Robert Reich

Wall Street has consolidated into 5 giant banks.

Airlines have merged from 12 major carriers in 1980 to 4 today.

A handful of companies control the pharmaceutical industry.

Four giants control over 80% of meat processing.

The evidence of corporate concentration is everywhere.

Mar 17, 2024 at 12:08amWeb
Show threadJon Het.Mar 17, 2024
@rbreich And both major parties get paid to support this.
Show threadSilversaltyMar 17, 2024

@rbreich
And how does this relate to political contributions and funding?

And that's not even the whole of it. Vacations and symposiums for legal power people, etc.

Who is there with any power to challenge this?

Show threadMast0b1tMar 17, 2024
@Silversalty @rbreich https://represent.us
Fight Corruption, Fix America

RepresentUs is America’s leading anti-corruption organization working city by city, state by state to fix our broken political system.

RepresentUs
Show threadMast0b1tMar 17, 2024
@Silversalty @rbreich https://mstdn.social/@sandlapper37/112105740214811061
ebbtide (@[email protected])

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Mastodon 🐘
Show threadSilversaltyMar 17, 2024

@mastobit @rbreich
It was years ago I read about the Koch brothers funding an economics dept in a univ with the OK on any prof positions there. Sort of like naming rights on Lincoln Center NYS theater for 50+ yrs.

Money has been controlling long before Citizens United.

Show threadNot My JobMar 17, 2024
@rbreich Competition has never worked but everyone keeps pretending it does.
Show threadVolineMar 17, 2024

@rbreich @mick_collins

There isn't one grain of anything in the world that is sold in a free market. Not one! The only place you see a free market is in the speeches of politicians.

– Dwayne Andreas, then-CEO of Archer Daniels Midland.
Quoted by Dan Carney. "Dwayne’s World". *Mother Jones* July-August 1995.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/1995/07/dwaynes-world/

Dwayne’s World

Dwayne Andreas has made a fortune with the help of politicians from Hubert Humphrey to Bob Dole. But, he says, their talk of "free markets" is just wind.

Mother Jones
Show threadVulcanTourist [MOVED]Mar 17, 2024

@rbreich

If corporations are people, isn't it cannibalism when one "merges" with another?

Show threadJerry507Mar 17, 2024
@rbreich there has been absolutely massive consolidation in the semiconductor industry as well.
Show threadSkeezics BoondoggleMar 17, 2024
@rbreich Well, DUH. One of the many great lies of capitalism. Competition is for *suckers* -- *monopoly* is and always has been the name of the game. "Competition" is for small companies that haven't yet become big enough to buy or crush everyone else. It's one of those buzzwords like "choice" that you shout about when petitioning the government to help you on the way up the consolidation chain (applying anti-trust laws against the bigger guys, sending the CIA or the Marines to make sure foreign governments are "friendly," etc), then stop using entirely once you've joined the top tier of the cartel and can throw your weight around with impunity.
Show threadfloydgumpMar 17, 2024
@rbreich
Show threadNeil JoinsonMar 17, 2024
@rbreich Disney will soon own it all, the way they are going.
Show threadNuncio Bitis 🏳️‍🌈 🇵🇸 🇺🇦Mar 17, 2024
@rbreich And yet it's still considered "competition" and not monopoly.
Maybe quadropoly?
Show threadCharlieMar 17, 2024
@rbreich Yes, Economic sectors that are highly concentrated into a few corporate producers tend toward monopoly. And monopoly is self interest unbounded. It is one of the many roles of Democratic self government to regulate the markets.Consumers have every right to protect their interests with regulations that make for competitive markets.
Show threadTakako 🐀Mar 17, 2024
@rbreich well, at least, we have an option to not partake in any meat consumption, which keeps us “healthier” so we’d need less medication. It might be a small thing, but collectively could make a difference, maybe.
Show threadSteven HeywoodMar 17, 2024
@rbreich
We keep being told that capitalism is about private enterprise and competition benefiting the consumer and it keeps coming back to the appropriation of other people's efforts by oligopolies and the consumer getting stiffed.
Show threadNicklas Johnson 🏳️‍🌈Mar 17, 2024

@rbreich And every time one of these massive mergers happens we hear the same song and dance about how it'll create efficiencies that are going to be so great for consumers.

When has it EVER been good for consumers? I can't think of even one time.