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The current attitude towards antitrust is things are okay, so long as the big monopolistic co's don't start raising prices or otherwise acting badly. Basically, there is nil anti-trust enforcement.
The current attitude towards antitrust is things are okay, so long as the big monopolistic co's don't start raising prices or otherwise acting badly. Basically, there is nil anti-trust enforcement.
My cable bills almost double what it was a few years ago. Meaning to get around to cancelling it.
My cable bills almost double what it was a few years ago. Meaning to get around to cancelling it.
the monopoly on internet access and cable is horrible. the government protects it and people somehow think it is a free market. fortunately there are other companies now like netflix/hulu/amazon that are providing content and allowing people to end their relationship with their local cable company. unfortunately, you still need them just for the internet access and magically that price is way higher than it should be.
the monopoly on internet access and cable is horrible. the government protects it and people somehow think it is a free market. fortunately there are other companies now like netflix/hulu/amazon that are providing content and allowing people to end their relationship with their local cable company. unfortunately, you still need them just for the internet access and magically that price is way higher than it should be.
I'd love something like Google Fiber.
The issue with most internet providers is they're not internet providers, they're cable or phone companies. They just supplement their business with providing internet. Our country needs genuine internet providers. We all over pay for garbage service compared to the rest of the developed world.
I remember my parents were paying for "turbo". The tech was out multiple times because they weren't getting what they were paying for. Finally the tech said there's nothing he can do, they don't have the infrastructure to actually provide those speeds. You'd have to go 60 miles south of where my parents were to get it.
It's disgusting what we let them get away with. All the while they actively work to block new comers and municipalities from setting up there own internet infrastructure.
Plutocracies in the modern world are sometimes too easily masked, utilizing a kind of benevolent nod to those on the low rungs of society, thus giving the plutocratic form an air of inclusiveness. Despite the media's portrayal of big business hating big government, it's actually the other way around, the ultra large corporation exists as an adjunct of big government, if for no other reason than government legislation (ie, land use laws) often allows the quelling of any real competition. Government power is a necessary component of corporate power.
Look around your own local area, most of the US at one time was brimming with independent businesses, mom and pop diners, gas stations, grocery stores, movie theaters, building contractors, etc. it's a long list but the lasting reality is the fact that all were replaced by big, deep pocket, enterprises, which now have become the sole purveyors of--Everything. These huge behemoths have forever changed the economic scale that once allowed for the small guy to operate. So,no small business has much of a chance to really compete on price nowadays, those that are still battling the Goliath's can only entice the customer with better service or high end custom goods.
It appears that this present scale of business is simply the evolution of a capitalistic economy at work, some argue for it's positive ability to provide the most goods and services to the most people, an undeniable spread of national well being. Others bemoan the presence of such businesses, posturing them as impersonal uncaring leeches on a community, stripped of any real consumer choices. There is one thing we can count on in this seemingly forever changing world..And that is the fact that we won't see any changes that would signal a return to that mom and pop business paradigm, except in the movies..
Plutocracies in the modern world are sometimes too easily masked, utilizing a kind of benevolent nod to those on the low rungs of society, thus giving the plutocratic form an air of inclusiveness. Despite the media's portrayal of big business hating big government, it's actually the other way around, the ultra large corporation exists as an adjunct of big government, if for no other reason than government legislation (ie, land use laws) often allows the quelling of any real competition. Government power is a necessary component of corporate power.
Look around your own local area, most of the US at one time was brimming with independent businesses, mom and pop diners, gas stations, grocery stores, movie theaters, building contractors, etc. it's a long list but the lasting reality is the fact that all were replaced by big, deep pocket, enterprises, which now have become the sole purveyors of--Everything. These huge behemoths have forever changed the economic scale that once allowed for the small guy to operate. So,no small business has much of a chance to really compete on price nowadays, those that are still battling the Goliath's can only entice the customer with better service or high end custom goods.
It appears that this present scale of business is simply the evolution of a capitalistic economy at work, some argue for it's positive ability to provide the most goods and services to the most people, an undeniable spread of national well being. Others bemoan the presence of such businesses, posturing them as impersonal uncaring leeches on a community, stripped of any real consumer choices. There is one thing we can count on in this seemingly forever changing world..And that is the fact that we won't see any changes that would signal a return to that mom and pop business paradigm, except in the movies..
Something like 7/10 people of the working population were independent.
I think it was 1890-1920 (it's been awhile since I studied this) that we changed over to the consumer driven economy that caused that shift to the system we have today.
Do you think the government and/or FCC/Trade commision to break up these huge companies.
Didnt Bell got broken up years ago and now back to one big company again, and now control state of some huge media distributions.
Remember SWB/Cingular and ATT. you was blue or orange before the merge?
We have cable companies merging back to one big giant company again, gas stations distributions centers, cell phone companies.
What happen to competition?
State Capitalism is a first cousin to Communism--difference being the means of production are owned in private, but effectively controlled through the govt via regulations that the companies help draft, keeping out new competition. Basic result = disempowerment of us deplorables.
Do you think the government and/or FCC/Trade commision to break up these huge companies.
Didnt Bell got broken up years ago and now back to one big company again, and now control state of some huge media distributions.
Remember SWB/Cingular and ATT. you was blue or orange before the merge?
We have cable companies merging back to one big giant company again, gas stations distributions centers, cell phone companies.
What happen to competition?
Business' cleverly masquerade their different names as being competitors, but in reality they are all owned by the same interest. This is obvious in the food and hotel industries.
They like to control wages, benefits and profits that is why they do it. Think about how many sociopaths are running these business' and controlling so much in our lives. The odd thing to me is that people are dumb and do not have a clue about the outcome.
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