Things To Worry About
Business & Economic Monopolies
The Distinction 'Monopoly'
But rust never sleeps, and the Oligarchy forever engages in the Class War, with the goal of returning society to feudalism. So IBM was 'unbundled' in the late 1960s, phone company AT&T was broken up in the 1980s, and the Department of Justice sued Microsoft in the 1990s.
Part of the hold that the Oligarchy has on the U.S. economy today is the creation of not-quite-monopolies that control major industries here – with similar connections within the European Union and among the multinational mega-corporations around the globe.
A true monopoly is when one corporation (or an individual) controls all of an industry, or all of a product or commodity, and performs dastardly acts to stifle competition.
The mega-corporations of the XXIst Century are more subtle – half a dozen entities buy up a majority of an industry and merely work in concert to stifle smaller, independent companies. A key factor are the business barons who serve on the inter-locking boards of many corporations – a kind of 'team-style' monopoly.
Perfectly legal: no violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, the Clayton Anti-Trust Act, and other statutes. But the result is the same as a monopoly.
Accurate data on these 'team-style' monopolies has so far been difficult to uncover; research continues. Even the Depart- ments of Commerce and Transportation and Energy obscure such matters as 'gross annual revenue' by industry. For example, online statistics on the U.S. oil industry are displayed by barrels (of crude oil), not by annual revenue – at least so far as I have been able to locate. The data for each industry reported below may be a few years old, but the situation has not gotten better since these figures were collected.
MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITION INDUSTRY
The industry group N.A.T.O. {National Assn. of Theater Owners} says that 2004 box office for the U.S.
was $9.53 billion dollars, with total U.S. screens of 36,652. Statistics gleaned from their website show
that six corporations own 50 percent of the movie screens in America.
. . . . . . 18,455 screens ÷ 36,652 total = 50.4%!
Total box office revenue for 2005 was $8.75 billion, which is down from $9.53 billion in 2004.
The obvious reasons are the stagnant economy and ticket prices, which only go up. Usually, ticket prices
are first raised in New York City, and within a week or two, prices go up across the country.
MOTION PICTURE DISTRIBUTION INDUSTRY
Domestic (U.S. & Canada) Box Office Receipts for 2006
These ten companies control a combined 92 percent of the domestic (U.S. & Canada) market.
RAILROAD FREIGHT INDUSTRY
There are only seven Class I railroads in the U.S.A., and according to Trains Magazine,
they handle 91 percent of railroad freight business, which in 2004 was total operating revenue
of $40.5 billion. In Canada, the situation is similar, with large portions of C.N. and C.P. revenue
coming from their U.S. subsidiaries.
{Figures below are in millions of U.S. dollars.}
PETROLEUM INDUSTRY
Five U.S. petroleum companies control 56.3 percent of the market and the top ten companies
own 83.3 percent (per January 2006 Senate testimony by Tyson Slocum of Public Citizen).
The breakdown for 2004 is as follows:
... for a total of 83.3%
leaving independent oil companies with only 16.7% !!
BOOK PUBLISHING INDUSTRY
The number of independent booksellers has declined from 3250 in 1999 to 1400 today; independent stores account for 10 percent of the market, chains (like B&N or Borders) account for 30 percent, superstores (like Walmart & Target) account for 45 percent, with 15 percent sold 'online and other'. — per American Booksellers Assn. in 2010
If the same book is available in paper and e-book formats at Amazon, 40 percent of their customers
now order the electronic version. — per New Yorker Magazine, April 2010
"Although [e-books] account for only an estimated 3 to 5 percent of the market, their sales increased 177 percent in 2009."
— per New Yorker Magazine, April 2010
The top ten publishers in the 'trade' category for 2008 were:
... so that the top ten publishers control 70 percent of the market,
and the top five control 53.5 percent of the market
OUTDOOR ADVERTISING
U.S. outdoor advertising gross revenue for 2006 {per OAAA} was $6.81 billion.
The top three companies control 54.2 percent of the U.S. market.
#1 Clear Channel Communications of Phoenix, Arizona
#2 C.B.S. Outdoor of Phoenix, Arizona
#3 Lamar Advertising Company of Baton Rouge, Louisiana
#4 Van Wagner Communications of New York City [re-formed 1997]
#5 JCDecaux Group [est. 1964] of Paris, France
$1.341 billion in revenue for 2006
= 19.7% of the U.S. market (also #1 worldwide)
$1.23 billion in revenue for 2006 = 18% of the U.S. market
$1.120 billion in revenue for 2006 = 16.5% of the U.S. market
also second place worldwide (after Clear Channel)
AGRI-BUSINESS INDUSTRY
|
"A century ago, there were 15,000 kinds of apples in America; now there are 1500. Among the varieties that have disappeared are 96 percent of corn, 95 percent of cabbages, and 81 percent of tomatoes. Today, four giant suppliers (Monsanto, Syngenta, Limagrain & DuPont/Pioneer Hi-Bred) control more than half of the [U.S.] seed market." — Novella Carpenter in Mother Jones Magazine
"Cargill has cornered about a quarter of global grain production. Two companies, Monsanto & Pioneer, control 60 percent of the U.S. corn & soybean seed market. The top four beef packers dominate 83 percent of the market; four pork packers control 64 percent of the pork market; and the top four poultry producers account for 50 percent of that market." |
TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY
BROADCAST MEDIA INDUSTRY
"Five conservative companies own 90 precent of the media in America." — per talk show host Ed Schultz
The top five radio companies in America [2009] are Clear Channel, Entercom, Citadel, C.B.S. Radio & Cox Radio
The rule of thumb for buying a radio station is now down to 8 times earnings.
