Monopolies Are Antithetical to Democracy (The New York Times)
The proposed AT&T-Time Warner merger is a watershed moment for our political system. Will we continue to allow the further concentration of economic power at the top, or will this be the moment when democracy fights back?
ATT-Time Warner would be a giant in pay-TV, wireless service, broadband, news and entertainment — it could certainly shape the media to its advantage in a myriad different ways.
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Cuts to research agencies have left Congress outsourcing policy analysis to privately funded institutions. (The New York Times)
There is an inherent conflict posed in the financing of policy ideas. On the one hand, money is required to assemble the data and narratives necessary to present policy options. On the other hand, money can also, in and of itself, corrupt those ideas. This is the think tank analogue to the problem presented by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.
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