The Hidden History of Monopolies: How Big Business Destroyed the American Dream

"This is the most important, dynamic book on the cancersof monopoly by giant corporations written in our generation."--fromthe foreword by Ralph NaderAmerican monopolies dominate, control, and consume most of theenergy of our entire economic system; they function the same ascancer does in a body, and, like cancer, they weaken our systemswhile threatening to crash the entire body economic. Americanmonopolies have also seized massive political power and use it tomaintain their obscene profits and CEO salaries while crushingsmall competitors.But Thom Hartmann, America's #1 progressive radio host, showswe've broken the control of behemoths like these before, and we cando it again.Hartmann takes us from the birth of America as a revolt againstmonopoly (remember the Boston Tea Party?), to the largelysuccessful efforts of both Presidents Theodore and FranklinRoosevelt and other like-minded leaders to restrain corporations'monopolistic urges, to the massive changes in the rules of businessstarting during the "Reagan Revolution" that have brought us to thecancer stage of capitalism.He shows the damage monopolies have done to so many industries:agriculture, healthcare, the media, and more. Individuals havetaken a hit as well: the average American family pays a $5,000 ayear "monopoly tax" in the form of higher prices for everythingfrom pharmaceuticals to airfare to household goods and food. ButHartmann also describes commonsense, historically rooted measureswe can take--such as revitalizing antitrust regulation, taxinggreat wealth, and getting money out of politics--to pry control ofour country from the tentacles of the monopolists.