Almost 10 years ago, I wrote an article about consolidation in movies, and the vertical integration perils of movie studios owning the movie distribution channels.
4 years ago, I republished it, because the trend continued.
Now, the trend keeps going. Not great for the industry or the audience.
https://stuff.davidaugust.com/whats-old-is-new-again-antitrust/
Trump announced late Wed:
a 100% tariff on imported chips, but not for cos. that're “bldg in the US.” Nvidia shares rose >1% in the premkt, while ADM climbed >2%. The SMH gained about 2% before the bell.
Apple gained 2% after the co ann plans to spend an additional $100B on US cos. & suppliers over the next 4 years.
#Monopoly: govt restricts competition by only allowing certain cos. to opr in a specific mkt or sctr.
#Privatization #Fascism #Kleptocracy #Tariffs #USPol
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/06/stock-market-today-live-updates.html
Bringing water in England back into public ownership
There was an interesting letter in the Gruaniad that argues (concisely) that the government is being deliberately misleading about the cost of nationalising the water ‘industry’ - that well known monopoly designed to fleece English house holds and tax payers.
https://www.thepeoplescommissiononthewatersector.co.uk/
Duplicate image to include all alt.text
#Water #Nationalisation #England #Monopoly #Valuation #Labour #Ofwat
https://www.europesays.com/2298564/ Royal Family ‘banned’ from playing popular and ‘vicious’ board game | Royal | News #Andrew #beatrice #BoardGameBanned #BritishRoyalFamily #DukeOfYork #Eugenie #monopoly #PrinceAndrew #PrinceAndrewMonopoly #PrinceAndrewNews #PrinceWilliam #PrinceWilliamNews #PrincessBeatrice #PrincessEugenie #QueenElizabeth #QueenElizabethBan #QueenElizabethMonopoly #RoyalBoardGames #RoyalFamilies #RoyalFamily #RoyalFamilyTraditions #RoyalGames
Microsoft bans LibreOffice developer's account without warning, rejects appeal
Apple slams U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit, saying it "threatens the very principles that set iPhone apart."
@9to5Mac reports "the DOJ’s antitrust lawsuit focuses on five major aspects of the iPhone experience: super apps, cloud streaming games, third-party messaging apps, third-party smartwatches, and third-party digital wallets."
#Monopoly hat mich in dem Glauben aufwachsen lassen, dass es irgendwann einen Bankirrtum zu meinen Gunsten geben würde und ich das Geld dann einfach behalten darf. Wann ist es denn endlich so weit?
My rotary phone was still working after 20 years when I replaced it, and my monthly bill minimal, now phones that cost upwards of thousands of dollars are switched every year and cell service is over $100 a month.
Pay phones have vanished
We really screwed up by restricting communication to only the privileged.
We are excluding more people from our society each year; lack of housing, air conditioning, higher food prices, no effective social supports.
And you wonder why crime is high, eh.
Wait a couple years ...the lack of community inclusiveness will blow up in our faces.
#Entitlement #Monopoly #Communication
#HumanRights #Canada
#Poverty #Crime #housing
@thelobdegg np.
I just think it's important to know that #Valve is in a better negotiation position than the payment processors.
They could've easily used their captive clientele and moved to #NowPayments but they chose not to becaise #GabeN doesn't give a damn about "#FreezePeach" bbut only his bottom line…
A quotation from Franklin Roosevelt
Once it is realized that business monopoly in America paralyzes the system of free enterprise on which it is grafted, and is as fatal to those who manipulate it as to the people who suffer beneath its impositions, action by the government to eliminate these artificial restraints will be welcomed by industry throughout the nation.
For idle factories and idle workers profit no man.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933-1945)
Message (1938-04-29) to Congress, On Curbing Monopolies
Sourcing, notes: wist.info/roosevelt-franklin-d…
#monopoly : the exclusive power, or privilege of selling a commodity
- French: monopole
- German: das Monopol
- Italian: monopolio
- Portuguese: monopólio
- Spanish: monopolio
------------
Report an incorrect translation @ https://wordofthehour.org/r/translations
“ #Trump admin is raising #prices that are at the heart of the #affordability crisis". --#JaredBernstein
Post-trade war, tariffs are up $21 billion/month.
Or $736/year for every man, woman. & child living in the US.
At the moment, importers are eating a lot of this tax, but sometime this year, much of this will pass through to consumers. The rest will result in lower margin for businesses without #monopoly power.
https://econjared.substack.com/p/did-someone-neglect-to-tell-the-president?publication
"The #monopoly #media morons for whom he’s entertained tens of millions of ad-viewing viewers deemed it so, and I’m sure it has nothing to do w Stephen #Colbert using his brilliant timing and razor-sharp wit to disembowel Don-Don on the regular"
CONT-> https://www.blueamp.co/publish/post/168652683 #writing #humor #funny #tv #ai #usa #america #unitedstates #fascism #us #russia #democracy #tech #news #politics #press #entertainment
#nestle can go eat a bag of shit. They are a horrible company and have been doing shitty stuff for decades.
#corpoategreed #monopoly
#abuseofpower
https://seattle.eater.com/restaurant-news/87186/seattle-strong-nestle-seattles-best-coffee-trademark-dispute
Cyprus seed bank battles agribusiness monopolies – People’s World https://www.byteseu.com/1200333/ #Agribusiness #Agriculture #ClimateChange #Colonialism #Cyprus #environment #imperialism #monopoly #World
"#Safari is one of Apple’s most financially successful #products and the highest margin product Apple has ever made."
TL;DR: Apple’s rules and technical #restrictions are #blocking other #browser vendors from successfully offering their own #engines to users in the EU.
Apple is not in compliance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) regarding browsers and web apps.
long read - but well worth it!
#dma #apple #europe #market #monopoly
https://open-web-advocacy.org/blog/apples-browser-engine-ban-persists-even-under-the-dma/
Long Live RSS! - While we know that many of you are reading Hackaday via our Really Simple Syndicat... - https://hackaday.com/2025/07/10/long-live-rss/ #enshittification #computerhacks #monopoly #comic #art #rss
Reading an article on electric buses, I was struck by these lines:
>> If the T [Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority ] chooses to use federal money to purchase electric buses, it cannot purchase any bus that comes from (or has parts made in) China. Yet these are the best, least expensive electric buses on the market today and for the foreseeable future. This China ban means that every US transit agency using federal funds is forced to purchase from one vendor, New Flyer.
This is a classic monopoly marketplace, and you don’t need a degree in economics to understand that such marketplaces do not offer best-value pricing. At a time when the T should be maximizing the use of its financial resources, spending any money on electric buses until we can make purchases of quality equipment in a competitive market makes no fiscal sense. <<
"Monopoly" has been a boo word for more than two centuries in US history, yet here we see one example of how US policy has created one, with all the extra expense for ordinary people and potential for abuse that private monopoly entails.
Look forward to Trump's trade policies multiplying this kind of expense and inefficiency in every corner of US life.
https://commonwealthbeacon.org/opinion/why-the-mbtas-electric-bus-mandate-is-a-bad-idea/
