Subjects Archives: Monopoly

From Israel’s occupation and genocide in Palestine, to threats of invasion of Venezuela, the endless proxy war in Ukraine, to military buildup pointing at China–there is one common cause, U.S. imperialism.

What the planet’s mega-rich capture of our media system shows is that billionaires are not only a serious drain on resources, but an existential threat to an open society and the free flow of information.

It may be thought that just as any tendency towards a financial outflow causes a squeeze on the living conditions of the working people via an exchange rate depreciation, any opposite tendency, towards an inflow of finance (in excess of the autonomously determined current account deficit in any period) should have the opposite effect of appreciating the exchange rate and hence lowering the cost of living, to the benefit of the working masses.

Mergers, money, and the erosion of patient-centered care.

This interview was conducted by Zhao Dingqi for the journal World Socialism Studies. Zhao Dingqi: You once pointed out that the MAGA movement is essentially an alliance between the monopolistic capitalist right wing and the lower middle class. How do you understand the reasons behind the formation of this alliance, and how does it reflect […]

For Baran, the key to liberating the former colonies from the stranglehold of rapacious monopolies is not a reordering of international relations, not a campaign for a level international playing field, not alternative market institutions, nor a coalition of dissenters from the status quo, but a radical change in the social and economic structure of the oppressed country.

SOLOMON HUGHES reveals how six MPs enjoyed £400-£600 hospitality at Ditchley Park for Google’s ‘AI parliamentary scheme’ — supposedly to develop ‘effective scrutiny’ of artificial intelligence, but actually funded by the increasingly unsavoury tech giant itself.

Human societies are setting themselves on a collision course with climate-induced catastrophes. Lithium-ion batteries will soon be facing competition. How to deal with x and the conflicts it creates?

A popular coal-miner’s riddle from the 1930s summarizes one of capitalism’s most visible and absurd contradictions. After a daughter asks her father why their home is so cold, he tells her they don’t have any money to purchase coal.

Amazon Worker Solidarity sought to understand how Amazon makes it money to inform organizing strategy in the Amazon movement.

The former Labour Party leader’s new foreword to Claire Provost and Matt Kennard’s book ‘Silent Coup’ outlines his thoughts on the growing power of the private sector over society.

Since the global financial crisis, big banks have taken a backseat, and asset managers have become the—often self-appointed—new experts and administrators of capitalism.

Vulture Capitalism demolishes the idea of the ‘free market’ in the corporate age, but has limitations in its analysis of capitalism and how to challenge it, argues Dominic Alexander.

A study by the Urban Institute (UI) in 2018, before the pandemic struck, found that nearly 40 per cent of non-elderly adults and their families struggled to afford at least one basic need for health care, housing, utilities or food in 2017.

The world’s five richest men have more than doubled their fortunes from $405 billion to $869 billion since 2020–at a rate of $14 million per hour– while nearly five billion people have been made poorer, reveals a new Oxfam report on inequality and global corporate power.

One of the major problems faced by Global South countries is that they are saddled with immense debts in dollars, and Western corporations claim ownership over their resources.

The summit in Havana ends with document that also highlights the role of technology for development.

This accusation surfaced during the commencement of a historic trial, marking the most significant antitrust case in the U.S. in over twenty years.

Under monopoly capitalism of course this relationship between monopoly capitalists and the state becomes far closer. Rudolf Hilferding in his opus Das Finanzkapital had talked of a “personal union” between banks and industrial capital and the formation on this basis of a “financial oligarchy”, and had suggested a similar “personal union” between the “financial oligarchy” and the State.

Each member of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index made an average of over $14 million per day over the last six months—even as 47 percent of the world’s population barely survived on $6.25 a day.