A Billionaire Explains Why American Business Now Feels like the Mafia
In his autobiography "Born to Be Wired," Warner board member and billionaire John Malone describes how he helped turn America into a society focused on greed and market power.
Economics
BIG by Matt Stoller.
Matt Stoller on monopoly power, antitrust, and the politics of corporate consolidation.
Recent essays
30 of 60Monopoly Round-Up: After SpaceX Goes Public, Does the Stock Market Finally Fall?
Elon Musk's SpaceX IPO is a very scary moment for the stock market. And AI is getting repriced in an ugly way as corporate America finally has to start paying for the tools.
The Mystery Gasoline Surcharge: How Oil Incumbents Are Trying to Maintain Fossil Fuel Dominance
Potential 2028 candidate Gavin Newsom is fighting with Chevron about high gas prices. But the real stakes are about whether the U.S. will remain locked into an expensive fossil fuel tech stack.
Monopoly Round-Up: Private Equity Blocked from Buying Homes. Mostly.
Big business lost this fight, and a battle over railway safety and labor conditions. It's a shocking moment, as Wall Street titans start to see their power ebb in the waning days of the Trump era.
"Where’s all the f&$*#ing money going?" The Waste and Costs of American Utilities
NextEra's $67 billion takeover of Dominion shows the problem with utilities. We spend a lot, and get little in return. Why? Utility monopolies profit from gold-plating, waste and inefficiency.
Monopoly Round-Up: The Rage of the Billionaires Is Coming
As students boo commencement speakers touting AI, and communities reject data centers, billionaires are getting nervous and angry. It's going to get worse.
The Efficiency Moat: Why China Is Beating the U.S. on AI… And Everything Else
From electric vehicles to drones to solar to AI, the Chinese are doing what the U.S. used to - investing and competing. Chinese strategy is also predatory, but we could learn a thing or two from them.
Monopoly Round-Up: What Challenging a Bowling Monopoly Says About America
Lots of monopoly news, as usual.
Fine Print: How Uniform Rental Contracts Explain the U.S. Economy
The inequality of the legal system is on full display. If you're big, you have rights. If you're small, you don't. And the Cintas-Unifirst merger reveals how this system enables bad behavior.
Monopoly Round-Up: How Big Tech Earnings Show the Stock Market Is Being Manipulated
This week, the four biggest spenders on AI released their earnings within two minutes of each other. There's an unsettling reason for that. Plus, Michigan goes after private equity in youth sports...
Who Killed Spirit Airlines?
It wasn't Biden antitrust enforcers. It was Donald Trump's Iran War, JetBlue, the big four trunk airlines, and behind all of that, deregulation. And this story has happened hundreds of times.
Progressive Democrats Propose Banning Surveillance Pricing, Breaking Apart Corporate America If They Win in 2026
Democrats are are starting to make proposals for what they will do if they take control of Congress. Bans on surveillance pricing, restructuring corporate America, and utility reforms are on deck.
Monopoly Round-Up: How a Chinese Finger Trap Explains America's Political Dilemma
To get out of our malaise, we must do things that will make the stock market go down. But to preserve our institutions, we can't let the stock market go down. Plus, Amazon gets caught fixing prices...
How Hollywood Rediscovered Its Anti-Monopoly Roots
As Paramount CEO David Ellison hosts a D.C. dinner honoring Trump, major actors and industry stakeholders publicly oppose the Paramount-Warner deal. This conflict has been a long time coming.
Monopoly Round-Up: Some Surprising Setbacks for Trump-Aligned Corporate America
With losses in cases involving Ticketmaster, Nexstar-TEGNA, and Amazon this week, plus a data center ban in Maine and taxes on $5M+ apartments in NYC, the superrich are starting to face obstacles.
BOOM: Ticketmaster GUILTY of Monopolization
Company execs joked about their customers, privately saying they were "robbing them blind, baby." Today, a jury handed the ticketing and concert giant a complete defeat.
Monopoly Round-Up: Ticketmaster Verdict Imminent
The Ticketmaster trial ends, and a jury decides. Plus, the Feds look into the NFL on antitrust law, fights over the Strait of Hormuz, and New York City has plans to open its first city grocery store.
Emergency Prices: How Private Equity Captured the Ambulance Market
Emergency service costs have been going up for years, frustrating city officials. One reason seems to be private equity, which bought up ambulance makers and raised prices.
Monopoly Round-Up: Lina Khan Is Back
Pam Bondi got fired, Sysco buys Restaurant Depot, CBS lies about California gas prices, a private equity roll-up is killing bowling leagues, and Palantir will help the IRS do audits.
Yes, Therapy Sessions Are Being Used to Train AI
There's a political fight over the practice of therapy, spurred by AI. As Wall Street driven health platforms try to reorder mental health care, therapists are pushing for regulation of insurance.
Monopoly Round-Up: The Iran Price Shock Begins
Prices are going up and markets are in chaos. This time, the rich aren't insulated. Plus, Australia bans social media for teens, Israeli soldiers are obsessed with betting on war, and more.
"We Wanted Them to Feel It": Ordinary Americans Take on Mark Zuckerberg and Big Tech in Jury Trials
In its 'Big Tobacco' moment, big tech lost major jury trials in Los Angeles and New Mexico over their behavior towards kids. The legal establishment is freaking out.
Monopoly Round-Up: Manipulating the Stock Market Is Trump's War Strategy
Trump's war strategy depends on Number Go Up. But the markets aren't believing him as much as they used to. Plus, Elon Musk found liable for fraud, and third party populist candidates gain steam.
BOOM: State Enforcers Attack the Censorship Machine, Challenge Merger That Kicked Jimmy Kimmel Off the Air
Eight Democratic state attorneys general challenge the $6 billion Nexstar-TEGNA merger that would consolidate local TV broadcasting and kill local news. It's about time.
Monopoly Round-Up: Bombshell Document Details Watergate-Style Corruption at the Antitrust Division
From Ticketmaster to Paramount to Hewlett Packard, the Trump administration and corporate America are involved in an orgy of corruption. Finally, we are seeing the first rea investigation take place.
BOOM: Senate Votes to Block Private Equity from Buying Homes
For 15 years, elites have fought against homeownership by ordinary people, instead pushing a renter society. That may have ended with an 89-10 vote in the Senate against Wall Street owning homes.
Trump Just Pardoned Ticketmaster When No One Was Looking
The Trump DOJ settled with Ticketmaster, while state enforcers said they'll continue. The judge is mad, the parties showed "absolute disrespect for the court, for the jury, for this entire process."
Monopoly Round-Up: Will the Iran Price Shock Break the World?
The Iran war may be catastrophic. Plus, Ticketmaster gets hit in its first week at trial, opposition to the Paramount-Warner deal is fractured, and the economy is slowing. It's a very ugly moment.
How Trump's Antitrust Enforcer Andrew Ferguson May Be Pushing Up Oil Prices
The FTC said former Pioneer CEO Scott Sheffield helped work with the OPEC oil cartel. The Trump FTC let him off the hook. And now he's back.
Monopoly Round-Up: The Epstein Class Launches a War
Arab princes, Western bankers, Silicon Valley AI guys, and Israeli hawks are all part of one blob. And they just started a war. Plus, the Ticketmaster trial starts...