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Break 'em Up: Recovering Our Freedom from Big Ag, Big Tech, and Big Money by Zephyr Teachout
benrogerswpg's review
4.0
Amazing book! Some really great material on antitrust and corporate greed.
Touches heavily on Amazon, Facebook, and Monsanto.
Really liked the bit about Amazon (below).
They sell products for less because they make those product companies cut corners or pay their employees less. So, this book said that we all work at these companies, so buying from Amazon essentially means you're offering your neighbors lower wages. Shop local!
Don't get me started on Facebook! This book really opens your eyes.
I would have given this book a higher rating, but there is a genuine lack of mentioning Apple's also terrible business practices. I think Teachout has gone a little freakout for Apple in the way of fanboying. They got lots of dirt too buddy.
The content is pretty volatile and decisive, and I found it really interesting.
Great book if you're into economics and appreciate honest business practices and living wage.
4.2/5
Touches heavily on Amazon, Facebook, and Monsanto.
Really liked the bit about Amazon (below).
They sell products for less because they make those product companies cut corners or pay their employees less. So, this book said that we all work at these companies, so buying from Amazon essentially means you're offering your neighbors lower wages. Shop local!
Don't get me started on Facebook! This book really opens your eyes.
I would have given this book a higher rating, but there is a genuine lack of mentioning Apple's also terrible business practices. I think Teachout has gone a little freakout for Apple in the way of fanboying. They got lots of dirt too buddy.
The content is pretty volatile and decisive, and I found it really interesting.
Great book if you're into economics and appreciate honest business practices and living wage.
4.2/5
rick2's review
5.0
Market dominance and universal surveillance combine to create a truly unique set of circumstances for today’s work and businesses. (He says while posting on a Bezos property) Zephyr Teachout convincingly argues that big tech and agriculture are Detrimental to a functioning society. She then attempts to transfer these arguments to other industries. Overall I found the book an incredibly condemning portrait of the monopolization of American industry.
There’s one of the few books where I wanted it to be twice as long. I want more information on the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare in general. Chapter 10 about the historical regulation of monopolies felt like the Cliff Notes of a larger book that I really would’ve liked to read. You could write a book on every industry described here, Teachout spent maybe three pages describing venture capital and Softbank. Which is an industry and Co. I’m very familiar with. I think there are multiple books to be written about how venture capital restricts and eschews regulation under the guise of “innovation”
I think one of the drawbacks to this book is that when you make a case against entrenched powers, you should do so comprehensively. When you come at the king you best not miss. I know I’m going to discuss this book with others and because it proposes things like trust busting and regulation, there will be plenty who disagree with it. I wish there was more fodder to point to in each Industry. It doesn’t hurt the overall impact of the book, it’s just a personal wistfulness.
Overall Break Em Up is a condemning look at big business in the US. I think a couple years and 20 or so books ago, I would not have connected as strongly with her points. But in September of 2020 I thought this book provided incredibly comprehensive view of the issues surrounding and facing American industry.
There’s one of the few books where I wanted it to be twice as long. I want more information on the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare in general. Chapter 10 about the historical regulation of monopolies felt like the Cliff Notes of a larger book that I really would’ve liked to read. You could write a book on every industry described here, Teachout spent maybe three pages describing venture capital and Softbank. Which is an industry and Co. I’m very familiar with. I think there are multiple books to be written about how venture capital restricts and eschews regulation under the guise of “innovation”
I think one of the drawbacks to this book is that when you make a case against entrenched powers, you should do so comprehensively. When you come at the king you best not miss. I know I’m going to discuss this book with others and because it proposes things like trust busting and regulation, there will be plenty who disagree with it. I wish there was more fodder to point to in each Industry. It doesn’t hurt the overall impact of the book, it’s just a personal wistfulness.
Overall Break Em Up is a condemning look at big business in the US. I think a couple years and 20 or so books ago, I would not have connected as strongly with her points. But in September of 2020 I thought this book provided incredibly comprehensive view of the issues surrounding and facing American industry.
reasie's review
4.0
Good points, though it mostly just made me angry and treaded ground I'd read about in other places, though I think it's important to deliver the message: This is not natural. The power does not have to be with the companies. Workers especially need to seize control back, and we're not going to do it by consumer boycotts because the consumer doesn't really have any choice anymore with so many companies owning each other.
But you know, if you were looking for MORE reasons to hate Reagan for starting our inexorable slide toward a corporate feudalism more dystopian than any cyberpunk book could have imagined ... do read.
But you know, if you were looking for MORE reasons to hate Reagan for starting our inexorable slide toward a corporate feudalism more dystopian than any cyberpunk book could have imagined ... do read.
miguelf's review against another edition
5.0
There have been several good books on the state of monopoly power in the US in including Philippon’s “The Great Reversal” and Stoller’s “Goliath”, and Teachout also does a great job in outlining just how bad the situation with monopoly power has become. She does so in a way that’s a bit folksier and more relatable than the average economist which is not necessarily a bad thing. She provides a number of different examples, whether focusing on Big Tech and their textbook monopoly status (and the knock-on effects to other vital areas like the news media) to food chain suppliers and how that relates to and has knock-on effects to how much the average worker earns. The impact from these monopolies / oligopolies has been net negative to society as a whole.
