Difference between revisions of "Collusion"

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==Political collusion==
 
==Political collusion==
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Collusion is process by which [[leak]]s are made public. A journalist must collude with a source to get information.
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===Collusion with foreign nations===
 
===Collusion with foreign nations===
 
The Left has colluded with [[Russia]] since at least the 1930s.<ref>Byas, Steve (February 13, 2018). [https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/foreign-policy/item/28267-the-lefts-collusion-with-the-russians-is-nothing-new The Left's Collusion With the Russians Is Nothing New]. ''The New American''. Retrieved February 13, 2018.</ref> It also supports having its allies interfere in the domestic politics of other countries even when it strongly opposes its political opponents doing the same.<ref>Multiple references:
 
The Left has colluded with [[Russia]] since at least the 1930s.<ref>Byas, Steve (February 13, 2018). [https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/foreign-policy/item/28267-the-lefts-collusion-with-the-russians-is-nothing-new The Left's Collusion With the Russians Is Nothing New]. ''The New American''. Retrieved February 13, 2018.</ref> It also supports having its allies interfere in the domestic politics of other countries even when it strongly opposes its political opponents doing the same.<ref>Multiple references:

Revision as of 18:58, August 13, 2018

Collusion, in business, is an agreement among members of a cartel in a particular industry not to compete in order to create artificial disincentives for new competitors.[1]

Typically, collusion occurs when a group of large competitors, a cartel, divvy up market share among themselves to gain monopoly control,[2] and manipulate prices and profitability to make it impossible for a start-up competitor to gain market access. Thus, the public is denied the benefits of lower prices and improvements that come with time. It's also called "price rigging" or "unfair competition."[3]

The OPEC cartel is an example of competitors in an industry colluding together to limit production and set prices. Each member agrees to a production quota which, cumulatively, sets the world price. If a member exceeds its production quota, it has the effect of driving down the world price and profitability of all members. If all members exceed their quota, a price war erupts from which some members may not survive.

When the government grants protection or assents to collusion and monopoly control by not enforcing anti-Trust laws, it is referred to as "corporate cronyism."

History of the term

The term "collusion" entered the popular lexicon with the publication of Ida Tarbell's History of Standard Oil,[4] as a buzzword used by populists to describe nefarious activities of the super-rich in the late 19th and early 20th century.[5] It became a smear word among progressives to promote class envy without those using it having to understand or define specifically what it is.[6]

Collusion is basically private conversations. In itself, the activity is innocuous and routine. Collusion is what occurs all day, every day, in private meetings in the White House, Pentegon, closed door Congressional hearings, corporate board rooms, psychiatrist offices, between journalists and sources, in confession booths, and among young sweethearts. Because of libel laws, journalists' have referred to such activity as collusion rather than conspiracy, giving the term a more ominous meaning without accusing people of criminal activity.

Anti-Trust collusion (illegal)

Anti-trust collusion is basically hiding profit making assets in non-profit trust entities in which the benefactor or grantor retains control for his own benefit. In the United States it is illegal under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, although the law has historically been selectively enforced.

John D. Rockefeller was notorious for colluding with railroads to deny competitors transport of their product,[7] and drive mom n' pop oil producers out of business. He was accused of unfair trade practices. Rockefeller held most all of his assets in Trust. For this, a body of Antitrust law grew up.

Rockefeller became so rich in the oil businesss, and so dominant as a monopoly, he began buying up businesses outside the oil industry. Having little knowledge how some of the businesses operated, and fearful the managers might rip him off, Rockefeller held these entities in Trust. Soon Rockefeller owned every business in whole towns, held in Trust, creating tremendous public resentment. People felt they were being denied the opportunity to compete. Ida Tarbell asserted Rockefeller gained his monopoly control by collusion and unfair practices. A populist movement was spawned of Trust Busters running for Congress, vowing support for the little guy - small business, and to end unfair trade practices. Marxists piggybacked on this anti-big business sentiment with class warfare.

