Economist calls “Cornered” the scariest book she ever read

[Donnachaidh]

http://newslanc.com/2010/07/23/economist-calls-cornered-the-scariest-book-she-ever-read/

‘Cornered: The New Monopoly Capitalism and the Economics of Destruction’, by Barry C. Lynn

Reviewed by Polly Cleveland, PhD, on July 22nd, 2010

This is the scariest book I’ve read since The Day of the Triffids. Back in the ‘70’s, when I worked on my dissertation, US business monopolization seemed bad, but not getting worse. Spinoffs and breakups balanced mergers. So I forgot about the problem. Since then, as documented in Cornered by financial journalist Barry Lynn, global monopolization has rapidly returned us to a new age of robber barons. A few items:

Some 30 years ago, one of my husband’s students landed a dream job at the DuPont labs in Delaware, doing cutting-edge research in his field of photosynthesis. Today, the DuPont labs have shrunk, and he’s reduced to applied research on sugarcane waste.

A medical equipment inventor has developed retractable needles and needleless syringes that greatly reduce blood-borne infections. But as told in the latest Washington Monthly, Dirty Medicine, he cannot sell to US hospitals–because the market is monopolized by a handful of giant group purchasing organizations, or GPO’s, which Congress exempted from antitrust in 1986. The GPO’s in turn have a comfortable kickback deal with medical supply giant Becton Dickinson, which controls 70% of the US syringe market.

Remember the great 2007 pet food recall? It turned out that most of the US pet food business depends on a single packager. That company purchased Chinese gluten, which had been doctored with melamine to increase the apparent protein content. Some 150 brands were contaminated, ranging from cheap Wal-Mart brands to luxury brands. Some 50% of pet food is sold through Wal-Mart.

If you buy eyeglasses, you may think you’re in a competitive market, with Lens Crafters, Pearl Vision and others. In fact, almost the entire worldwide optical business, from manufacturing to sales outlets, belongs to a single giant Italian firm, Luxottica.


More at the link ---

[RadiationTherapy]

1. Good. The more who learn what a sham "working", "entrepreneurialism", and "careers" are

for 99.8% of us, the better.

[Hannah Bell]

16. +100. the "competition" is all at the middle & bottom.

[progressoid]

2. What?

It's not a free market? But I thought if I just worked hard I could have the American Dream (tm).

:shrug:

[liberation]

17. Even in a supposed "free market" the end game of capitalism always ends up in monopolies.

The whole point of "capitalism" is to create more capital. The most efficient production of capital comes from a monopoly. We try to attach all sorts of emotional aspects to capitalism, as if somehow... it is the apex of what human existence is supposed to be. When in reality it is a flawed system, since the means (i.e. capital) became the ends, so we're stuck in either a local maxima or a very very vicious ever inflating closed loop which may at some point simply self destruct, since a system which expects infinite growth is at clear odd with the finite nature of our reality.

The fact that this "surprises" economists is just another proof that their discipline is at best a "pseudo" science.

I am not saying that other "isms" are any better, far from it. I am with Ferrirs Bueller on this: I don't believe in "isms." At the end of the day, capitalism is basically the system a bunch of traders came up with in the XVI/XVII centuries to supplant the power of the old feudal order, and communism/socialism are the XIX century answers to such system. It is the XXI we know much much more now, and we have much much better technology and understanding of our actual place in the world/universe. Time to evolve I say...

[fascisthunter]

19. a vacuum sucking itself into oblivion

[DeSwiss]

21. +1000! n/t

[HughBeaumont]

31. That's what they have ALL of us believe.

It's usually the RepubliKKKan ham-n-eggers that believe this Horatio Alger fantasy and think they'll be a CEO someday. Most entrepreneurs and workers know better . . . working your fingers to the bone often just gets you skinless fingers.

[valerief]

3. We know certain products are shut out of the market by Congress.

However, if they can't be sold, can they be given away? Like the needleless syringes. For every dishcloth you buy, you get a free needleless syringe. I wonder if they're free with a bought product, can they be brought to market through that back door?

[ShamelessHussy]

4. Another Great Book on the Topic: Free Lunch (VIDEO)

How 1% of Americans Take From the Other 99% and Why We Tolerate It,
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51lanA6RJSL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg
http://www.amazon.com/Free-Lunch-Wealthiest-Themselves-Government/dp/1591841917

Interview with Author (BookTV)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6344342751479323273#

Thanks for Sharing :toast:

[Q3JR4]

5. That's a good book, but when I read it it totally pissed me off.

:grr:

I think that might be why I now consider myself to be a Socialist.

Q3JR4.

