Break 'Em Up

Starred review from March 2, 2020
Attorney and political activist Teachout (Corruption in America) makes a passionate and persuasive case for a revitalized antitrust movement to strengthen democracy and improve the lives of middle- and working-class Americans. Explaining that three large poultry processors buy and sell nearly every chicken in the U.S., allowing them to set restrictive, exploitative terms on contract farmers, Teachout forecasts the “chickenization” of the American economy. Companies like Seamless and Uber, she writes, centralize power, profit, data, and decision-making while decentralizing labor and risk. She critiques Amazon, Facebook, and Google for destroying competition; building an advertising model that fosters “surveillance, discrimination, and addiction”; and imperiling the free press. Other corporations come under fire for mandating private arbitration to settle lawsuits, “taking over” political parties and trade associations, and abetting the suppression of the minority vote. Teachout’s suggestions for reform include restoring stringent antitrust measures in place before the 1980s and overhauling the Communications Decency Act. Teachout delivers a forceful, clearly articulated vision of “moral markets” built on freedom, choice, and human dignity. Progressives will heed this clarion call for reform. Agent: Gail Ross, the Ross Yoon Agency.

March 15, 2020
A forceful argument about the stealthy resurgence of monopoly within the global economy. Teachout, a law professor at Fordham University, redirects progressive attention toward this easily overlooked issue. "Wall Street," she writes, "has been a driving force behind the gutting of antitrust laws." The purported democratic norms of the tech economy have clouded such predatory business practices in many aspects of life, from the effect of Uber on drivers' livelihoods, to less obvious but chilling examples--e.g., how poultry monopolies have turned farmers into indentured servants. "Uber successfully sold the idea that, if we wanted to use our phones to get a taxi, we needed to destroy 80 years of anti-monopoly laws," writes Teachout. Furthermore, the "chickenization" model is creeping into many industries, especially restaurant delivery: "Surveillance and power go hand in hand, each reinforcing the other." Race and class inform many of these hidden narratives: In one chapter, the author tracks how arbitration has become an alternate justice system serving the ultrawealthy. She also discusses the "body snatcher" effect of corporate super PACs on the political system: "corporate institutions replacing democratic institutions by burrowing inside them and using their language and forms." Similarly, the journalism industry has been gutted by greedy corporate raiders and their continued search for quarterly profit increases. Regarding the secretive CEOs of social media, Teachout writes, "it is crucial that we understand [Mark] Zuckerberg, and monopolists like him, as seekers of political power, for it is only through political action that they can be tamed." Wide-ranging, well-organized chapters are full of unsettling tidbits, such as Amazon's courting of the surveillance state via commercial data-sharing. Finally, the author looks back at the original populist antitrust movement, but she also makes the salient point that "we shouldn't require people to boycott essential communications infrastructure like Facebook and Google in order to demand that they be broken up." Teachout confidently wields energetic, urgent prose and stark research, adeptly blending subtopics including law and technology. Deserves wide attention in our current political landscape.

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