Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Monopoly Dependencies

When you're not pondering the death of state budgets, which I've been blogging in relation to the university, read "Michael Jackson to be Buried Without His Brain." And the LAT's Steve Lopez on the MJ memorial service.

Read about the Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" that is predicted to grow and grow.

Then read Dean Baker's latest call for a NEW stimulus to save the sagging states, among other things. Same goes for Robert Kuttner.

My ongoing concern is that the U.S. doesn't know how to make money in the open markets its leaders say they love. Its big industries need lock-ins and other kinds of monopolies in which they make piles of cash by abusing market share. Maybe that's the way US capitalism always was - as marxian theory has of course always suggested. I was reminded of this reading a USA Today report on AT&T's iPhone lock-ins - a nice illustration of Karl's concerns.

And in case you think Michael Jackson defines craziness, read Stiglitz and Blimes on the various price tags on US war policy, which carries on.

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