 |
|
|
||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
|
November 06, 2009
Top Stories
|
||||
|
Monopoly has affect on editor I've seen my fair share of Michael Moore flicks, so I've become adept at thwarting the development of any crazy corporate conspiracy theories in my head. I haven't seen Moore's latest film, but I'm ready to dust off my foil hat.I'm thoroughly creeped out by modern American capitalism. What we have now is an economic system where nearly everything we touch, see, hear, eat, use or consume in any way, shape or form is owned by, produced by or connected to one of approximately 20 multinational conglomerates. For example, General Electric, which Forbes listed as the largest company in the world, doesn't only make light bulbs and refrigerators. They have sectors for healthcare, transportation and aviation, too. This means that the same company makes parts in the car you drive, the airplanes you fly in and the heart monitors at your local hospital. This same company also has a media arm where Universal Studios and Focus Features produce movies, and television is covered by NBC, its local affiliates, MSNBC, CNBC, A&E, The Biography Channel, The History Channel, Bravo, The Sci-Fi Channel, Sundance, USA, the Weather Channel and Telemundo. And if, by chance you happened to miss any of the programs on these networks, you can record them with your NBC Universal-owned TiVo. Imagine if GE met the same fate as other recession-battered companies. Massive shortages of smoke detectors, defibrillators, jet engines and episodes of "Law & Order" could send the Dow spiraling. And if their parent company goes up in flames, GE subsidiaries MSNBC and CNBC can't be counted on to cover the news. But we can turn to CNN to keep us up to date. Well, that is unless CNN's parent company, Time Warner,, tanks as well. Time Warner owns both Time and Life magazines, Warner Brothers, AOL, TNT, TBS and NASCAR. Well, that leaves us with Fox News. Except it's owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., which also owns Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Television, MySpace, Hulu and Dow Jones & Company. And yes, that is the same Dow Jones as the stock index or that owns the Wall Street Journal, or that owns clusters of small, local newspapers throughout the country, including our own Daily Item. Okay, does anyone else see a conflict of interest here? How are the same corporations that we've entrusted with providing the public with the news also the same people that have the biggest stake in what the news reports? Now, I'm not suggesting that these corporations are somehow manipulating consumers, but with the way corporate ownership has concentrated itself, that hasn't been made too difficult. I'm certainly no economist, but my guess is that this doesn't help our current economic crisis. We talk about the shrinking middle class, but if these conglomerates continue to concentrate ungodly sums of money into the hands of a few corporate executives, its difficult to see how anyone else can access capital. These huge monopolies are what the Obama administration talks about when it discusses companies that are "too big to fail." These companies control such large portions of our economy that one company's failure could be a devastating blow. With all of our eggs in one basket, small companies can't survive without being swallowed whole by giant corporations. I?don't see this changing anytime soon. Until it does, lets hope the Crusader isn't bought out by Microsoft. |
FORUM HEADLINES Monopoly has affect on editor Writer admits slacking Senioritis, lethargy hit campusWEEKLY FEATURES News Living & Arts University Update Forum Sports |
|||
|
Top Stories | News | Living & Arts | University Update | Forum | Sports |
|
||
| ||||
 | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
