Shovel-Ready

A half-to-three-quarters-baked idea to fix capitalism.

A shovel in a pool of wet cement; from the left of the frame, we see the toe of a work-boot, seemingly poised to plunge the shovel into the wet concrete.
Alex Proimos/CC BY 2.0

America has a monopoly problem. The list of heavily concentrated industries grows longer by the day, even as the number of companies operating in each sector shrinks: pharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical benefit managers, health insurance, appliances, athletic shoes, books, alcohol, drug stores, office supplies, eyeglasses, TV ads, internet ads, internet search, semiconductors, enterprise software, LCDs, vitamin C, auto parts, glass bottles, bottle caps, pharmaceutical bottles, airlines, railroads, travel search, railroads, mattresses, lab equipment, lasik lasers, offshore oil services, onshore oil services, contract manufacturing, food services, Champagne, cowboy boots, home improvement stores, and candy.

Monopolists Declared War on America

Once an industry is concentrated, everyone suffers. Highly concentrated industries can abuse their workers with impunity, because there’s nowhere else for them to go. Once an industry is sufficiently concentrated, its workplaces become literal slaughterhouses where workers risk their lives every day, while their bosses place bets on which workers will die first.

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