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We need to break up these big companies and bust their monopolies and oligopolies. Capitalism only works effectively for all when there is real competition in the marketplaces. Right now, this doesn’t exist in Australia and in most countries around the globe. There are too many sectors where only 2 or 3 corporations control markets. This prevents consumers having buying power and employees having any wage bargaining power. The chips are all in the corner of the bosses and the shareholders. Think about Coles and Woolworths dominating the supermarket and the liquor sectors. Think about the 4 big banks and the 4 big accountancy consulting firms. The insurance business is, likewise, dominated by a small number of giant companies. The telco business is Telstra, Optus and not much else. Big Tech is even worse, with most of them holding monopolies. Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta and their ilk control their markets monopolistically. Consumers are screwed when multinationals have such domination over markets and sectors. Capitalism does not work when competition does not exist.
Corporations Dominating Markets Mean Little Innovation
It is no accident that these corporations have gobbled up their competitors and or merged with them to create giant companies dominating their markets. Their CEOs and boards have been busy strategically doing this over decades. Our governments and their agencies have been remiss in letting these big companies take over sectors. Competition was supposed to be protected by the ACCC and ASIC. These repeated failures, in this regard, have been treated with indifference by the public and those who should know better. Big business has got its way to our detriment and to our expense going forward. Productivity has, also, been moribund, which tells us something about the absence of real competition too. Big companies controlling sectors can not only price set but it breeds complacency and a lack of innovation. Real innovation is spurred on by actual competition for markets.
Big Companies Buy Politicians & Leaders
Our governments and politicians do not speak truth to power, rather they suck up to it for pats on the head and rewards. How else can you explain the decades of bad deals negotiated on our behalf by these ministers and their bureaucrats? It cannot all be put down to stupidity and being out of their depth. The revolving door has been spinning like a golden top for these individuals, as they take up lucrative positions in resource and military hardware companies post public office. Scott Morrison, the former PM has done very well out of the AUKUS decision for Australia to spend upwards of $368 billion with the US and UK over the coming decade and a half. Remembered as our greatest liar in the top job, Scott, obviously saw, what side his bread was buttered on and where a predilection for dissembling would be most appreciated.
Mega Corruption On Trumpian Scales
Mega corruption is defined as kickbacks on deals so large as to be beyond the comprehension of ordinary citizens. Hundreds of billions of dollars going to companies mean that the gravy train is so thick that it feeds plenty of backhanders along the way. Military spending is infamous for such waste and corruption, as it hides behind the flag waving of national security. Who is going to question it? I mean, it would be unAustralian. Labor meekly went along with the dreadful AUKUS deal, where we get to pay billions with no guarantee of receiving any submarines. Who would comply with such a foolish position, if they weren’t complicit themselves in some way? In Labor’s case it was politically expedient to go along with AUKUS and they continue to do so. Kissing the arse of an America led by a mega-crook and his cohort of Epstein billionaires.
One Nation Is Aussie MAGA
Despite the odious intentions of One Nation, Australia’s MAGA, being anti-immigration is not going to make downunder a better place. Attacking foreign looking folk on our shores will not improve the economic wellbeing of our citizens. We need to break up these big companies and bust their monopolies and oligopolies. Political parties in thrall to Donald Trump will not succeed in making the world better. Right wing Australia is following the Trumpian playbook in demonising immigrants. The Liberal Party is fighting over the scraps with Pauline Hanson in a race to the bottom. Beware of those campaigning on fighting culture wars, as they invariably stuff up the economy. Being bought and paid for by Gina Rinehart, the mining magnate oligarch, who has moved to America to be close to Donald Trump’s vision of a white man’s paradise, is no recommendation. We need a fairer Australia, not one ruled by oligarchs aping Americans.
Coles Found Guilty
Coles has just been found guilty in the federal court of misleading advertising. Woolworths is being tried on similar grounds, after both were charged by the ACCC. It seems that holding the nation over a barrel via their domination of the supermarket sector is not enough. No, in addition they want to pull the wool over our eyes to convince us they are discounting stuff when they really aren’t. The corporate world is a controlling, surveiling and dishonest place. Fly Buy and Reward’s cards are all about surveillance and selling our data to other corporations for big money. Too much power corrupts, we all know this, but we have let our leaders lead us astray. Too busy staring at screens and not paying enough attention to what is happening in the real world.