[Donnachaidh]

6. reading it right now

:thumbsup:

[nxylas]

14. See also The Conservative Nanny State by Dean Baker

Available to download free of charge at:

http://www.conservativenannystate.org/

[StClone]

18. "The Authoritarians"

And how do the Monopolists gain power? By buying Politicians. And how do Politicians get elected to complete the cycle?: By manipulating the Authoritarian element within Society.




Free on-line at:

members.shaw.ca/jeanaltemeyer/drbob/Introduction_links.pdf


Or as paperback for less around $12:


http://www.amazon.com/Authoritarians-Bob-Altemeyer/dp/B002ACQPSW

[HughBeaumont]

29. "Free Lunch" and "Perfectly Legal" should be required reading for ALL Americans.

After reading these two books, you'll likely never vote for a Republican or DLCer again and want to parade some rich heads on pikes. You'll understand just how BADLY you're being screwed by the corporate-fellating, let-the-rich-off-easy government and the wealthy that benefit from their policies at the expense of everything that would benefit us. Put it this way - the 75-year-low taxation on the rich . . . that's only a miniscule PIECE of the bullshit. It's unbelievable.

[Q3JR4]

7. Oh hell. There goes my

blood pressure again.

Too bad I can't afford the meds.

Q3JR4.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

8. Delete, dupe.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

9. K & R, and thank you for this post.

The consolidation and monopolization of markets, wealth and power, is ever-increasing.

[femrap]

10. Buying up the patents

really pisses me off.

We are nearly 100% controlled. Makes me hope that the Mayans are right....BIG change in 2012. For all I care, let planet Earth tilt on her axis. Then everything will be local again. And Globalism will be gone.

[shireen]

11. don't we have anti-trust laws that are supposed to avoid these situations? nt

[truedelphi]

12. Supply side economics destroyed all discussion of

Both Anti Trust and the concept of Tariffs.

These regulatory practices were part of what kept this country a manufacturing nation, with a vibrant middle class.

In the neighborhood where I grew up in the fifties and sixties - so many different businesses flourishing.

The neighbrohoods closest to me here in Northern California have only these businesses - thrift shops, tattoo parlors, car repair (and supplies) and Medical Marijuana.

[earth mom]

13. Make NO mistake-those bastards are coming for OUR internet so they can control us even more

and tell us what to think and what to buy.

And they are gunning for cottage industry businesses that sell on ebay, etsy, farmers markets, etc.

You want to have a garage sale or sell on craigslist? They are gunning for that too-how long before that ask for a huge percentage of everyones sales or else?!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9065980

:grr:

[rhett o rick]

23. And we have no way to stop them. nm

[Citizen Worker]

15. Book recommendation: Labor and Monopoly Capital by Harry Braverman.

Considered to be one of the classics of the Labor History genre the book was published in the early '70s. Braverman had worked as a shipyard coppersmith at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard as well as an office environment. The book is a bit arduous in spots but worth the effort.

[DeSwiss]

20. K&R

- It is my opinion that capitalism is a form of social cancer -- a cancer that feeds upon the public body and will ultimately leave it weak, dying and incapable of sustaining life. It is a system that can't be saved. It can't be improved upon. It can't be rectified. It must be replaced. Because it is obsolete and detrimental to us all.

"The reality is that institutional establishments, institutions of codified thought and institutions of societal influence and power, meaning philosophies, dogmas on one hand and corporations and governments on the other, each have a high propensity to engage in denial, dishonesty, and corruption to maintain self-preservation and self-perpetuation. The result is a continuous culture lag where social progress by way of incorporating new socially-helpful scientific advancements is constantly inhibited. It is like walking through a brick wall as the established power orthodoxies continue to perpetuate themselves for their own interests and comforts."

~ Peter Joseph, http://vimeo.com/10707453">Social Pathology

on edit: spelling

[ooglymoogly]

24. No; In this imperfect world, when working

the way the constitution intended; Capitalism is a production and creation mechanism the likes of which cannot be found an any other "ism" and is vital and necessary to progress. It is the standard bearer for progress; As long as kept in balance with socialism and the needs of the people it serves.

Letting uncontrolled capitalism loose on a people without the controls neccdisary to contain it; Is like letting a deadly virus contained in controlled laboratory conditions; With large potential for the good as long as controlled; Loose on a people that it will destroy.

It is lack of regulation or the lack of control; That turns capitalism into the cancer that inevitably leads to fascism.

When capitalism becomes the user rather than the tool used for progress; It becomes a cancer.

A license and a vehicle to overpower a government and the people it is meant to server; Becoming, no longer capitalism but indeed, the most malignant of cancers.

when uncontrolled, capitalism becomes parasitic by its accumulation of capital; Turning that capital into power over the government and the people;

By this;

By its inevitable use of government and its people as its primary source of wealth; It becomes something other than capitalism and is the most cancerous and poisonous pile of shit known to man and the beginning of fascism on steroids; That is not capitalism but its uncontrolled goal.

