I share the post by Nick Shaxson, originally on the Tax Justice Network websiteTax Justice Network website, on a new initiative that Nick, Michelle Meagher and John Christensen are launching to address the problems created by monopoly power. This is called The Counterbalance:
In November 2019 we published a long article entitled If tax havens scare you, monopolies should too. And vice versa.
The article described how a small group of ideologues in Chicago from the 1970s popularised a harmful new story about monopolies and competition, which was so influential that it effectively de-fanged government protections and allowed a wave of corporate mergers and rising corporate power, first in the United States, then in Europe and beyond. We described the emergence in the past few years of a powerful new antimonopoly movement in the United States, wielding a vibrant new story that is now starting to overthrow the Chicago-school ideology of antitrust.
Unfortunately, this new story had not — and still has not — spread very far beyond the United States. Hopefully, this will soon start to change. This week, a new newsletter was launched, The Counterbalance, which notes:
“We first came together in late 2020 when Barry Lynn [a leading light of the new US antitrust movement] sent Michelle [Meagher, a competition lawyer} an article by Nick [Shaxson of TJN,] entitled “If tax havens scare you, monopolies should too. And vice versa,” calling for a new antimonopoly movement outside the United States. We recognised our shared interests, and began working together almost immediately.”
The Counterbalance is only a newsletter at this stage. The participants are setting up an organisation — The Balanced Economy Project — to tackle these enormous issues. It will have a global focus.
Now please read on — and if you like what you see, please subscribe.
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I think this is one that will be well worth subscribing to.
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Britain of course has its very own mafia, I mean, power network monopolies mostly foreign controlled (Chinese politburo owns the network that supplies amongst others the Fatberg in Downing Street) and “regulated” by the preening poodle Ofgem. These monopolies are kept in the style to which they have grown accustomed with rates of return of around 6 to 8% – not bad eh & all risk free. I will be active in this area over the next year, apologies if I don’t give more details – it would only forewarn enemies.
I read Nick Shaxson’s book “The Finance Curse” a few months ago – its a good account of financialisation although he is obviously not an advocate of MMT (or at least wasn’t when he wrote the book) and spoke about “taxpayers’ money” in the book. I have subscribed to The Counterbalance.
I am not sure Nick gets MMT
John Christensen does
TJN does not and that is an open bone of contention between me and many in tax justice
Subscribed.
They seem to chime pretty much with my opinion.
I hope they address the rampant cartelism operating across markets and countries. Geopolitics can’t really be separated from the issue. I suspect they know there will be maximum resistance and accusation of communism.
There’s no real need to reinvent that wheel is there?
We could do worse than reinstating the sensible anti monopoly laws of the pre 80’s. Along with Glass Steegle.
A truly radical idea would be to make ‘National Banks’ actually national- run as an arm of the Treasury directly!
Will follow them and see.