In Break ’Em Up (All Points, May.), attorney Teachout writes that the time to take on corporate monopolies is now.
How did you get the idea to compare the plight of rural chicken farmers, most of whose businesses are controlled by one of three big processors, to workers in the gig economy?
I had a fellowship in what became the Open Markets Institute, and one of the fellows there was an extraordinary writer by the name of Chris Leonard, who had just finished a book called The Meat Racket, in which he unearths the term chickenization. It’s a very real term that people in the pork and beef industries use to describe the way their industries are changing. But it quickly became clear that it wasn’t just beef and pork—it was also sellers getting “chickenized” on Amazon. And the word chicken is so powerful because it’s also about fear. One of the things that I care the most about is reinserting the language of both power and fear into the way that we talk about the economy. So much economic thinking takes out the human element and describes it all in terms of dollars and cents.
One of the book’s chapters is titled “No, You Don’t Have to Boycott Amazon.” Why not?
It’s important that we relocate our power first and foremost as citizens who have the power to change laws. When there’s a critique of a big corporation, people think their first moral obligation is to dissociate from the corporation. But the problem with these monopolies is that they’re totally integrated into our society—boycotting them is like boycotting public water. And certainly the less power you have, the less ability you have to boycott. So there’s a strong class element. But most importantly, there’s a dangerous joining of neoliberal market ideology with language and images from some very powerful boycott movements to suggest that our primary role is that of a consumer instead of a citizen. One of the things that I’ve noticed is that when people don’t feel like they can boycott these monopolies, they’re overcome with guilt and shame that they no longer have the standing to object. It’s really, really disempowering.
How do voters incentivize politicians to adopt antitrust solutions?
Politicians who are ready to tap into this are tapping into a well of fire. There is so much anger and understanding already out there. We’re in a new antimonopoly moment—which means it’s going to be a major fight. Some of the most powerful forces in world history have every interest in stopping this nascent movement. But our job is not to create the movement; it’s to tie together all the pieces that are already out there. That was one of the purposes of the book.
