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A Tale of Today

A Tale of Today
        
Often when learning something I like to see connections in it to history. It helps me to understand applicable topics much better than I otherwise would as it allows me to see reasons for certain actions, and ultimately to see their consequences. Putting a curriculum in context can show people's actions to be what they are. Ican often apply history in our journalism class as, after all, both subjects are just different attempts at covering all meaningful human endeavors. 

In our last journalism class we discussed, among other things, conglomerations and monopolies. We talked about how distribution companies have gotten into the content creation business and how content creation companies have gotten into the distribution business. Netflix now makes its own shows, for example. They have the data of what everyone wants, and can make content accordingly. This seems like they are just filling a niche and appears benevolent, but what could they do with all that data that translates to power? What can Facebook and Google do? These companies that have broken the wall between content distribution and creation can now control their entire supply chain. That made me think, wasn't this vertical integration a crucial step that the Gilded Age's "Captains of Industry" took towards becoming some of the most powerful men in American history? Having this complete control of supply lines through vertical integration was and is a robber barron's dream.

 We also learned about horizontal integration in class. This is where businesses buy up competition in their industry. Fortunately, horizontal monopolies are illegal in the U.S. However, mega-mergers are commonplace. America's largest corporations buy out competition and fix prices for the benefit of the few. That rings some bells for me. The richest people in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in America had built up monopolies horizontally and vertically, destroyed competition, and bought elections for pro business candidates that they had in their pockets. Wages were low. Working conditions were egregious. Trust busting was unimaginable. 

Talking about conglomerations and monopolies made me think about the past, but it also made me wonder if that past was also our future. If Jeff Bezos is the Rockefeller from our time, then who will be our Ida Tarbell? If the Koch brothers are our Carnegie, then who will be our Theodore Roosevelt? Who is our Upton Sinclair and where is our Sherman Antitrust act? Wall Street's power is usually compared to that of Main Street. We must have people act before Wall Street is more powerful than Capital Hill. 
                

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