Monopolies Suck, Sally Hubbard
Monopolies Suck, Sally Hubbard
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Monopolies Suck
7 Ways Big Corporations Rule Your Life and How to Take Back Control

Author: Sally Hubbard

Narrator: Vivienne Leheny

Unabridged: 7 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/27/2020


Synopsis

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.

About Sally Hubbard

Sally Hubbard is an antitrust expert and Director of Enforcement Strategy at the Open Markets Institute, an organization developing solutions to America’s monopoly crisis. She served as an Assistant Attorney General in the NYAG Antitrust Bureau, and was an investigative journalist covering mergers, monopolies, and privacy. She has testified in the US House of Representatives and before the Federal Trade Commission. She appears and is cited regularly as an antitrust expert in a wide range of media, including The New York Times, CNN, BBC World News, Vanity FairThe Washington PostThe AtlanticWired, and hosts the podcast Women Killing It. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children.


Reviews

Goodreads review by B

The content is accessible, and the author makes a strong anti-trust case about the companies (especially Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple) in that their monopolistic grip of the market has trashed our environment, made a mockery of any remnant of our privacy, crushed competition, innovation, and d......more

Goodreads review by April

Monopolies Suck was a real eye-opener for me. Sally Hubbard is an expert on anti-trust laws, and this book helps us non-experts understand "7 Ways Big corporations Rule Your Life and How to Take Back Control". Big ag, big pharma, big medicine, and big tech call the shots. With little competition, c......more

Goodreads review by J.J.

I’m changing my ways on what I buy when I can. It’s not just monopolies, but when there are only two options left. You still don’t have options as a consumer. Want to know how the rules are changed to benefit the companies that are already winning? The things we just go along with because it’s easy,......more

While reading Tim Wu's "The Curse of Bigness" I wanted to read a couple other books which were for and against the antitrust law to try to get a balanced picture of the conversation. I've made it deliberate that the 4/5 rating is not for the side of the debate, it is purely for the book's content. Th......more