting the last one: the dangers of #monopolies in general and in #NewsMedia in particular.
The main purpose of #MonopolisticPower is “taking #money and #power away from working people and giving it to rich people.” This is why [#Biden’s very vocal/visible #union support is admirable and important.]
@AAKL@zdnet Those doomer scenarios and ML being ”incomprehensible” for us mere mortals provided an excellent opportunity for him and other titans to get together and attempt an age-old trick that forms #monopolies
Legislative capture
Here the leaders of an industry convince the public that they alone are proficient to legislate their own industry. At the same time, they take care the field becomes prohibitively expensive for competitors to enter, and they get to own it