[Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Is Antitrust No Longer the Issue?

[Ian]

E-Mail ThisAntitrust is no longer an issue in an era when deregulation is rampant.  Note that AT&T already admits that this merger will cost upwards of 10,000 jobs - and that is a conservative number.

Whether telecomm or any other industry, the constant mergers, acquisition, agglomerations and cross-corporate "synergies" that concentrate power in the hands of a few is among the most sinister issues right now.  Just one example (and our resident expert, Dusty, will back me up on this): in 1983, there were 30 major record labels - not just indies (of which there were some 450), but truly major labels.  In 1987, that number was 20.  In 1995, it was 10.  As of 2005, it is 5.  And now there is talk of two of those five merging to create another behemoth, bringing the total number of record labels to 4.

As a general matter re this type of agglomeration, where is the outrage?
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: mblaxill at yahoo.com 
  To: mb-civic at islandlists.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2006 11:06 AM
  Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Is Antitrust No Longer the Issue?


            
                
                   
                
                
             
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              WASHINGTON   | March 7, 2006 
              Is Antitrust No Longer the Issue? 
              By STEPHEN LABATON 
              While officials and lobbyists say the AT&T-BellSouth deal faces few regulatory obstacles, changes in the marketplace may bring different political headwinds. 
             
             
                 
                     
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