I’ve said this numerous times: monopolies are bad. Government monopolies are worse. Government monopolies controlled by unions are the absolute worst. A. Barton Hinkle writes:
“America Has a Monopoly Problem—and It’s Huge,” ran a headline in The Nation recently. The piece by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz lamented that “If we don’t like our internet company or our cable TV we either have no place to turn, or the alternative is no better.”
If you spend any time with left-of-center commentary these days (and everyone should—especially people on the right), you’ll find this is a common theme of late. The New Republic writes about “How Democrats Can Wage a War on Monopolies—and Win.” In The Week, Jeff Spross tells us “What Beer Reveals About Monopoly Power.” (Cliff’s Notes version: nothing good!) At The Huffington Post, Zach Carter and Paul Blumenthal consider the proposed merger of AT&T and Time Warner “intolerable… No single entity should have that much power.”
In recent months Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) has warned repeatedly about how “a handful of corporations” have “seized power in this country” through economic consolidation. Her colleague Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) wants to know “How did big tech come to control so many aspects of our lives?”