We cannot confuse this issue.

[DeSwiss]

26. Sorry, but I disagree.

And as for capitalism "working the way the Constitution intended" -- it intended for it to work by using human slaves. Let's not overlook that point.

[ooglymoogly]

27. Do your homework; You have a shallow understanding

of what made the constitution what it is and what it was when it was written; And the considerable forces against it then and now;

Those forces are the same today as they were then;

The constitution by its intrinsic nature became and will become whatever is good for the people of this country as a whole; Under some basic concepts of common sense and fairness. One of those is that a majority cannot force its will on the minority or even one person, if it does not meet those basic tenants of fairness.

The constitution we have trashed; Does not allow the enslavement of others; Except under incarceration for a criminal act adjudicated by a court of law.

Our Constitution is an instrument to insure and maintain a just and fair government and insure the peoples power over its government and insure capitalism or government do not enslave the people it serves; As the usurious government of today illustrates. The constitution is meant to insure might does not overpower what is just.

When the rules are not upheld the chaos we see today takes control and fascism follows closely behind

No country has survived without some form of capitalism no matter how limited, other than those sitting on vast reserves of natural resources where others develop them.

North Korea, compared to South Korea being the perfect example of a country without a shred of capitalism to one with.

China became prosperous only when it began to experiment with a very controlled form of capitalism while stealing the discoveries and inventions of capitalism, and now supplies the world with copies of same.

The same held true for Russia to name the two most prominent, both pulling themselves from poverty to powerful wealth by their use of capitalism.

If you consider Cuba, still driving around in ancient dinosaurs of capitalism, a success, please don't bother with another tiresome rebuttal.

[DeSwiss]

33. "...please don't bother with another tiresome rebuttal. "

Got to have the last word, eh?

Fine. You're still wrong.

[Grinchie]

22. What's really sad is that I have had knowledge every company in the OP

Every single one of them, despite this ogoing chant of "Increased Productivity", has increased prices steadily and inexorably for no apprarent reason other than to enrich a few people.

Luxxotica is a big rip off, considering that we should have robots that manufacture glasses on demand by now.

B&D -- Now there's the greatest ripoff known to man. A sysringe that is produced almost entirely without human intervention increases in price every month is seems. For christ sakes, why do they think that people don't notice that prices are way out of line as compared to production costs?

Pet food.. If that doesn't open up peoples eyes to the cruelty of owning pets. Pets are nothing more than a multi billion dollar industry, and the media and Corporations paint an ever so rosy picture of why everyone needs a pet. The fact is that we have way too many "Pets" living inappropriately for the wrong reasons. If you want to support animals, donate to a Zoo that actually protects endangered creatures, and find a companion in another Human for christ sakes.

The sad thing about the Pet Industry is that people are blind to the poor nutrition, inattention and lonlieness subjected to most pets, simply because they have never had the opportunity to see wild animals doing their thing, and providing the same sort of companionship with the need for feeding, shelter, control, waste management, safety, Leashes, Accessories, scratching posts, insect repellant, etc....

I gave up on domesticated pets when I learned that the pet food industry was using downer animals, Hartz Mountain was using deadly pesticides for flea control, and that the whole Pet thing was a big piece of Propaganda developed for mega sales and outlets like PetCo.

With the money I save on these accessories, I now manage and keep safe the natural environment for all the wonderful creatures that inhabit my parcel. I let them feed on what I don't harvest, and they reward me by being friendly and communicative, even though they are wild creatures that a truly free to take care of themselves in the way they desire.

They are free, and so am I.

[Patiod]

25. Hate buying from China, but EyeBuyDirect avoids Luxxotica

Slightly OT: I ordered SO's new glasses from EyeBuyDirect.com: a trifocal Rx in "light and thin" (they offer 4 thicknesses, and "light and thin" is the next-to-thinnest). Total cost = $108, which includes the shipping. People with simpler prescriptions and no need to get especially thin lenses will pay far less. Compare that to almost $300 we paid at ForEyes for the same prescription, and their version of "extra thin" lenses.

Specs arrived within a week, very nice, and MUCH THINNER than the ones we had paid a LOT of extra money for at ForEyes.

Downside: you can't try them on. And no one fits them. And you need to be sure your optometrist puts "pupil distance" measurement on your prescription (which isn't standard, but they all know what it is).

But I'm willing to put up with those constraints to save $200. For lenses that have been shown to be equally/more to specification than the big three chains.

[xchrom]

28. Kick

[Mimosa]

30. Antitrust laws have been sabotaged. n/t

[HughBeaumont]

32. R. I'll be sure to look this one up today.