Good for Elizabeth Warren for speaking about Bad Mergers. -- I hope Clinton pays attention

[Armstead]

It's about damn time.

https://ourfuture.org/20160707/another-day-another-corporate-merger-its-time-to-push-back

You’ve likely seen these brands as you walked the aisles of an organic and natural foods supermarket: Silk. So Delicious. Horizon Organic. Wallaby Organic. Earthbound Farm. If you saw these brands, it probably did not occur to you that these brands were already under the umbrella of one corporation: WhiteWave Foods Company, which describes itself as “a global company which generated $4 billion in sales in 2015 and has a portfolio of large and leading branded platforms in North America and Europe.”

This is the company that is making news Thursday with news that Danone – best known for Dannon yogurt but which also owns the dairy brands Activia, Stonyfield and Oikos as well as Evian, Dannon and Volvic bottled water – and WhiteWave are merging.

It also underscores a danger highlighted by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) last week in a major speech condemning increasing corporate concentration and consolidation in virtually every consumer market. “Concentration threatens our markets, threatens our economy, and threatens our democracy,” she said in the speech at New America in Washington on “America’s Monopoly Problem.”

Warren is elevating the problem of corporate consolidation just as the draft of the platform of the Democratic National Committee, which will be debated starting Friday at a party meeting in Orlando, calls for the Democratic Party to “take steps to stop corporate concentration in any industry where it’s unfairly limiting competition.” The draft platform pledges to “make competition policy and antitrust stronger and more responsive to our economy today, enhance the antitrust enforcement arms of the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, and encourage other agencies to police anti-competitive practices in their areas of jurisdiction.”................MORE

[elleng]

1. So it's worth revisiting a famous populist speech Teddy Roosevelt gave in 1912,

'Given the tension in the country today over inequality, greed, corporate influence over politics, taxes, regulation, etc., it seems worth noting that these issues aren't exactly new.

The recent extremes of corporate power and profitability juxtaposed with super-high unemployment and stagnant wages have just made them hit a boiling point.

So it's worth revisiting a famous populist speech Teddy Roosevelt gave in 1912, when similar issues plagued the country.

What's remarkable about the speech is not that Roosevelt gave it.

It's that he gave it a few minutes after getting shot by some anarchist who was pissed off that he was running for a third term.

The assassin's bullet hit Roosevelt in the chest. Before it reached his skin, however, it hit the pages of the speech he was planning to give, which were in his vest pocket. The bullet penetrated the pages, but they slowed it down. When the bullet finally hit Teddy Roosevelt, therefore, it was going too slowly to kill him.

So he insisted on making the speech.

And here it is:

"It Takes More Than That to Kill a Bull Moose":'>>>

http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-the-famous-populist-speech-teddy-roosevelt-gave-right-after-getting-shot-2011-10

[Armstead]

4. This should have been a core issue since the 1980's. So much stems from it

We are losing the real freedom of choice when all of the "competing "products" are owned by the same companies...Not to mention smothering the ability of small and mid-sized business to compete, and the screwing of workers, consumers and the general citizenry that results ..

Not to mention the total skewing and distortion of the political process on so many issues ...

[elleng]

5. Absolutely, Armstead.

I worked for an independent regulatory agency at the time, was just learning, and it became more and more apparent. I recall asking an experienced colleague 'what's so important about anti-trust,' and he exclaimed (at my ignorance!) and said something like EVERYTHING!

[Vattel]

2. I wish Warren could be in charge of the economy.

I was going to suggest someone to be in charge of foreign policy, but I can't think of any politician who I would trust with that responsibility.

[Vote2016]

3. Warren is extremely valuable in the Senate but I think we need her on the ticket more than we need

her in the Senate.