To Merge or Not to Merge: Monopoly Crony Capitalism at its worst with our Communications and Information Industries.

It appears the Administration is looking for ways to assist its allies in the Sinclair Group in its merger talks with Tribune but wants to stop a proposed joining between ATT and Time Warner. There was once upon a time when Republican Presidents were against monopolies and busted them. That was when Republicans under Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft were leading the progressive movement in breaking business trusts because they had grown to the point where there was little to no competition in various industries. Since the Reagan years, the Republicans (and Democrats) have forgotten the lessons of Roosevelt and Taft and allowed merger after merger, helping increase the divide between the haves and have-nots. We especially do not need monopolies and crony capitalism in the communications and information arena. This area, like other economic sectors, needs competition in the gathering and exchange of ideas, news, and perspectives. To allow these mergers means we have fewer people controlling the ideas, news, and perspectives people are exposed to. We lose a little of our democracy, our republic, and our freedom when we allow these monopolies to exist. We must contact our elected leaders and petition them to stop these mergers from happening. We also need to stop the FCC from taking away net neutrality. We can not allow sites like Breibart to have more prominent exposure than NPR.


http://www.motherjones.com/media/2017/11/fcc-sinclair-media-ownership-tribune-merger/

http://variety.com/2017/politics/news/fcc-media-ownership-nancy-pelosi-1202619425/

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wall-street-analysts-t-prevail-151255202.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/amp/t-time-warner-deal-not-good-country-trump-says-n823036

https://www.recode.net/2017/11/21/16679114/fcc-ajit-pai-net-neutrality-rules-donald-trump