Antitrust and How Kleptocracy Corrupts What Markets are Supposed to do Well

1. Wow…this is like an autopsy of neoliberalism. Excellent!!

2. Corporate priority is not to maximize profit but to maintain competitive advantage. Aha!…I can think of several companies right off the bat.

3. Less than 2 minutes into his diatribe about economics he likens a political system, communism, with an economic system think that's what they call a fail.

4. One thing he touched on, but needs further discussion is the court capture by corporations. First, the corporate elites have packed the courts with judges with ideologies favorable to the corporation's interest. Then they began conjuring up ways to get cases to take to court. Since they now have the advantage, they know they are more likely to win, so they spend a lot of money on very expensive lawyers, and the cases they win make them a lot more in return. The aspect that isn't talked about enough is that this practice has tied the courts up to such an extent that regular citizens cannot get his/her day in court. If you plead innocent of a crime, even if you are absolutely innocent, you will be punished with a very harsh sentence when you are found guilty (even though you are innocent). This is because you don't have enough money to bribe the judge, but the corporations do, so judges don't want to hear your case, they want to hear the case that can make them the most money. It's a simple economic decision. It's what happens when you tell people that their main function is to maximize their own profit. Being corrupt helps to maximize profit.

5. Communists believe in free markets? Riiiiight

6. Zzzzzzz. This guy demonstrates that Ralph Nader is a hard act to follow.

7. This video has me a bit flummoxed. I agree with the direction Bert Foer's personal conclusions are moving in. I'd like to see more antitust action, too. I'd like antitrust suits brought against giant retailers, giant banks, giant media companies, giant food companies and giant weapons companies. But I find his analysis grating in that it is offered from an owning-class capitalist point of view. Communists who believe in markets are capitalists, and the endpoints of the spectrum he describes leave out the working class socialist view that markets are unnecessary yet does not substitute central planning. That being said, the point most evident to me throughout the video was the incredible difficulty of whipping up enthusiasm for an analysis of the finer points of law applicable to owning class capitalist markets. And, from a working class point of view, a kleptocracy is government enabling the owning class theft of working class wealth and profiting int he process, such as the US right now.

8. Derregulation is an insiduous term created to obfuscate and confuse the victims of its application by Corporations. These crooks call it "derregulation" to appeal to those who think freedom means no regulations, which of course its nonsense. What truly the Corporate elites want is REGULATION that BENEFITS them. So it should me called RE-REGULATION, but obviously it doesnt sound as appealing.

9. Nice chat, Bert. Glad you mentioned kleptocracy seeing as though it's rampant. Thanks, TRNN.

10. Laissez faire was originally an anti monopoly philosophy, coined by the Physiocrats who demanded a heavy tax (60%) on monopoly (land) rents to allow markets to function, yes then with minimal government intervention.
    'Laissez faire, laissez passer'
    Let do and let pass.
    The taxation of economic rents (land – including all untapped natural resources like oil, electro magnetic spectrum, and IP property rights) would be far more comprehensive solution to limiting risks of monopolistic exploitation than anti trust laws which have a mixed record at best.
    I'm not against anti trust, but better to deal with the root causes not the symptoms.

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