There’s a look back at the historical struggle with temporary wins in the late 19th Century and early 20th with the emphasis on breaking up trusts compared to the easing of these restrictions starting with Reagan to pare back regulations and allow concentration in industry which was only ratcheted up further during the Clinton administration.
She outlines a path to break up the current oligopolies with some specifics on how this would apply to the big 4 in the Tech space. She ends with a nice comparison between the issue of profit seeking and profit maximization, the latter of which has been adhered to as a religion for the past 50 years much to societies’ detriment.
One noted point she raises is the general ineffectiveness of consumer boycotts, which although not overly surprising shows just how little individual and even attempted mass consumer action yields – without legislation.
The book ends on an unintentional sad note: she describes an imagined path forward of reform in which she envisions in 2040 many of her ideas have implemented, and while this paints a world more worth living in it’s also unfortunately a world which will only exist on paper as there will likely never be enough political will mustered to implement these lofty goals.
There’s a look back at the historical struggle with temporary wins in the late 19th Century and early 20th with the emphasis on breaking up trusts compared to the easing of these restrictions starting with Reagan to pare back regulations and allow concentration in industry which was only ratcheted up further during the Clinton administration.
She outlines a path to break up the current oligopolies with some specifics on how this would apply to the big 4 in the Tech space. She ends with a nice comparison between the issue of profit seeking and profit maximization, the latter of which has been adhered to as a religion for the past 50 years much to societies’ detriment.
One noted point she raises is the general ineffectiveness of consumer boycotts, which although not overly surprising shows just how little individual and even attempted mass consumer action yields – without legislation.
The book ends on an unintentional sad note: she describes an imagined path forward of reform in which she envisions in 2040 many of her ideas have implemented, and while this paints a world more worth living in it’s also unfortunately a world which will only exist on paper as there will likely never be enough political will mustered to implement these lofty goals.
erintby's review
4.0
I loved how recent this book is. It feels very relevant. Teachout clearly spelled out the dangers and destruction that results from monopoly power and why it has such harmful effects on our democracy. I think so often people tend to think of economics and politics as separate, especially within free market ideology, which preaches that markets should be left entirely unregulated by government interference. But of course all markets are regulated, and right now, they’re regulated in a way that enables monopoly power and is then subservient to monopoly power. As Teachout argues, we cannot avoid the moral nature of markets, because they are always structured by explicit human decisions. I also struggle to get over the fact that if antitrust laws already on the books had been enforced, we wouldn’t be in the predicament we are now where Google, Facebook and Amazon together (& many others) have incredible and terrifying amounts of power.
I appreciated Teachout’s conclusion that, “We can have a moral economy. But first we need to end government by private monopolies.” I also valued her insights into how even the left has internalized ethical consumerism. These were new thoughts to me, but I do think it’s a compelling case that needs to be made. I shouldn’t be forced to feel guilty that I’m supporting Amazon by writing this review on Goodreads, which is owned by Amazon. I shouldn’t internalize the message that I need to boycott Amazon before it is justifiable for me to write my congresswomen & men about holding Amazon responsible.
I appreciated Teachout’s conclusion that, “We can have a moral economy. But first we need to end government by private monopolies.” I also valued her insights into how even the left has internalized ethical consumerism. These were new thoughts to me, but I do think it’s a compelling case that needs to be made. I shouldn’t be forced to feel guilty that I’m supporting Amazon by writing this review on Goodreads, which is owned by Amazon. I shouldn’t internalize the message that I need to boycott Amazon before it is justifiable for me to write my congresswomen & men about holding Amazon responsible.
tbloehrlein's review
5.0
From the beginning, the author informs you that this will not make you an expert on monopolies. And she is not wrong. Like any true passion or profession, that type of expertise takes years of experience.
What Ms. Teachout does well, and which she correctly advertises, is that she will make sure that the reader knows about the different monopolies in America, how we came to our current situation, and what must be done to remedy our predicament.
She does a fantastic job explaining monopolies in simplistic fashion while not eliminating the depth or gravitas that must be afforded such a topic. In addition, she marinates the book with examples and anecdotes that facilitate understanding that allows the reader to understand the topic more clearly and what is currently happening in our nation.
What Ms. Teachout does well, and which she correctly advertises, is that she will make sure that the reader knows about the different monopolies in America, how we came to our current situation, and what must be done to remedy our predicament.
She does a fantastic job explaining monopolies in simplistic fashion while not eliminating the depth or gravitas that must be afforded such a topic. In addition, she marinates the book with examples and anecdotes that facilitate understanding that allows the reader to understand the topic more clearly and what is currently happening in our nation.