Comcast and Centurylink (though they may haven taken different names at one time or another) have been a duopoly in Colorado for decades. Their prices have gone up and up too -- more, it seems, than inflation. Maybe we'll finally see that come to an end.

You are lucky to even have a second choice for broadband. In large parts of the country, the list of choices is only Comcast.

Those type of executives will be going to jail soon enough.

There is a theory, I think first proposed by Arthur Schlesinger Jr (who won two Pulitzer prizes, had an equally renowned father, and was one of Kennedy’s top advisors) that American history tends to move in 80 year cycles divided into two forty year periods or so. Every 40 years US society shifts from capitalism and individualism to community and strong federal government. Neither period is inherently bad, but it’s just that capitalism and democracy don’t coexist as much as rule independently, taking turns.

Schlesinger dated the capitalism period to 1980 starting with Ronald Reagan. That means it should end in 2020 or so.

For all the crimes that fall out of the statue of limitations, I can imagine, not necessarily in a good way and probably will be frowned upon by later historians, that McCarthy-style commissions will be set up and these executives blacklisted from business.

To be fair Reagan is a capitalist only mostly just at face value. He increased government size and power more than Obama did. For example, not just did he increase spending but he also partnered with and strenthened the Deep State which has given us great benefits to American Liberty such as Iran Contra, subversion and lies leading to endless pointless wars, and even domestic surveillance.

>"Commercial banking firm’s continuing desire for greater powers received support when Ronald Reagan became President and appointed banking regulators who shared an “attitude towards deregulation of the financial industry.”[1]

His legacy of deregulation often decreased competitiveness and paved the way for the 2008 financial crisis. He even willfully used "left wing" Keynseian economics of tax+spend+cut taxes to get short-term gains at the expense of future generations.

As far as I can tell his consistency appears to be that of an authoritarian, which throws this whole analysis off the rails... In my opinion.

It's very hard to reign in all of these beasts he let loose.

1-https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_of_the_Glass–Steagal...

Your post is so full of inaccuracies. The rich have always preached free market to the masses while taking state subsidies for themselves.

The human mind does not see reality as it is, see the science:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYmi0DLzBdQ

Energy subsidies

https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2015/NEW07021...

Interference in other states when the rich/corporations dont get their way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mxp_wgFWQo&feature=youtu.be...

Protectionism for the rich and big business by state intervention, radical market interference.

Testing theories of representative government

https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mgilens/fi...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHj2GaPuEhY#t=349

From war is a racket:

"I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested."[p. 10]

"War is a racket. ...It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives." [p. 23]

"The general public shoulders the bill [for war]. This bill renders a horrible accounting. Newly placed gravestones. Mangled bodies. Shattered minds. Broken hearts and homes. Economic instability. Depression and all its attendant miseries. Back-breaking taxation for generations and generations." [p. 24]

General Butler is especially trenchant when he looks at post-war casualties. He writes with great emotion about the thousands of traumatised soldiers, many of who lose their minds and are penned like animals until they die, and he notes that in his time, returning veterans are three times more likely to die prematurely than those who stayed home.

http://www.amazon.com/War-Racket-Antiwar-Americas-Decorated/...

Blum:

http://williamblum.org/aer/read/137

US distribution of wealth

https://imgur.com/a/FShfb

http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

The Centre for Investigative Journalism

http://www.tcij.org/

Some history on US imperialism by us corporations.

https://kurukshetra1.wordpress.com/2015/09/27/a-brief-histor...

OK so what exactly is inaccurate?

> American history tends to move in 80 year cycles divided into two forty year periods or so

~80 years ago was World War 2.

~80 years before that was the US Civil War.

~80 years before that was the American Revolution.

I'm hoping this time around will be a little more boring. The previous events look like a little too much excitement for my taste.

Amazingly and coincidentally enough, when was the last time you had a president where you were actually worried a multi-regional war might start?

Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, Bush Jr., Trump.

Noting the exceptions: Eisenhower, Carter, Bush Sr., Clinton, Obama.

1 second ago

Right now, every day.

Reagan.

so, roughly a lifespan.

This aligns with the new crony financialism of the 70s and New Deal of the 30s, but makes not much sense before that. It’s a nice digestable notion that correlates with cycles of generational empowerment but not much else. I’m open to the idea, but a bit more scope gives a picture of an industrial empire in a decadent phase.

Once a pattern like that has been noticed and (crucially) correctly analysed, it tends to disappear, as the affected actors modify their behaviour in response to this analysis.

Alright, that is rational. So, why are there so many exceptions to this rule?For example, why is this limited to America? Is this because America has such a free market? And if that’s the case, where did this overwhelming inequality and monopoly dominance come from?

I’m sorry, but this is just incredibly simplistic reasoning and i think deserves some testing and scrutiny. Maybe you’re right, but please explain.

That is something I’ve thought about too. Kind of like passive investing / index funds. It works great, but if everyone is doing it, then it loses it’s original purpose and distorts market prices.

I will say once patterns are discovered they tend to be forgotten as well, so modification can stop happening.

Which explains a lot - if you believe that we're in the middle of a pendulum swing politically and culturally, suddenly a lot of things in the way people are acting makes a a lot more sense.

Setting aside the question of what is driving it, we are obviously in the midst of a significant realignment.

The hard thing is predicting where it ends up.

Would you mind recommended any of his books to read about these cycles?

Arthur Schlesinger Jr’s “The Cycles of American History”

“The Forth Turning” or “Generations” by Neil Howe and William Strauss. Although be warned although those books were well received at the time in like 1993 (including a pretty positive review by the N.Y. Times) they are little less ‘academic’ than Schlesinger’s.

Also the authors Samuel Lubell, R.G. Collingwood, and Frank L. Klinberg.

Regarding the concept of “willful blindness” that is currently experiencing a revival in academic legal circles and is forming the basis for an aggressive, take-no-prisoners approach to white-collar crime, look at “The Chickenshit Club” by Jesse Eisinger.

The Cycles of American History https://www.amazon.com/dp/0395957931/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_0ea9...

Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0688119123/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_kfa9...

The Chickenshit Club: Why the Justice Department Fails to Prosecute Executives https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501121367/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_aea9...

Thanks for all of these recommendations