Monopolies Suck: 7 Ways Big Corporations Rule Your Life and How to Take Back Control
An urgent and witty manifesto, Monopolies Suck “lucidly explains how monopolies threaten democracy, worsen inequality, and imperil the American Dream-and why it's more important than ever to take action” (David Cicilline).

Something's not right. No matter how hard you work, life seems to only get harder. When your expenses keep going up but your income stays flat, when you're price-gouged buying medicine for your child's life-threatening allergy, when you live in a hyped-up state of fear and anxiety, monopoly power is playing a key role. In Monopolies Suck, antitrust expert and director at the Open Markets Institute, Sally Hubbard, shows us the seven ways big corporations rule our lives-and what must be done to stop them.

Throughout history, monopolists who controlled entire industries like railroads and oil were aptly called “robber barons” because they extracted wealth from everyone else-and today's monopolies are no different. By charging high prices, skirting taxes, and reducing our pay and economic opportunities, they are not only stealing our money, but also robbing us of innovation and choice, as market dominance prevents new companies from challenging them. They're robbing us of the ability to take care of our sick, a healthy food supply, and a habitable planet by using business practices that deplete rather than generate. They're a threat to our private lives, fair elections, a robust press, and ultimately, the American Dream that so many of us are striving for.

In this “accessible guide” (Zephyr Teachout, author of Break `Em Up), Sally Hubbard gives us an easy-to-understand overview of the history of monopolies and antitrust law, and urges us to use our voices, votes, and wallets to protest monopoly power. Emboldened by the previous century when we successfully broke up monopoly power in the US, we have the tools to dismantle corporate power again today-before their lobbying threatens to undermine our economy and democracy for generations to come.
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Monopolies Suck: 7 Ways Big Corporations Rule Your Life and How to Take Back Control
An urgent and witty manifesto, Monopolies Suck “lucidly explains how monopolies threaten democracy, worsen inequality, and imperil the American Dream-and why it's more important than ever to take action” (David Cicilline).

Something's not right. No matter how hard you work, life seems to only get harder. When your expenses keep going up but your income stays flat, when you're price-gouged buying medicine for your child's life-threatening allergy, when you live in a hyped-up state of fear and anxiety, monopoly power is playing a key role. In Monopolies Suck, antitrust expert and director at the Open Markets Institute, Sally Hubbard, shows us the seven ways big corporations rule our lives-and what must be done to stop them.

Throughout history, monopolists who controlled entire industries like railroads and oil were aptly called “robber barons” because they extracted wealth from everyone else-and today's monopolies are no different. By charging high prices, skirting taxes, and reducing our pay and economic opportunities, they are not only stealing our money, but also robbing us of innovation and choice, as market dominance prevents new companies from challenging them. They're robbing us of the ability to take care of our sick, a healthy food supply, and a habitable planet by using business practices that deplete rather than generate. They're a threat to our private lives, fair elections, a robust press, and ultimately, the American Dream that so many of us are striving for.

In this “accessible guide” (Zephyr Teachout, author of Break `Em Up), Sally Hubbard gives us an easy-to-understand overview of the history of monopolies and antitrust law, and urges us to use our voices, votes, and wallets to protest monopoly power. Emboldened by the previous century when we successfully broke up monopoly power in the US, we have the tools to dismantle corporate power again today-before their lobbying threatens to undermine our economy and democracy for generations to come.
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Monopolies Suck: 7 Ways Big Corporations Rule Your Life and How to Take Back Control

Monopolies Suck: 7 Ways Big Corporations Rule Your Life and How to Take Back Control

by Sally Hubbard

Narrated by Vivienne Leheny

Unabridged — 7 hours, 45 minutes

Monopolies Suck: 7 Ways Big Corporations Rule Your Life and How to Take Back Control

Monopolies Suck: 7 Ways Big Corporations Rule Your Life and How to Take Back Control

by Sally Hubbard

Narrated by Vivienne Leheny

Unabridged — 7 hours, 45 minutes

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Overview

An urgent and witty manifesto, Monopolies Suck “lucidly explains how monopolies threaten democracy, worsen inequality, and imperil the American Dream-and why it's more important than ever to take action” (David Cicilline).

Something's not right. No matter how hard you work, life seems to only get harder. When your expenses keep going up but your income stays flat, when you're price-gouged buying medicine for your child's life-threatening allergy, when you live in a hyped-up state of fear and anxiety, monopoly power is playing a key role. In Monopolies Suck, antitrust expert and director at the Open Markets Institute, Sally Hubbard, shows us the seven ways big corporations rule our lives-and what must be done to stop them.

