50 minutes
|
March 18, 2025
#20 The Monopoly Problem
How Market Power is Reshaping Our Economy with Matt Stoller
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About The Speaker
Matt Stoller is the Director of Research at the American Economic Liberties Project. He is the author of the Simon and Schuster book Goliath: The Hundred Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy, which Business Insider called “one of the year’s best books on how to rethink capitalism and improve the economy.” David Cicilline, Chairman of the House Antitrust Subcommittee, has called Stoller’s work “an inspiration.” Stoller is a former policy advisor to the Senate Budget Committee.
He also worked for a member of the Financial Services Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives during the financial crisis. While a staffer, he wrote a provision of law mandating a third party audit of the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending activities. He also helped cut part of a $20 billion subsidy to large financial institutions. His 2012 law review article on the foreclosure crisis, The Housing Crash and the End of American Citizenship, predicted the rise of autocratic political forces, and his 2016 Atlantic article, How the Democrats Killed their Populist Soul, helped inspire the new anti-monopoly movement. His writing has appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, Fast Company, Foreign Policy, the Guardian, Vice, The American Conservative, and the Baffler. Stoller writes the monopoly-focused newsletter Big with tens of thousands of subscribers.
Episode Description
Have you ever wondered why essential goods like baby formula, eggs, and lifesaving medications keep facing shortages? The answer lies in monopoly power—a force reshaping our world in ways both visible and hidden.
Matt Stoller, director of Research at the American Economic Liberties Project and author of “Goliath: The Hundred-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy,” joins us for a profound exploration of how concentrated economic power threatens not just markets but the systems that keep us alive. Drawing from his experiences working with the Financial Services Committee during the financial crisis and his popular monopoly-focused newsletter “Big,” Stoller brings unique insights into this critical issue.
The conversation takes us through Boeing’s transformation from industry gold standard to quality nightmare, revealing how consolidation destroys excellence when financial priorities overrule engineering expertise. We examine the global dimensions of market concentration, from tech giants to the surprising revelation that just two European companies control 90% of global chicken genetics. Stoller makes a compelling distinction between legitimate business success and empire-building, arguing that breaking up monopolies would actually unleash innovation by freeing talented people from corporate bureaucracy.
Perhaps most provocative is Stoller’s critique of modern business culture, which has moved beyond cutting fat to slicing away “muscle and bone,” leaving companies fundamentally unable to operate effectively. The path forward requires business leaders with the courage to invest in capacity and quality despite financial pressures—those who understand that breaking empires rather than building them creates both better products and higher profits.
Whether you’re concerned about economic inequality, business innovation, or simply why things don’t work as well as they used to, this conversation will transform how you see the forces shaping our economic landscape. Subscribe now and join the conversation about monopoly power and its profound impact on our world.
