The Curse of Bigness, Tim Wu

 

The Curse of Bigness:  Antitrust in the new gilded age by Tim Wu is a book I have had on my "to read" list for a long time, but only recently bought a copy.

Started: 1/29/2023
Completed: 2/4/2023
Recommendation: Run, do not walk, to your local independent book store
Recommended By: I cannot remember

Words for which I sought help:

bête noire -- A person or thing that one particularly dislikes

Review:

The book opens with this sentence in the end of the second paragraph, "If we learned one thing from the Gilded Age, it should have been this:  The road to fascism and dictatorship is paved with failures of economic policy to serve the needs of the general public."  This is not a hollow realization as the author went on to work in the White House to resolve antitrust issues.  We need antitrust as a bullwork against the otherwise unlimited power and acquisition of wealth that monopolies have pursued since time immemorial. 

In practice, this is done through the court system.  "It is time to rehabilitate the reputation of big cases, give them their due, and stress their importance--particularly for a dynamic, technologically drive economy."  By breaking up monopolies, fresh air is driven into an entire sector of the economy which allows entrepreneurs to breath, healthy competition to develop, and the entire consumer base to benefit.  We need a strong antimonopoly DoJ which pursues large cases and ends non-competitive monopolies.  In order for the free market to operate, monopolies cannot dominate, brow-beat, consume, and pose barriers to entry on the market.  What a great book.