Hi, Welcome to BIG, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. Or just read on… Today I’m going to write about Google’s exceptionally dangerous decision yesterday to de facto cut off Turkey’s access to Android phones. | Continue reading
Hi, Welcome to BIG, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. Or just read on… Today I’m going to do a quick recap of Paul Volcker’s life. Volcker, who died yesterday, was one of the most important men in finance in the last fifty … | Continue reading
Hi, Welcome to BIG, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. Or just read on… A few days ago, Ian MacDougall came out with a New York Times/ProPublica piece on how consulting giant McKinsey structured Trump immigration policy. Lot … | Continue reading
Hi, Welcome to BIG, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. Or just read on… Today I have a treat for you, an issue of BIG written by an anonymous government lawyer buried deep in the bowels of American bureaucracy. One of the re … | Continue reading
Hi, Welcome to BIG, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. Or just read on… You’ve probably noticed that BIG newsletters have dropped in frequency, that’s because I’m working on a few longer form stories and a new project I’ll a … | Continue reading
Hi, Welcome to BIG, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. Or just read on… Today’s issue will be short, and it’s on why we’re seeing merger activity and expansion by big tech in spite of antitrust scrutiny. I also have a short … | Continue reading
Hi, Welcome to BIG, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. Or just read on… Last week I wrote about the case for breaking up Disney. Today I’m going to discuss how Disney uses copyright law to monopolize markets, and why the pol … | Continue reading
Hi, Welcome to BIG, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. Or just read on… Lots of billionaire news flow this week. Bill Gates sort of criticized Elizabeth Warren’s wealth tax, and Warren unveiled a simple calculator to mock hi … | Continue reading
Hi, Welcome to BIG, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. Or just read on… Today I’m going to write about how we should break up Disney, the massive media conglomerate that dominates the film and entertainment business. This is … | Continue reading
Hi, Welcome to BIG, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. Or just read on… Today I’m going to write about a very dangerous theme floating around in military and big tech circles, which is that big American tech monopolies are g … | Continue reading
Hi, Welcome to BIG, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. Or just read on… Today’s issue is written by two government procurement experts (and readers of BIG). One is an anonymous currently practicing government contracting off … | Continue reading
Hi, Welcome to BIG, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. Or just read on… Today’s issue is about how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) just censored a Houston Rockets basketball executive, and why this move blew up into a geop … | Continue reading
Hi, Welcome to BIG, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. Or just read on… It’s the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, which Xi Jinping is celebrating with aggressive rhetoric and a militaristic display of his … | Continue reading
Hi, Welcome to BIG, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. Or just read on… Today I’m going to write about a topic that continues to get chatter both on the campaign trail and on CNBC/Bloomberg, which is the performance of the s … | Continue reading
Hi, Welcome to BIG, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. Or just read on… I’m back! One of the themes of this newsletter has turned out to be the breakdown of integrity in American business, and the consequences in terms of ou … | Continue reading
Hi, Welcome to BIG, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. Or just read on… I’m back from travel. Today, I’m going to write about the increasing legal heat on Google, which is now being probed by a coalition of 50 state attorney … | Continue reading
Hi, Welcome to BIG, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. Or just read on… Last month, New York City faced an intense heat wave, and two power outages in a row. Today I’m going to dig into how we’ve allowed the systems that kee … | Continue reading
Hi, Welcome to Big, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. Or just read on… Today I’m going to do a short issue, a bit of the backstory on this terrifying New York Times article on how YouTube radicalized Brazil. | Continue reading
Hi, Welcome to Big, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. Or just read on… Today I’m going to offer some speculative thoughts on the relationship between monetary policy and monopolization. I’m a bit suspicious going into depth … | Continue reading
Hi, Welcome to Big, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. Or just read on… Today I’m going to write about Google’s change to its Chrome browser, which is ruffling a few feathers in the publishing world. | Continue reading
Hi, Welcome to Big, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. Or just read on… Today I’m going to discuss address the nascent political attack on private equity, the financial model in commerce which more than any other defines the … | Continue reading
Hi, Welcome to Big, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. Or just read on… Today I’m going to discuss the Department of Justice’s headline grabbing move from earlier this week, when it issued a statement | Continue reading
Hi, Welcome to Big, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. Or just read on… Today I’m going to write about what I think is a fascinating example of how antitrust enforcers can win in the most unlikely places. To set up the story … | Continue reading
Hi, Welcome to Big, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. Or just read on… Earlier this month, I discussed why Boeing’s 737 Max was such a disaster, looking in particular at the company’s merger with McDonnell Douglas. Boeing r … | Continue reading
Hi, Happy fourth of July! Welcome to Big, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you like it, you can sign up here. Today I’m going to set the record straight on the Boston Tea Party and the East India Company. But first, here are a few articles worth reading. | Continue reading
Hi, Welcome to Big, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. First, housekeeping. I’m launching a new section of Big called “From the Mailbag,” which are emails from readers. The reason is that I got a bunch of interesting emails … | Continue reading
Hi, Welcome to Big, a newsletter about the politics of monopoly. If you like it, you can sign up here. Today I’ll discuss how a merger in the 1990s ruined Boeing, and why the government will have to step in to save the company. Let’s start by admiring the company that was Boeing, … | Continue reading
Hi! This issue is about the fear going through corporate America, which is a little discussed topic because, well, there are few people willing to speak out and risk retribution. But first, some follow up on Facebook’s Libra project, which I discussed yesterday. | Continue reading