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      <div class="WordSection1">
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="margin-bottom:7.5pt;line-height:39.0pt;background:white"><b><span
style="font-size:30.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1A2F5A">Paul
              Krugman: We're Living in a Second Robber Baron Era<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:24.0pt;background:white"><b><i><span
style="font-size:16.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">Verizon's
                unregulated monopolistic behavior hurts everyone.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:24.0pt;background:white"><i><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">By</span></i><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> <i><a
                moz-do-not-send="true"
                href="http://www.alternet.org/authors/janet-allon-0"><b><span
                    style="color:#F1602C;text-decoration:none">Janet
                    Allon</span></b></a></i> / <a moz-do-not-send="true"
              href="http://alternet.org/"><b><span
                  style="color:#F1602C;text-decoration:none">AlterNet</span></b></a>
             </span><i><span
style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">April
              18, 2016<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="margin-left:15.0pt;line-height:24.0pt;background:white"><i><u><span
style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">Krugman
                column:</span></u></i><i><span
style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> 
              <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/18/opinion/robber-baron-recessions.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=1">http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/18/opinion/robber-baron-recessions.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=1</a>
              <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="margin-left:15.0pt;line-height:24.0pt;background:white"><span
style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="margin-bottom:16.5pt;line-height:18.75pt;background:white"><span
style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">Paul
            Krugman explains why the Verizon strike of last week points
            out a much deeper problem than what goes on with one
            telecommunications company in <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/18/opinion/robber-baron-recessions.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=0"><span
                style="color:#F1602C;text-decoration:none">Monday's
                column</span></a>. We are living in a time of corporate
            monopolies that rivals those of the robber baron age, and
            they are harming workers, consumers and the economy itself.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="margin-bottom:16.5pt;line-height:18.75pt;background:white"><span
style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">The
            issue, he writes, is not just wages and out sourcing; it is
            the fact <b>that "Verizon has shown a remarkable lack of
              interest in expanding its Fios high-speed Internet
              network, despite strong demand."<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="margin-bottom:16.5pt;line-height:18.75pt;background:white"><span
style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">The
            reason for that peculiar bit of seemingly self-destructive
            corporate behavior is that it does not have to. Verizon's
            customers have nowhere else to go and are forced to put up
            with shoddy service. And Verizon's case is far from alone.
            Krugman:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="margin-bottom:16.5pt;line-height:18.75pt;background:white"><span
style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">In
            recent years many economists, including people like Larry
            Summers and <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://bruegel.org/2014/02/blogs-review-profits-without-investment-in-the-recovery/"><span
                style="color:#F1602C;text-decoration:none">yours truly</span></a>,
            have come to the conclusion that growing monopoly power is a
            big problem for the U.S. economy — and not just because it
            raises profits at the expense of wages. Verizon-type
            stories, in which lack of competition reduces the incentive
            to invest, may contribute to persistent economic weakness.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="margin-bottom:16.5pt;line-height:18.75pt;background:white"><span
style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">The
            argument begins with a seeming paradox about overall
            corporate behavior. You see, profits are at near-record
            highs, thanks to a substantial decline in the percentage of
            G.D.P. going to workers. You might think that these high
            profits imply high rates of return to investment. But
            corporations themselves clearly don’t see it that way: their
            investment in plant, equipment, and technology (as opposed
            to mergers and acquisitions) hasn’t taken off, even though
            they can raise money, whether by issuing bonds or by selling
            stocks, more cheaply than ever before.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="margin-bottom:16.5pt;line-height:18.75pt;background:white"><span
style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">How
            can this paradox be resolved? Well, suppose that those high
            corporate profits don’t represent returns on investment, but
            instead mainly reflect growing monopoly power. In that case
            many corporations would be in the position I just described:
            able to milk their businesses for cash, but with little
            reason to spend money on expanding capacity or improving
            service. The result would be what we see: an economy with
            high profits but low investment, even in the face of very
            low interest rates and high stock prices.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="margin-bottom:16.5pt;line-height:18.75pt;background:white"><span
style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">And
            such an economy wouldn’t just be one in which workers don’t
            share the benefits of rising productivity; it would also
            tend to have trouble achieving or sustaining full
            employment. Why? Because when investment is weak despite low
            interest rates, the Federal Reserve will too often find its
            efforts to fight recessions coming up short. So lack of
            competition can contribute to <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/16/secular-stagnation-coalmines-bubbles-and-larry-summers/"><span
                style="color:#F1602C;text-decoration:none">“secular
                stagnation”</span></a> — that awkwardly-named but
            serious condition in which an economy tends to be depressed
            much or even most of the time, feeling prosperous only when
            spending is boosted by unsustainable asset or credit
            bubbles. If that sounds to you like the story of the U.S.
            economy since the 1990s, join the club.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="margin-bottom:16.5pt;line-height:18.75pt;background:white"><span
style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">Increased
            monopolies, and decreased competition are bad for the
            economy. And Ronald Reagan is the man we have to thank for
            that. Known best for lowering taxes and deregulating banks,
            he also weakened enforcement of anti-trust regulations. He
            was assisted in this effort by George W. Bush, and Obama has
            been too distracted to deal with it, though Krugman suggests
            he is finally giving the problem some attention.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="margin-bottom:16.5pt;line-height:18.75pt;background:white"><span
style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">Better
            late than never.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">============================================<o:p></o:p></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">No
            electrons were destroyed to send this email. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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