Matt Stoller Profile picture
Oct 1, 2020 7 tweets 3 min read Read on X
Fascinating dynamic at this hearing on antitrust and big tech. You got three Brandeisians testifying, two moderate Dems, two big tech libertarians, and anti-monopoly conservative @rachelbovard.
Ugh, @Jim_Jordan is such a dumb blowhard. In a serious hearing about monopoly power he's continuing to allege that big tech promotes progressives and censors conservatives. Then goes after Dems for trying to "radically rewrite antitrust laws."
Every single Republican on this subcommittee is serious except @Jim_Jordan. Some of the Rs don't want to change the laws, some do. But no one is a clown like Jordan and his clown staffer Tyler Grimm.
Obama Antitrust chief Bill Baer is saying that antitrust law went dark for 25 years, and blames the Chicago School. That's not what he was saying in 2016 when he was in charge.
"From oilfield services—our most recent success—tax prep, online ratings, cable/internet, canned tuna, cooking appliances, cell phones, equipment for next-generation semiconductors, to monopolization of airport slots, we have done our job." - Bill Baer justice.gov/opa/speech/act…
Amazing statement by @econliberties advisor @ZephyrTeachout attacking judge-made antitrust law.
Now @ZephyrTeachout attacks our "planned economy," except the planners she notes are big tech monopolies.

Basically the eight most frightening words in the English language are "I'm from Facebook, and I'm here to help."

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More from @matthewstoller

Jan 26
Deepseek is forcing the entire Silicon Valley ecosystem to recognize that Lina Khan was right, even if they won’t admit it.
Here’s the point. ftc.gov/system/files/f…
American big tech firms are bad at building things because their focus is not on building things, it’s on monopolization and political power. No different than Boeing. This has been obvious for years. thebignewsletter.com/p/national-cha…
Read 4 tweets
Jan 25
So an insane story by @musharbash_b, a private equity roll-up of fire trucks is why more than half the fire trucks in Los Angeles were out of service during the catastrophic wildfires in the Palisades and Eaton. Image
I do a lot on economic termites, this one's a big deal. Cities all over the country have to pay twice as much for fire equipment as they used to because there's now what appears to be some sort of fire equipment cartel. Image
Read 4 tweets
Jan 23
1. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is bad because it was a way of taking the civil rights movement - which was about prohibiting economic discrimination at its core - and corrupting it to serve corporate interests. Here are some examples, starting with UnitedHealth Group. Image
2. Biglaw's Latham and Watkins bragged their team keeping poultry price-fixers out of jail was a historic 'all-women team' of defense lawyers. Image
3. Here's financier Brian Regan - who rolled up anesthesiology and radiology practices so he could price gouge - boosting the Women's Private Equity Summit. Equity is awesome! Image
Read 16 tweets
Jan 17
1. Want some fun news before the Monday inauguration that you won't have heard anywhere else? The antitrust enforcers (Lina Khan et al) went full Tony Montana on big business this week before Trump people took over. Here's just part of what they did. Image
2. The FTC filed a monopolization claim against agricultural machine maker John Deere for generating $6 billion by prohibiting farmers from being able to repair their own equipment, a suit which Wired magazine calls a “tipping point” for the right to repair movement. Image
3. They also released another report on pharmacy benefit managers, including that of UnitedHealth Group, showing that these companies inflated prices for specialty pharmaceuticals by more than $7 billion. Image
Read 21 tweets
Jan 6
There’s a nontrivial chance that Trump’s new term is the actual catastrophe that liberals imagined his first one would be. I don’t mean authoritarian, I mean economic, military and social collapse.
Here's why I think there's a nontrivial chance of a serious dislocation under Trump. It's not because of him, per se, but structural things he won't fix.

Here are a few. The U.S. net international investment position is negative $23 trillion and sinking rapidly. That's crazy. Image
That doesn't mean the U.S. will go 'bankrupt,' that concept can't apply to nations. It means the U.S. is trading our entire productive capacity for finance. For instance, we're now a net food importer by value. What? Our farmland is awesome. And yet... Image
Read 13 tweets
Dec 28, 2024
There's something off about all of the post-election recriminations among Democrats. It's not that any of the theories are wrong, it's that none of these pontificators actually know how to make government do anything.
Like, sure, use different language if you think that matters. The bottom line is Obama said you can keep your doctor and health costs would go down and that didn't happen and most Dems don't seem remotely curious why that is.
There are a few people in Biden-world who did CHIPS stuff, there's some export control people, there are some anti-monopolists, but that's sort of it for Democrats who have actually done anything with power.
Read 6 tweets

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