Graphs of recent Cannibalization of America.

[prasercat]

This is from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_antitrust_law

The antitrust laws comprise what the Supreme Court calls a "charter of freedom", designed to protect the core republican values regarding free enterprise in America.[17] One view of the statutory purpose, urged for example by Justice Douglas, was that the goal was not only to protect consumers, but at least as importantly to prohibit the use of power to control the marketplace.[18]

"We have here the problem of bigness. Its lesson should by now have been burned into our memory by Brandeis. The Curse of Bigness shows how size can become a menace--both industrial and social. It can be an industrial menace because it creates gross inequalities against existing or putative competitors. It can be a social menace...In final analysis, size in steel is the measure of the power of a handful of men over our economy...The philosophy of the Sherman Act is that it should not exist...Industrial power should be decentralized. It should be scattered into many hands so that the fortunes of the people will not be dependent on the whim or caprice, the political prejudices, the emotional stability of a few self-appointed men...That is the philosophy and the command of the Sherman Act. It is founded on a theory of hostility to the concentration in private hands of power so great that only a government of the people should have it." Dissenting opinion of Justice Douglas in United States v. Columbia Steel Co.[18]

Proof that this law is not being enforced anymore:

"During the Bush administration, the Justice Department did not file a single case against a dominant firm for violating the antimonopoly law"

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/a/antitrust_actions_and_laws/index.html
​

 

[coolhandluke]

Solidarnosc

Cat- you hit it out, note how the national debt/gdp% has steadily increased since the first years of Reagan, with the only moderation during Clintons 2nd term. But now the "starve the beast" crowd are all outraged at the additional debt that "Obama has created"?
Whats the solution? Put Medicare into the hands of private insurers, give states block grants for Medicaid so they can put that revenue on their balance sheet and use it for other expenditures. like unfunded pension obligations. And lets don't forget to push the Social Security age to 70 and allow the well off to buy their way out of contributing.
And last but not least lets put that whole "collective bargaining" fiasco behind us, the last thing we need is an empowered middle class.
Oops...I let my socialist pinko slip show, how embarrassing.
Remember how pro union the ruling class was when the struggle was in Warsaw? But not so much when it showed up in Waukesha.

 

[prasercat]

Cat- you hit it out, note how the national debt/gdp% has steadily increased since the first years of Reagan, with the only moderation during Clintons 2nd term. But now the "starve the beast" crowd are all outraged at the additional debt that "Obama has created"?
Whats the solution? Put Medicare into the hands of private insurers, give states block grants for Medicaid so they can put that revenue on their balance sheet and use it for other expenditures. like unfunded pension obligations. And lets don't forget to push the Social Security age to 70 and allow the well off to buy their way out of contributing.
And last but not least lets put that whole "collective bargaining" fiasco behind us, the last thing we need is an empowered middle class.
Oops...I let my socialist pinko slip show, how embarrassing.
Remember how pro union the ruling class was when the struggle was in Warsaw? But not so much when it showed up in Waukesha.

Yes, Unions, the middle class, small business, pension funds, retirement accounts, social security, even the rather wealthy right now will eventually be a target. Nothing is sacred. To extrapolate this into the future, perhaps there will only be room for the very wealthy and powerful and the poor struggling masses and no middle class.

I know its going to be hard to keep this "non political" and I'll do my best, since that is really the point of this thread.

My point is that politics (left, right, center) isn't the base root of the problem, and we have to elevate the conversation beyond our political leaders to the root of the problem. The problem is in massive power concentrated into the few, the lack of antitrust enforcement to prevent monopolistic control over our markets and small business, and control of our government, it is with how mega-corps are stifling and feeding off our economy. They are feeding of our federal reserve/treasury); such as, through quantitative easing, Wall Street Hedge funds and crooked investment schemes, causing all of us to scramble like cockroaches on a hot stove trying to find a solution. We are fighting ourselves, the American Way of life and it's standard of living, we are being exploited. Business should be in the hands of smaller innovative companies within a competitive landscape, not too-big-to fail and not to big to have other competitors enter the landscape.

My experience is that when Microsoft was the target, we saw monopolies in a different light and became more sympathetic. Their monopolistic control created a global standard for software developers, they created many technological synergies that only a monopoly could create. It benefited most everyone, it allowed a much more rapid advancement of technology; however, they are different. They aslo lowered the cost of technology, as only they could being at the center. Did they stifle innovation, yes, but they created so much good for business and economic efficiencies that it largely outweighed their negative market effects (not entirely). In many cases they absorbed innovative companies and created synergy. However, this was a historical oddity due to a combination of events, and where we were technologically - in an infancy. I would argue, that even Microsoft cannot remain a monopoly any longer for it to be for the public good. In 2000, the antitrust case against Microsoft was dismissed - it was the last case tried in a court of law.

How we lose with our current monopolies: If we get R&C fees enforced, they will just have their own employee sweat-shops, spinning out crap appraisals. We can't stop them, they have too much power. Power can always find or create a loophole. If we didn't have monopolies, there wouldn't even be a discussion about R&C, because we would have a free market.

Another monopoly story: I heard that Walmart is opening downscale stores, so they can compete in smaller business neighborhoods. From a pro small business standpoint, that really scares me. There is a place for big box stores and a place for small business stores, we can't wipe out our small businesses!