Even from a conservative point of view, the concentration of power at large tech companies is scary. As a true conservative, you’re afraid of the constitutional power in the government. Not because the government is evil per se, but because you don’t trust human nature and concentration of power. So if you have the same concentration of power in the private sector it doesn’t become fine all of a sudden. If anything, it becomes more dangerous. At least, we have ways to address the...
Read More »The trouble with capitalism — Chris Dillow
Are the faults of capitalism curable, or are they instead symptoms of a chronic disease? This is the question posed by Martin Wolf: What we increasingly seem to have…is an unstable rentier capitalism, weakened competition, feeble productivity growth, high inequality and, not coincidentally, an increasingly degraded democracy. There is much to admire in this piece. But I fear it understates the problem with capitalism.... Falling rate of profit?Stumbling and MumblingThe trouble with...
Read More »Zero Hedge — Barr And State AGs Discuss Big Tech Monopolies As ‘Flipped’ Facebook Co-Founder Helps Devise Antitrust Action
More anti-trust talk. Zero HedgeBarr And State AGs Discuss Big Tech Monopolies As 'Flipped' Facebook Co-Founder Helps Devise Antitrust ActionTyler Durden
Read More »Reuters — Treasury’s Mnuchin says Amazon ‘destroyed’ U.S. retail sector
“If you look at Amazon, although they’re certain benefits to it, they’ve destroyed the retail industry across the United States,” Mnuchin told CNBC. “I don’t have an opinion other than I think it’s absolutely right the attorney general is looking into these issues and I look forward to listening to his recommendations to the president.” Are we finally going to start talking about anti-trust, which. incidentally, was at the heart of US progressivism historically.ReutersTreasury's Mnuchin...
Read More »Laura Belin – New bill is “clear attempt by MidAmerican to monopolize the sun in Iowa”
A new bill backed by MidAmerican Energy would devastate the ability of Iowans to install solar panels for their homes or businesses. House Study Bill 185 would undo a longstanding policy of net metering, which “allows residential and commercial customers who generate their own electricity from solar power to feed electricity they do not use back into the grid.”Iowans served by monopoly providers MidAmerican or Alliant Energy have been able to use net metering since the 1980s, under rules...
Read More »ProMarket — Editors’ Briefing: This Week in Political Economy (November 11-18)
"Is monopolization threatening capitalism?" Facebook, Google, Amazon. ProMarketEditors’ Briefing: This Week in Political Economy (November 11-18) Editors
Read More »EPI — It’s not just monopoly and monopsony: How market power has affected American wages
Report.Economic Policy InstituteIt’s not just monopoly and monopsony: How market power has affected American wages Josh Bivens, Lawrence Mishel, and John SchmittSee alsoFrom Poverty to PowerThe World Bank’s flagship report this year is on the future of work – here’s what the draft says Duncan Green, strategic adviser for Oxfam GB
Read More »Simon Wren-Lewis — Neoliberalism: How Seeing Markets as Perfect Turned into an Ideology Justifying Crony Capitalism
That idea, that the market ensures that only the most efficient prosper, is a central message of neoliberal ideology, and it has held UK and US governments under its sway since the time of Thatcher and Reagan. But that ideology contains a large and deep internal contradiction, which applies particularly to large firms like Carillion. To see what that contraction is, we need to talk about ordoliberalism and Ronald Coase.Ordoliberalism is widely known as the German version of neoliberalism....
Read More »Branko Milanovic — Schumpeter’s two theories of imperialism
Schumpeter’s theory is interesting for several reasons. It was formulated at the same time as Lenin’s and Luxemburg’s and clearly with the knowledge of the two. It reacts to the exactly the same events as theirs. It is different though and it was held by Schumpeter throughout his life. The key text for Schumpeter’s theory is “The sociology of imperialisms” (note the plural) published in 1918-19. It is a very long essay of some tightly printed 80 pages in its English translation. Schumpeter...
Read More »Livia Gershon — The Different Meanings of Monopoly
The history of the board game. JSTOR Daily The Different Meanings of MonopolyLivia Gershon
Read More »