Canada: three oligopolies in a trenchcoat.
Bank service charges and overdraft fees can infuriate consumers, and more choices could lower their temperature.
From the perspective of investors, though, Canada’s cozy network of oligopolies – in which a few players dominate one sector – can look very different. Slim competition can keep upstarts out and profits in, driving strong shareholder returns and attractive dividends over the long term.
“We have a handful of oligopolies that are able to fend off new entrants (whether regional or foreign) without needing to destroy profits for an extended period of time, or where we need a government financed solution,” Ian de Verteuil, head of portfolio strategy at CIBC Capital Markets, said in an e-mail.
What we need in response is an “oligopoly” of labour organization, by which I mean a class solidarity that will be able to hold the corporate oligopolies accountable. Why are workers expected to compete with each other but businesses aren’t once they drive or buy their rivals out?
That’s what elected officials are for, unfortunately every party in Canada is the Capitalist Party.
No they’re not. Elected officials will represent whoever puts money in their pockets along with whoever votes for them. And I don’t mean illegal corruption. I mean direct political donations needed for those officials’ campaigns to get them elected. Electoral democracy is not enough. The only way around it is to take the excess money from the oligopolies via labor organizing so that labor can put more money in the elected officials’ pockets instead of the corporations’ major shareholders. Then perhaps the elected politicians would truly lean towards labor’s interests.
It’s the only way. The more I think about it, the more obvious it is. The only reliable way to take more of the excess profits out of the hands of major shareholders and stop them from funneling it into the politicians pockets is labor organization.