AT&T Comcast deal...

[popkidu2]

Is anyone else becoming seriously concerned with the corporate mergers that are happening in this country?

AT&T Broadband was bought by Comcast. They hold a 25 percent stake in Time Warner Entertainment, a division of AOL Time Warner. Microsoft has a 5 billion stake in AT&T broadband. That stake will be converted into shares of this new company. CNN is part of the AOL Time Warner "family".

Phillip Morris owns Kraft among other things.

I would love to see a map of who has stakes/owns other companies. Yes, there are many many many independant companies, but it really bothers me.

Relating it to music and U2, Clear Channel owns the majority of radio stations in the US. They also own a stake in SFX entertainment, the major concert promoter in the US. And if I'm not mistaken there's a Ticketmaster connection in there somewhere. I was reading about it USA Today sometime in the past week.

Anyway, I just believe that when these companies get too big they begin to restrict growth, not enhance it. I'm not a big fan of the government getting in the way, but I think we're beginning to see types of corporations like the ones that made anti-trust laws a reality.

What do you guys think?

[Holy John]

You want to know if the economy in your area is bad ? Check if there's a Wall-Mart. If there's one, you're in fucking deep shit, esp. outside the United States. Or a Home Depot. Or a McDonalds. Or if you can't see the movies made by your own culture because others overpower it. Or if your forests are bieng reduced to virtually "none". Or if you're so fucking crazy you gotta drink Budweiser.

As long as dollars comes in....

------------------
United Nations : www.un.org - UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) : www.unicef.org
UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) : www.unesco.org

«Je suis le dernier homme. Contre tous, je me défendrai...»
"I am the last man. Against all, I shall defend myself..."
- 'Rhinocéros', Ionesco

"Eternity is a long time, especially towards the end.» - Woody Allen

[TheU2]

Originally posted by Holy John:
You want to know if the economy in your area is bad ? Check if there's a Wall-Mart. If there's one, you're in fucking deep shit, esp. outside the United States. Or a Home Depot. Or a McDonalds. Or if you can't see the movies made by your own culture because others overpower it. Or if your forests are bieng reduced to virtually "none". Or if you're so fucking crazy you gotta drink Budweiser.

As long as dollars comes in....

Give me a break. Capitalism is good.


CK

[kobayashi]

Originally posted by TheU2:
Give me a break. Capitalism is good.


CK

capitalism as a theory is good. capitalism in its current global incarnation is dangerous.
increasingly corporations are more powerful than governments-this is not a good thing but it is a result of our capitalism.

[kobayashi]

Originally posted by popkidu2:

I would love to see a map of who has stakes/owns other companies.

you're right PM does own kraft-basically buy some kd and you're funding a tobacco corporation.
there's a lot more transgressions such as this out there. i'm not sure of a map of general holdings but this link explains mostly american ownership concentration of media holdings.

[speedracer]

Originally posted by kobayashi:
capitalism as a theory is good. capitalism in its current global incarnation is dangerous.
increasingly corporations are more powerful than governments-this is not a good thing but it is a result of our capitalism.

If you're a consumer or investor, sink your money into products or stocks that come from companies that abide by certain standards. (Easier said than done, I realize.)

[popkidu2]

kobayashi, thanks for the link. pbs's frontline is a great source of unbiased info.

I dont have a problem w/ capatilism, or huge corporations, but it's getting to be too much.

For example, the inernet. Microsoft wants their Passport system to be the future of online identity holding. There are a large number of corporations who have created Liberty Alliance to be the identity holding for the internet. The difference between Liberty and Microsoft, w/ Microsoft, they hold the info, w/ Liberty each corporation holds just the relevent info, i.e. the consumer has control of their identity.

I prefer the Liberty approach. I would rather see an Instant Messaging source code that all ISP's could access so that you had a choice between what IM's to use and what ISP's to use and that there could be cross communication between different types. But people like AOL and Microsoft are so hell bent on destroying each other that the prevent technology progress in the name of being number 1 in the market. That just pisses me off. Why is it that if I want instant messaging (and it has to be AOL) on my cell phone I HAVE to use voice stream. That's crap. Plain and simple. That is NOT giving the consumer choice, that's restricting the market.

I have more to say on the subject but my mind isn't really working now so I'll come back later....

[Holy John]

Read Michel Chossudovski's "La Mondialisation de la Pauvreté" (Globalization of poverty) and then we will be able to talk equal to equal

------------------
United Nations : www.un.org - UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) : www.unicef.org
UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) : www.unesco.org

«Je suis le dernier homme. Contre tous, je me défendrai...»
"I am the last man. Against all, I shall defend myself..."
- 'Rhinocéros', Ionesco

!Hasta la victoria, siempre!

"The one who governs with weapons is clearly poor in ideas". - Subcommandante Marcos