Business collusion

Adam Smith said,
"People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. It is impossible indeed to prevent such meetings, by any law which either could be executed or would be consistent with liberty and justice. But though the law cannot hinder people of the same trade from sometimes assembling together, it ought to do nothing to facilitate such assemblies; much less to render them necessary."[8]
Smith's statement is interesting in that it's critical of government for encouraging formation of lobbying trade groups to speak with one voice, such as Big Pharma, for example.

Tech company collusion

In August 2018 the large tech firms Apple, Facebook, Google and others, colluded, in the space of 12 hours, to deny InfoWars access to social media. InfoWars was a fast rising Media Production site surpassing the BBC and other large News and Media sites in viewership and market share in November 2016.[9] It's official APP was ranked #4 in Apple's App Store, above Google News (#5), CNN (#6), Fox News (#7), Buzzfeed (# 10), The New York Times (#11), ABC (#19), and BBC (#26) at the time Silicon Valley tech giants colluded together to destroy it.[10]

Political collusion

Collusion is process by which leaks are made public. A journalist must collude with a source to get information.

Collusion with foreign nations

The Left has colluded with Russia since at least the 1930s.[11] It also supports having its allies interfere in the domestic politics of other countries even when it strongly opposes its political opponents doing the same.[12]

In the 1980s the Democrats colluded with communists in the "Dear Comandante Letter" and Ted Kennedy's letter to Leonid Brezhnev. Both instances violated the Logan Act.

Left-wing California Senator Dianne Feinstein, an important member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, unwittingly colluded with Chinese spies for 20 years.[13] Democrats and establishment Republicans also have no problem colluding with China by participating in "China Town Halls", which serve as propaganda for the Chinese government.[14]

Hillary whitewash

James Comey colluded at the White House all morning on May 16, 2016; in the afternoon a group of FBI personnel colluded in Peter Strzok's office to drop the felonious charges of gross negligence against Hillary Clinton, for which she faced 10 years in prison, and substituted "careless" as President Obama had suggested.

See also

References

  1. Or Barriers to entry into a market or industry.
  2. A cartel with monopoly control is sometimes referred to as an oligopoly.
  3. Government sometimes has an incentive to favor Big Business and monopolistic trade practices because of the larger taxes revenues they create, and their ability to produce larger tax revenues faster in a new, unregulated industry. This tendency by the government to encourage unfair trade practices historically has been countered by populist movements.
    This incentive only became bigger with passage of the Corporate Income Tax, a so-called "Progressive reform," that came after passage of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
  4. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-woman-who-took-on-the-tycoon-651396/
  5. "collusion" of the "monied interests" were big issues in every election cycle throughout the populist and Progressive era (c.1892-1916). https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/01/populism-douglas-hofstadter-donald-trump-democracy
  6. The progressive's notion that through collusion "power pyramids" and the top 1% control all the wealth. The simple facts are in a democratic society with an elected parliament the government itself encourges collusion through lobbying trade groups. Few elected representatives are specialists in any industry, and no one wants to grant special favors to a single company. So the government encourages competitors in an industry facing regulation to speak with one voice through a lobbying trade association.
    Progressives basically argue for an anti-democratic technocracy through simple-minded slogans.
  7. In other words, he would pay railroads more, above market price, to transport his oil and deny service to smaller competitors. The volume of his product allowed him to operate on a slim profit margin. Even if a smaller competitor could pay the artificial higher transport fees created by Rockefeller's collusion with the railroads, it wiped out their profit. Ultimately, the smaller companies had to sell out to Rockefeller, making Standard Oil even bigger and more monopolistic. Once all competition is eliminated, Rockefeller than could raise prices and gouge the public at will.
  8. https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Cartels.html
  9. https://www.infowars.com/infowars-surges-31-spots-in-media-site-rankings-in-one-month/
  10. https://www.infowars.com/infowars-official-app-jumps-to-number-4-dominates-cnn-nyt-abc/
  11. Byas, Steve (February 13, 2018). The Left's Collusion With the Russians Is Nothing New. The New American. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  12. Multiple references:
  13. Multiple references:
  14. Jasper, William (August 9, 2018). Real Collusion: “China Town Hall” Brings Beijing’s Propagandists to Your Home Town. The New American. Retrieved August 9, 2018.