This article is part of the Opinion Today newsletter. You can sign up here to receive the newsletter each weekday.
Data is political. (Or, if you’re a stickler for traditional grammar rules, data are political.) The data that the United States government collects can ultimately influence federal policy.
In the early 1980s, the Reagan administration decided to stop collecting data on the market share that companies held within each industry. That decision is one reason the country has turned a blind eye toward the growth of corporate behemoths in recent years: Many people don’t even realize how much bigger the largest companies have become.
A few months ago, I wrote a column that quantified how much of the job growth over the past quarter century has occurred at very large companies — and how little has occurred at smaller ones. Today, I have a new column on the crisis of corporate gigantism.
[Listen to “The Argument” podcast every Thursday morning with Ross Douthat, Michelle Goldberg and David Leonhardt.]
This one is based on another data set that tries to make up for the federal government’s willful blindness on monopolies. The data comes from the Open Markets Institute, and shows how much more dominant the largest companies have become over the last 15 years, in one industry after another — airlines, car rental, credit rating, meat processing, private prisons, railroads, shipbuilding and much more.
If the column makes you want to learn more about this topic, I recommend a short and readable new book by Tim Wu of Columbia Law School, called “The Curse of Bigness.” Wu writes: “What we must realize is that, once again, we face what Louis Brandeis called the ‘Curse of Bigness,’ which, as he warned, represents a profound threat to democracy itself.”
On Twitter, you can follow Austin Frerick and Sarah Miller of the Open Markets Institute. Miller has a particular focus on the problems created by Facebook’s power and size.
And at least two senators — Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar — have shown a continuing interest in the issue. You can read a 2016 speech by Warren or watch a recent talk by Klobuchar.
Climate. The latest federal report on climate change is deeply alarming. It warns of an acceleration of the terrible damage that we’ve already begun to see, via wildfires, droughts, severe storms, rising seas and more.
My question to Republicans who continue to pretend that this crisis doesn’t exist — like Joni Ernst and Mike Lee, two senators who downplayed the report: Which planet do you think your own grandchildren will be living on?
In The Times. Maureen Dowd’s latest column is a bracing essay on the political divide in her own family.
You can join me on Twitter (@DLeonhardt) and Facebook. I am also writing a daily email newsletter and invite you to subscribe.
Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTOpinion).
David Leonhardt is a former Washington bureau chief for the Times, and was the founding editor of The Upshot and head of The 2020 Project, on the future of the Times newsroom. He won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, for columns on the financial crisis. @DLeonhardt • Facebook
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Home » Analysis & Comment » Opinion | Corporate Giants, Hurting the Economy
Opinion | Corporate Giants, Hurting the Economy
This article is part of the Opinion Today newsletter. You can sign up here to receive the newsletter each weekday.
Data is political. (Or, if you’re a stickler for traditional grammar rules, data are political.) The data that the United States government collects can ultimately influence federal policy.
In the early 1980s, the Reagan administration decided to stop collecting data on the market share that companies held within each industry. That decision is one reason the country has turned a blind eye toward the growth of corporate behemoths in recent years: Many people don’t even realize how much bigger the largest companies have become.
A few months ago, I wrote a column that quantified how much of the job growth over the past quarter century has occurred at very large companies — and how little has occurred at smaller ones. Today, I have a new column on the crisis of corporate gigantism.
[Listen to “The Argument” podcast every Thursday morning with Ross Douthat, Michelle Goldberg and David Leonhardt.]
This one is based on another data set that tries to make up for the federal government’s willful blindness on monopolies. The data comes from the Open Markets Institute, and shows how much more dominant the largest companies have become over the last 15 years, in one industry after another — airlines, car rental, credit rating, meat processing, private prisons, railroads, shipbuilding and much more.
If the column makes you want to learn more about this topic, I recommend a short and readable new book by Tim Wu of Columbia Law School, called “The Curse of Bigness.” Wu writes: “What we must realize is that, once again, we face what Louis Brandeis called the ‘Curse of Bigness,’ which, as he warned, represents a profound threat to democracy itself.”
On Twitter, you can follow Austin Frerick and Sarah Miller of the Open Markets Institute. Miller has a particular focus on the problems created by Facebook’s power and size.
And at least two senators — Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar — have shown a continuing interest in the issue. You can read a 2016 speech by Warren or watch a recent talk by Klobuchar.
Climate. The latest federal report on climate change is deeply alarming. It warns of an acceleration of the terrible damage that we’ve already begun to see, via wildfires, droughts, severe storms, rising seas and more.
My question to Republicans who continue to pretend that this crisis doesn’t exist — like Joni Ernst and Mike Lee, two senators who downplayed the report: Which planet do you think your own grandchildren will be living on?
In The Times. Maureen Dowd’s latest column is a bracing essay on the political divide in her own family.
You can join me on Twitter (@DLeonhardt) and Facebook. I am also writing a daily email newsletter and invite you to subscribe.
Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTOpinion).
David Leonhardt is a former Washington bureau chief for the Times, and was the founding editor of The Upshot and head of The 2020 Project, on the future of the Times newsroom. He won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, for columns on the financial crisis. @DLeonhardt • Facebook
Source: Read Full Article