#1259 The rebirth of the antitrust movement (Monopolies)
Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Jay Tomlinson
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 27 March 2019
⏱️ 89 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Air Date: 3/26/2019
Today we take a look at the story of Amazon’s enormous growth, the history of how our antitrust laws were neutered and how the former is making us rethink the latter
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SHOW NOTES
Ch. 1: The Story of How Amazon Got So Powerful - Senator Bernie Sanders - Air Date 9-17-18
How Amazon got to be so powerful, and what it means for our economy.
Ch. 2: Amazon's Been Stealing From the Start - Ear to the Pavement - Air Date 12-21-18
Amazon drains resources and tax dollars from every community it touches, and cuts deals with states to allow the corruption to continue.
Ch. 3: Amazon Wants It All - Why Is This Happening? - Air Date 1-22-19
Amazon provides 1/3 of the worlds internet/cloud power, with no rival. The endgame leads to Bezos owning all of the cash flow the world has to offer.
Ch. 4: Explaining Monopsony - Pitchfork Economics - Air Date 3-5-19
Monopsony is when the buyer controls the market, there is one employer who sets the wages and sells the product.
Ch. 5: Antitrust, Robert Bork, Reagan - Planet Money - Air Date 2-20-19
Robert Bork changed the game with the idea that the government went too far with antitrust laws that strangled the free market. Reagan agreed and the supreme court started defending corporate interest.
Ch. 6: Jonathan Tepper - Monopolies and the Death of Competition - The Majority Report - Air Date 2-12-19
What do we do about big tech? Especially when journalism is under the same attack we all are under. Regulation is needed and keeping big tech from staying big.
Ch. 7: Elizabeth Warren on Monopoly Power - Start Making Sense - 02-13-18
Democrats are pushing in the right directions, Warren believes she can push them in the right way and enact sweeping economic reform.
VOICEMAILS
Ch. 8: Representation matters but policies are more important - Franklin
Ch. 9: Incompetence hurts all of us - Ariel from Seattle
Ch. 10: It's OK to see color but not to judge it - Jeff from Charlotte, NC
Ch. 11: Valuing the judgment of the black vote - Nathan from NYC
Ch. 12: Thoughts on race and candidates - Whitney from Seattle
FINAL COMMENTS
Ch. 13: Final comments on judging based on race, orders of scoring points and the opposite of white supremacy and misogyny
EDUCATE YOURSELF & SHARE
Commentary: There’s Still Time to Stop the Tech Monopoly Takeover(Fortune, March 2018)
6 Ways to Rein In Today’s Toxic Monopolies(The Nation, Feb 2018)
Curated by BOTL Communications Director Amanda Hoffman
MUSIC:
- Opening Theme: Loving Acoustic Instrumental by John Douglas Orr
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- Chilvat - Lillehammer (Blue Dot Sessions)
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- Contrarian - Sketchbook (Blue Dot Sessions)
- Over the Fence - Delray (Blue Dot Sessions)
- Voicemail Music: Low Key Lost Feeling Electro by Alex Stinnent
- Closing Music: Upbeat Laid Back Indie Rock by Alex Stinnent
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This program is made possible by members and donors to the show. |
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| 0:23.7 | Now, welcome to this episode of the award-winning best of left podcast in which we shall learn |
| 0:28.7 | about the story of Amazon's enormous growth, the history of how our antitrust laws were |
| 0:34.7 | neutered and how the former is making us rethink the latter. |
| 0:38.8 | Clips today come from Bernie Sanders YouTube channel, eared to the pavement, why is this happening |
| 0:44.8 | with Chris Hayes, Pitchfork economics, Planet Money, the majority report, and start making |
| 0:50.5 | sense. |
| 0:59.8 | When Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1995, he was able to grow this company in ways that would |
| 1:06.1 | have once drawn antitrust intervention. |
| 1:08.9 | One of the tactics that he used was to sell goods at a loss in order to capsize smaller |
| 1:13.8 | competitors that didn't have the same financial backing. |
| 1:16.9 | When Amazon's first six years in business, it lost $3 billion selling books at a loss. |
| 1:21.7 | The tactic worked, bookstores closed and drove, and now Amazon controls half of all book sales |
| 1:27.8 | and more than 70% of all e-book sales. |
| 1:30.8 | Similarly, when Zappos came along, the online shoe retailer, they started to emerge in the |
| 1:35.5 | mid-2000s as a really popular competitor. |
| 1:38.3 | While Amazon responded by selling shoes at a loss until Zappos, a smaller company without |
| 1:43.5 | the backing of Wall Street started bleeding red ink and eventually they had to agree to |
| 1:47.6 | emerge. |
... |
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