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Break Up These Big Companies & Bust Their Monopolies

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.Continue Reading

close up shot of australian dollar

Coles has some 8, 000 suppliers providing the supermarket lines they sell to their customers. Woolworths is in a similar situation re-numbers of suppliers. Supermarkets making super profits in Australia are hitting the news for all the wrong reasons. The nation is in the midst of a 2 year cost of living crisis with high inflation having stripped the savings from the working poor. A Four Corner’s expose shown on the ABC has shone a stark light on the state of play in our supermarket sector. Coles and Woolworths have some 65% of the grocery market share – this is a powerful duopoly, which puts all the advantages in their corner. Farmers supplying the duopoly are being squeezed into submission economically, as are many other suppliers of their grocery lines.Continue Reading