Throughout history, monopolists who controlled entire industries like railroads and oil were aptly called “robber barons” because they extracted wealth from everyone else-and today's monopolies are no different. By charging high prices, skirting taxes, and reducing our pay and economic opportunities, they are not only stealing our money, but also robbing us of innovation and choice, as market dominance prevents new companies from challenging them. They're robbing us of the ability to take care of our sick, a healthy food supply, and a habitable planet by using business practices that deplete rather than generate. They're a threat to our private lives, fair elections, a robust press, and ultimately, the American Dream that so many of us are striving for.

In this “accessible guide” (Zephyr Teachout, author of Break `Em Up), Sally Hubbard gives us an easy-to-understand overview of the history of monopolies and antitrust law, and urges us to use our voices, votes, and wallets to protest monopoly power. Emboldened by the previous century when we successfully broke up monopoly power in the US, we have the tools to dismantle corporate power again today-before their lobbying threatens to undermine our economy and democracy for generations to come.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"A provocative call to restore economic competition by dismantling the ruling plutocracy."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Hubbard’s cogent, accessible analysis makes a persuasive case that unchecked monopolies have rigged the system against ordinary Americans. Policymakers and voters will want to take note."
—Publishers Weekly

"In this important book, Sally Hubbard explains with winning clarity, concision and humor the many ways monopolies hurt us all—and what citizens can do to combat the hydra-headed menace of concentrated corporate power."
—Nancy MacLean, author of Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America

“With expertise and an engaging writing style, Sally Hubbard’s Monopolies Suck is a must read for anyone wanting to understand how monopolies endanger our pocketbooks and our democracy. The book will leave you enraged at the role monopolies play in every facet of our daily lives, but encouraged that we can, in fact, beat them."
—Denise Hearn, co-author of The Myth of Capitalism: Monopolies and the Death of Competition

“Sally Hubbard is a rare combination: a former antitrust enforcer who knows the law deeply and a sharp, pull-no-punches writer. In this light, accessible guide, Hubbard shows how today’s corporate giants are breaking the laws intended to protect you—and what you can do about it.”
—Zephyr Teachout, author of Break ‘Em Up: Recovering Our Freedom from Big Ag, Big Tech, and Big Money

“In my 20-plus years in the tech industry, I have never witnessed the scale of monopolization that exists today with dominant internet platforms. They flagrantly steal ideas, suppress innovation, and limit consumer choice. We need meaningful change—before it's too late. Sally Hubbard's book spells out these pressing threats in lucid prose that reminds us how urgently we need to act.”
—Patrick Spence, CEO of Sonos

“The creative community is paying a steep price in monopolized America, with millions of artists struggling to make a living under rules that prioritize Big Tech profits. Sally Hubbard lays out the case for how we fight back—and why we must.”
—Don Henley, musician, songwriter, producer, and founding member of The Eagles

"Antitrust law is a tool that belongs to the people, and Sally Hubbard breaks it down in a way that everyone can understand. Hubbard lucidly explains how monopolies threaten democracy, worsen inequality, and imperil the American Dream—and why it's more important than ever to take action."
—David N. Cicilline

"Hubbard has done the important work of relating monopolism to your daily life – the ways in which you, personally, are made worse off, every day, by unchecked corporate concentration and power...An outstanding and important read."
—Cory Doctorow, bestselling author of Little Brother

Kirkus Reviews

2020-08-11
The title says it all: The major corporations are milking us dry, and the problem is getting worse as they flout “the rules that democracies create to protect their citizens.”

How do monopolies suck? Let Hubbard, the director of enforcement strategy at the Open Markets Institute, count the ways: They’re anti-democratic, they crush competition and hamper innovation, they’re destroying the planet, and so forth. “We blame the economy for our financial struggles,” she writes, “but the economy is doing just fine. The problem is that the ultrarich are hoarding its spoils.” The game is rigged from the start, though those spoils have been increasingly rolling into the vaults of the mega-wealthy ever since the Reagan years, when the interests of the middle class were jettisoned in favor of the predatory capitalism of today. Hubbard clearly shows how monopolies are established in numerous ways. For instance, in the matter of internet access, very few consumers have a choice between more than two providers, “meaning broadband providers can charge monopoly prices in most of America.” Where municipalities have provided broadband, as in the case of Chattanooga, lobbyists have pressed to quash this “unfair” competition legally. In another instance, four leading poultry producers conspired to fix prices, costing families an average of $330 extra per year—and that’s just poultry. Monopolistic corporations gather consumer data (see: Amazon, Google, Facebook), parasitize the economy (“Walmart employees make up the single largest group of food stamp recipients in many states”), and promote inequality and “inequities in our society, like structural racism and patriarchy.” Hubbard’s argument is convincing without being overbearing. Usefully, she also makes the case that monopolies have been broken before in American history (think Teddy Roosevelt’s trust-busting) and that there are anti-monopolistic tools already available to federal enforcers—if only they would use them.

A provocative call to restore economic competition by dismantling the ruling plutocracy.

Product Details

BN ID: 2940177411590
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication date: 10/27/2020
Edition description: Unabridged
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