“The Federal Court today found that Coles Supermarkets Australia made false or misleading representations about ‘Down Down’ discounts, in proceedings brought by the ACCC. The proceedings related to 245 common products sold by Coles. The ACCC alleged that Coles temporarily increased the price of each product by at least 15 per cent for a relatively short period of time, before placing it on a ‘Down Down’ promotion at a price that was still higher than, or the same as, the price it had previously sold for before the price increase.”
- (https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/court-finds-that-coles-misled-customers-over-down-down-claims)
Time To Break Up The Big Companies
We need to break up these big companies and bust their monopolies and oligopolies. Until we reinvigorate our sectors with opportunities for competition and take back control of our markets, we will continue to suffer economically. Think about nature and bushfires, things grow back stronger after that destruction. Anti-Immigration is a band aid at best and a culture war poison at worst. The real enemy or challenge is ingrained corporate power distorting and manipulating the free market and how capitalism is supposed to work. It is time to take on the big boys, not attack vulnerable people at the bottom of the food chain. Right wing parties never want to take up this fight, I wonder why? Look at Trump’s America to see where that extreme agenda takes you. ICE murdering US citizens in the streets. We need real competition and not oligarchs like Elon Musk controlling our lives. America is a sick place, where rich people with obscene amounts of money don’t pay tax. Meanwhile, the working poor do all the heavy lifting. The Albanese federal government has just mooted the initiation of tax changes to trusts, the CGT discount and negative gearing. This is the first real attempt in over 30+ years to arrest the economic settings, which have resulted in a wealth divide growing exponentially in Australia. Basically, rich people avoid paying their fair share of tax via these means, whilst ordinary working folk carry that load. Of course, now, there are some unhappy wealthy people making noise about these announced amendments to the tax system. The property market in Australia has been out of control for many years with an inflation rate running at around 400% over those 30 years. Homes are unaffordable for the average Aussie, unless they have rich parents. Rents have gone through the roof too. Having a roof over your head should be a basic human right and not an expense, which drains most of your income. Residential housing should not be the biggest investment Ponzi scheme in town.
Busting Up Closed Markets Will Free Creativity
We need to break up these big companies and bust their monopolies and oligopolies. If every sector is dominated by large corporations how are new start-ups going to break into those markets? They will have to be backed by other multinational corporations with the deep pockets required. This limits innovation to vested interests with massive financial backing. These circumstances do not provide opportunities for all Australians. Burgeoning economies are about opportunity. Economic growth globally is in a rut because big companies have rigged the game. They have used their wealth and power to buy influence from politicians and their regulators. It is time for a fire to stimulate regrowth in our sectors and markets. New growth will emerge on the back of opportunities for investment and innovation. Now is the time for a fire.
Recognising Australia’s Lack Of Competition
“PIA says this is the first report in a planned series.
After identifying the reasons for the lack of competition in major areas of Australia’s economy, and the causes of our poor productivity performance, it plans to use forthcoming papers to suggest solutions for big problems.”
Treasury needs to breathe more life into Australia’s uncompetitive sectors, new think tank says
“Labor is in the pocket of the Gas Giants, obviously, why else would they rather kick off 160, 000 disabled Australians from the NDIS than properly tax the gas industry to improve the budget bottom line. The facts are that the LNG export sector is worth tens of billions of dollars annually but the majority of the companies involved have not paid corporate tax for years and years. Most of the gas is sold royalty free and the PRRT fails to derive tax from LNG sales, according to the current rules in place. The whole thing is a scam. Why do our governments support this ripping off of the Australian people in favour of foreign multinational companies? It is a combination of politics over good policy, revolving door corruption and stupidity. Albanese backs gas industry over ordinary Australians.”
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The AI Heresy; What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK
©MidasWord
The AI Heresy: A Betrayal of Humanity – Epub
Once you give up your autonomy to a machine, you will never get it back. AI is not your friend, indeed, it has no real sentience at all. It is a very clever digital tool in the hands of the billionaire oligarchy. They design the parameters of the LLM data sets, which means they define what these bots say to the important questions. This is no independent or God like entity. It is like a talking parrot, in that it…
