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Dear John,
How did the consolidation of corporate power get so out of control in this country?
One man did more to dismantle antitrust enforcement than any other -- and I knew him! He was my professor, then he was my boss. His name: Robert Bork. He was born on this day in 1927.
Bork was a notorious conservative who believed the only legitimate purpose of antitrust (or anti-monopoly) law is to lower prices for consumers, no matter how big and powerful corporations get.
During my time in law school, Bork and I had many arguments over the power of ever-expanding corporations. He did not seem too impressed by me or my fellow classmates -- including Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham. But a few years later, he gave me a job in the Ford administration.
Bork’s ideas later influenced Ronald Reagan and helped form a basic tenet of Reaganomics -- the bogus theory that says government should get out of the way and let corporations do as they please, including growing as big and powerful as they want.
Check out this week’s video to see how Robert Bork’s views came to dominate antitrust law; then see how antitrust is making a comeback today under President Biden.
Even though some may only remember Bork from his failed nomination to the Supreme Court in 1987, his philosophy came to dominate the economy and the way the government enforces (or doesn’t enforce) antitrust laws in America.
From the mergers of Ticketmaster and Live Nation to the growth of tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Meta -- Bork’s lasting impact is the dominance that a select few corporations now hold over their industries. The result? More money out of our pockets. More power for them. More money into our political system. It’s a vicious cycle.
But the good news is that the tide is beginning to turn under the Biden Administration! The public is waking up to the danger of too much power in the hands of too few.
Robert Bork might not agree, but I say, “It’s about time!”
Thank you for taking the time to check out this video!
Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action
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