Recently, there was an article by Greg Ip in the Wall Street Journal talking about the lack of monopoly oversight by the Federal government.
Here is an excerpt:
“Big tech and big mergers get the headlines, but the real monopoly problem is beneath the surface. In numerous industries and regions, competition has declined and corporate concentration risen through acquisitions often too small to draw the scrutiny of antitrust watchdogs.
This stealth consolidation may be as harmful, if not more so, than the much publicized and criticized practices of Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Apple Inc., Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.
The number of enforcement cases brought by the Justice Department’s antitrust division against alleged anticompetitive agreements and monopolistic behavior has plummeted in the past decade, according to federal data compiled by the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, a left-leaning think tank.
At both the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission, anti-merger enforcement has been largely stable. But the authorities may be more permissive than this data suggest. John Kwoka at Northeastern Universityhas documented that the FTC, while continuing to challenge mergers resulting in just two to four competitors, has since the mid-2000s been less likely to challenge mergers that result in five to eight competitors.”
The article went on to encourage readers to join a discussion about what more the government should do, writing :
“In what industries would you like to see more competition, and what, if anything, should the government do? “
Simple question, if monopolies are so bad, why does the government allow and promote the monopoly that exists in public education? Greg, why don’t you write about public schools in Providence, RI? (More on that below.)
2setsofrules doubts that the evil forces that align themselves when corporations merge and crowd out competition suddenly don’t exist when there is no competition in public schools.
Recently, the governor of PA vetoed a bill that would have provided additional scholarship dollars for students trying to escape the PA public school system. In his statement, he noted one reason for vetoing the bill was PA’s need for more dollars because school buildings were contaminated with lead paint.
Really?? How long has the lead paint issue been going on? It’s been decades.
Public schools in Providence, RI are even worse. A recent article showed just how bad the schools are. Here is another article on Providence.
From the article:
“A staff member told us that the gym was on the bottom floor, and that there was a leaking raw sewer pipe in the ceiling for over a year. It dripped on the heads of the children as they passed through the threshold, and they had had to dodge the drips and the puddle.”
You can read the full report by Johns Hopkins here.
Quick question, why is this story not being repeated time and again on the main stream media (MSM)? (Hint, dems/libs/progressives and the msm love teachers unions.)
More importantly, why doesn’t the US Justice Dept sue to stop public school monopolies?
There is always this sorta fuzzy math applied relative to monopolies when you read about why this merger or that merger shouldn’t happen. Public schools in Providence are a clear example of the problem with monopolies and everyone seems to be OK with that.
Why is there two sets of rules for going after monopolies? Monopolies in corporate America are bad but in public schools, they are OK? If Providence doesn’t convince you that public school monopolies are bad, nothing will.