TELEPHONES & WIRELESS
In the United States, 11,000 companies provide telecommunication services –landline, wireless, cable & satellite –
with $518 billion in revenues. The largest 50 companies hold nearly 90 percent of the market. — per Hoovers
The data below is incomplete & for different years:
AT&T et al .................... $119.3 billion (2008)
Verizon ....................... $93.78 billion (2007)
Sprint Nextel ................. $35.64 billion (2008)
Comcast ....................... $34.26 billion (2008)
German-owned T-mobile .... $17.1 billion (2006)
Per this rough data, these five companies hold 56% of market share by revenue (AT&T alone has 23%).
RETAIL / DEPARTMENT STORES
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is the world's largest public corporation by revenue, and is so large that its 2008 U.S. sales
were almost 50 percent more than its seven closest competitors combined, including Target and Sears.
THE CARPET INDUSTRY
About 70 percent of the world's tufted carpet is produced in the vicinity of Dalton, Georgia, USA.
WORLDWIDE SODA POP INDUSTRY
The Coca-Cola® Company, with all their various brands & flavors,
sells 51 percent of the world soda pop market (February 2004).
THE CANDY INDUSTRY
In 2008: Mars Candy controls 14 percent of the U.S. candy market; Cadbury controls 10 percent;
Nestlé controls 7.5 percent; Hershey has 4.5 percent; Kraft Foods 4 percent (per Time Magazine)
– which gives 40 percent of the U.S. market to five corporations.
PERSONAL COMPUTER INDUSTRY
Microsoft has 90 percent of the personal computer market, though hundreds of other vendors make
the products and receive the actual revenue. 'Poor' Apple/Mac is still only 10% of the PC market;
their main business is now the fantastically successful iPod, iPhone, iPad, etc.
As-of mid-2010, Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser has a 63 percent market share in the U.S.;
Mozilla's free Firefox browser is second with 20 percent; Apple's fast-rising Safari browser has 10 percent;
and Google's Chrome browser is in fourth place. Worldwide, estimates give Internet Explorer 53 percent,
Firefox 29 percent, Chrome 8 percent, Safari 6 percent, and Opera 2 percent.
LANDFILLS / WASTE
Three companies operate 40 percent of the landfill / waste removal industry, and they have no interest in
environmental restrictions. The greenhouse gas methane traps 21 times more heat than carbon dioxide does
(per the E.P.A.), with much methane now being produced in landfills and by agribusiness.
BANKING & CREDIT INDUSTRY
Three too-big-to-fail banks – Bank of America, Citigroup & JPMorganChase –
control 58 percent of the U.S. credit card market. (2009 data)
"In 1956, 56 percent of profits in the U.S. economy derived from manufacturing, while 8.3 percent came from
the financial sector. in 2007, manufacturing produced 10 percent of profits, while the financial sector produced
26 percent of profits." — The Washington Spectator
Want to know where you can move your checking and savings accounts away from the Big Banks?
Check out free website www.MoveYourMoney.info [est. January 2010]
F.F.E.I.C. list of total assets of the Top 50 Bank Holding Companies
ELECTRICAL POWER INDUSTRY
U.S. energy consumption is 44 percent coal, 24 percent natural gas, 20 percent nuclear,
7 percent hydroelectric, and 5 percent other. — per Time Magazine pie chart, Feb 2010
SEARCH ENGINES
During August 2009, Google handled almost 71 percent of [worldwide] internet search inquiries; Yahoo! placed a distant
second with 17.2%; Microsoft's new Bing engine is already receiving 8.6%; Ask placed fourth with 2.4%
– and in fifth place is Everybody Else with a teeny 0.92%.
"Two thirds of all searches in the U.S. are conducted through Google; Yahoo has less than 20 percent of the market."
— Time Magazine
NEWSPAPERS
"Thirteen newspaper chains own 54 percent of our country's daily print media."
— Dennis Herrick, University of New Mexico
"More than 80 percent of newspapers [in America] are owned by chains, with far more allegiance to Wall Street
than to the towns [that] they allegedly serve." — Richard McCord, journalist of Santa Fe, New Mexico
![political cartoon of John D. Rockefeller [1839-1937] and the Standard Oil Monopoly](images/cartoonStandardOilMonopoly.jpg)
![political cartoon from "Puck Magazine" about Cornelius Vanderbilt [1794-1877] as 'The Modern Colossus'](images/cartoonVanderbiltColossus.jpg)
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