Monopoly power in tech, and other current non-climate issues

["DAVID FARBER" <dfarber () me com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Roger Bohn <Rbohn () ucsd edu>
> Date: April 24, 2017 at 2:38:05 AM EDT
> To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
> Cc: ip <ip () listbox com>
> Subject: Monopoly power in tech, and other current non-climate issues
>
> There are lots of technology policy related stories this weekend that are not about climate change. The first three 
> concern about excess market power in tech markets, and its effects. The remaining three are miscellaneous issues that 
> have been discussed on IP in the past.
>
> Suggestion: If a newspaper is refusing to let you read an article, you can often get it by searching for it (on 
> Google - irony alert, see one of the stories below), and visiting from the search result.
>
> Roger
>
> Is It Time to Break Up Google?
> In just 10 years, the world’s five largest companies by market capitalization have all changed, save for one: 
> Microsoft. Exxon Mobil, General Electric, Citigroup and Shell Oil are out and Apple, Alphabet (the parent company of 
> Google), Amazon and Facebook have taken their place.
>
> They’re all tech companies, and each dominates its corner of the industry: Google has an 88 percent market share in 
> search advertising, Facebook (and its subsidiaries Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger) owns 77 percent of mobile 
> social traffic and Amazon has a 74 percent share in the e-book market. In classic economic terms, all three are 
> monopolies.
> https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/22/opinion/sunday/is-it-time-to-break-up-google.html
>
> (My response on this one: Market concentration is growing in many industries, and yes it’s a problem. The secondary 
> effects are dire: it is both a cause and caused by increasingly unequal distributions of income AND political power. 
> But it will be correspondingly difficult to persuade the US political system to do anything about it. Perhaps other 
> countries will have more luck because they can appeal to anti-Americanism.) 
>
> ===============================
> How Google Cashes In on the Space Right Under the Search Bar
>
> In the 17 years since Google introduced text-based advertising above search results, the company has allocated more 
> space to ads and created new forms of them. The ad creep on Google has pushed “organic” (unpaid) search results 
> farther down the screen, an effect even more pronounced on the smaller displays of smartphones.
>
> The changes are profound for retailers and brands that rely on leads from Google searches to drive online sales. With 
> limited space available near the top of search results, not advertising on search terms associated with your brand or 
> displaying images of your products is tantamount to telling potential customers to spend their money elsewhere.
>
> https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/23/technology/google-parent-company-alphabet-advertising.html
>
> =================================
>
> AT&T’s Words on Time Warner Deal Say ‘Underdog.’ Its Actions Speak Otherwise.
>
> WASHINGTON — Here in the nation’s capital, AT&T has painted itself as an underdog that needs to merge with Time 
> Warner in a blockbuster $85 billion deal to compete with powerful cable companies. But in several cities and states, 
> AT&T’s actions send a different message. ….
>
> In other words, AT&T has positioned itself as the incumbent telecommunications juggernaut that has acted to hamper 
> competitors locally.
> https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/23/technology/att-time-warner-merger-cable-regulation.html
>
> =======================
>
> Uber’s C.E.O. Plays With Fire
> Travis Kalanick’s drive to win in life has led to a pattern of risk-taking that has at times put his ride-hailing 
> company on the brink of implosion.
> https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/23/technology/travis-kalanick-pushes-uber-and-himself-to-the-precipice.html
>
> (My comment: Change the company name, and this is an old story. Many startups have founders who are immature on 
> multiple dimensions. It’s up to the Board of Directors to keep them under control, and of course that does not always 
> happen. Apple’s Board fired Steve Jobs. In late 1985, Quirky imploded after running through $185 million of funding. 
> See http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/09/they-were-quirky.html)
>
> ======================
>
> Affordable Care Act: A Tale of Two Red States
>
> In Oklahoma, which has raged against the
> law, insurance premiums are among the
> nation’s highest. New Mexico, which oversees
> its marketplace, has some of the lowest.
> https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/health/how-gop-in-2-states-coaxed-the-health-law-to-success-or-crisis.html?ref=business
>
> ==================================
> Finally, an update on an entirely predictable slow-motion-train-wreck that is coming in Washington, as a result of 
> the unwillingness or inability of our dominant political party to make rational decisions.
>
> Will the Government Be Open in a Week? Here Are the Dividing Lines
> https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/23/us/politics/government-shutdown-congress-trump-administration.html
>
> Case in point from today’s WSJ online:
> Donald Trump’s Push for Border-Wall Funding Muddies Budget Talks
> Administration injects volatility into a crucial week as government shutdown looms
> “Less than a week before the federal government could run out of money, White House officials said President Donald 
> Trump wants any spending deal to include some funding for a border wall, despite little appetite among congressional 
> Republicans for risking a partial shutdown over the issue.”
>
> ================ 
> And only the last of these stories directly concerns He Who Must Not Be Named.
>
> Roger Bohn
> Professor of Technology Management
> School of Global Policy and Strategy
> UC San Diego
> +1 858 381-2015 cell/text Blog: Art2science.org
>
> This message was sent to the list address and trashed, but can be found online.



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