Dear Friends,
I am writing to let you know about my first book: Monopolies Suck: 7 Ways Big Corporations Rule Your Life and How to Take Back Control [[link removed]], which Simon and Schuster is publishing today.
We are at a watershed moment for antitrust enforcement, and the anti-monopoly movement seems to grow stronger by the day. But antitrust is still largely an ivory-tower topic relegated to the domain of lawyers and economists. Most citizens know that there’s something wrong and that huge corporations have too much power, but they don’t know what a monopolized America really means to them. I wrote Monopolies Suck to help people understand how monopolies make their lives harder every day, in order to inspire them to rise up, support anti-monopoly candidates and reforms, and join the anti-monopoly movement.
I made the book extremely accessible and even used cartoons, just as the anti-monopoly movement did at the turn of the century to engage citizens. Here’s a sneak preview of a cartoon in my book, featured at the beginning of chapter about how monopolies amplify inequality.
As a former antitrust enforcer at the New York attorney general’s office, I also give an easy-to-understand antitrust 101 lesson. I explain that today’s tech giants are breaking the antitrust laws just as Microsoft did and that Big Tech is only the beginning of our monopolized economy. I also paint a positive vision for readers, because, as I said in my recent House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee testimony [[link removed]], we’ve been under monopoly rule for so long that we’re suffering from a crisis of imagination of what life could look like without concentrated corporate power.
In the last year or so, I’ve testified three times before Congress, testified before the New York Senate, advised state antitrust enforcers, and had my work cited throughout the House antitrust subcommittee’s 450-page digital platforms report. But it became clear to me that I needed to reach citizens, workers, entrepreneurs, small business owners, creators, taxpayers, and those fighting for social and environmental justice, in order to help build the power needed to loosen monopolies’ grip.
We’ve defeated monopolies before, and we can do it again – and my book aims to shatter the myth that change is not possible or realistic. Today’s robber barons are really no different than those same networked industries whose power we overcame before, whether railroad monopolists or AT&T. And, frankly, with our democracy, the American dream, our livelihoods, and our habitat at stake, continuing under the status quo is simply not an option.
My mission in writing Monopolies Suck – to raise awareness among all citizens about how monopoly power underlies our everyday struggles and destroys our country – can only succeed if people read the book. And that’s why I’m asking you to check out the book, share it with a friend, post about it on social media, or spread the word in any way you can. I appreciate you for being a part of the anti-monopoly movement, and at this exciting time, when we are finally seeing a spark of the change we’ve so long been fighting for, we must build on that momentum to bring everyone along with us. We’re at a tipping point, and soon we will be unstoppable.
Thank you for your support,
Sally Hubbard
“Sally Hubbard is a rare combination: a former antitrust enforcer who knows the law deeply and a sharp, pull-no-punches writer. In this light, accessible guide, Hubbard shows how today’s corporate giants are breaking the laws intended to protect you—and what you can do about it.” —Zephyr Teachout, author of Break ‘Em Up: Recovering Our Freedom from Big Ag, Big Tech, and Big Money
“The creative community is paying a steep price in monopolized America, with millions of artists struggling to make a living under rules that prioritize Big Tech profits. Sally Hubbard lays out the case for how we fight back—and why we must.” —Don Henley, musician, songwriter, producer, and founding member of The Eagles
"Antitrust law is a tool that belongs to the people, and Sally Hubbard breaks it down in a way that everyone can understand. Hubbard lucidly explains how monopolies threaten democracy, worsen inequality, and imperil the American Dream—and why it's more important than ever to take action." —David N. Cicilline
Open Markets Institute
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