Robert Reich Nails It: Monopolies are Robbing You Blind

[Armstead]

Why Wealth is being Redistributed Upward



The Rigging of the American Market
Robert Reich
http://robertreich.org/post/132363519655

Much of the national debate about widening inequality focuses on whether and how much to tax the rich and redistribute their income downward. But this debate ignores the upward redistributions going on every day, from the rest of us to the rich. These redistributions are hidden inside the market.

The only way to stop them is to prevent big corporations and Wall Street banks from rigging the market.

...Some of these upward redistributions seem to defy gravity. Why have average domestic airfares risen 2.5% over the past, and are now at their the highest level since the government began tracking them in 1995 – while fuel prices, the largest single cost for the airlines, have plummeted? Because America went from nine major carriers ten years ago to just four now. Many airports are now served by one or two. This makes it easy for airlines to coordinate their fares and keep them high – resulting in another upward redistribution.

Why have food prices been rising faster than inflation, while crop prices are now at a six-year low?Because the giant corporations that process food have the power to raise prices. Four food companies control 82 percent of beef packing, 85 percent of soybean processing, 63 percent of pork packing, and 53 percent of chicken processing.

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[ErikJ]

1. Unregulated capitalism ends in monopolism

we need a trust0-buster like Teddy Roosevelt. Like Bernie Sanders.

[raouldukelives]

2. Been a lot of talk about shouting.

Nobody is shouting louder than shareholders.

At least, when it comes to drowning out the voices of those being crushed to death by them and for them.

Nice to have someone shouting back for a change.

Good people don't do bad things. Bad people do bad things. It is what makes them bad.

They gush platitudes about standing up for the little guy, protecting our environment, ending wars, ending corporate prisons, strengthening our education & safety nets and then, when given the opportunity, fund and stand with those assuring none of that will happen.

When peoples personal and political convictions run as deep as a kiddie pool, is it any wonder we always feel alone in the deep end?

[laundry_queen]

3. K&R nt

[HereSince1628]

4. Upward pricing pressure is also about "all the traffic will bear"

rather than the costs of getting a good or service into the market place.

While fair-markets don't work under monopolies, the notion that pricing is always best controlled by competition isn't wholly true.

Fair-market pricing always fails in sectors where consumers regularly pay "whatever it takes" because 'gotta have it' or 'really wanna have it'.

[Armstead]

5. True, but monopolies make it much worse. /nt

[HereSince1628]

6. The 'Gotta have it' and 'really wanna have it' are quite attractive for monopolies

so I think there is a good likelihood of some chicken-egg issues.

Buggy whips are still made and are pretty cheap and durable products. Although obtaining a monopoly in that product is possible, there is really not much incentive for conglomerates to work to obtain control of the monopoly in buggy-whips. Monopolies, patents and copy-rights limit and control production. Which is why TPP seems to include the things its does.

Outside of monopolies there is still a lot of price gouging... such price gouging is often accompanied by counterfeits or questionable alternatives.

Pirated software, tapes, CDs, and movies are good examples of how counterfeits are developed because price too greatly exceed production costs.

Designer-ish hand-bags are another stand out example in the closets of my home. But ineffective otc remedies and food supplements are others. What's a poor guy concerned about an ailing Wily going to do... -NOT- take Goat Weed for the little soldier?

Another path to price gouging is to reduce the quality of the component of a product. Combining reduction of quality while maintaining prices similar to quality products is a classic exploitation of consumers. That's so common we don't even think of it as exploitative but rather it's chapter 1 of the K-Mart/Wal-Mart business model