What the Kochs want is to use their vast fortune to influence the political beliefs of people with a millionth their net worth, getting the middle class to buy into the notion that what's good for the rich is good for everyone.
The failure of the U.S. corn harvests spells a disaster for the world's poor, but not because the poor eat our corn. They don't eat corn-fed livestock from CAFOs either, nor do they fill up at the pump with ethanol-blended gasoline.
After one "I'm bored" too many, I marched over to the bookshelves -- sagging under the weight of stimulating toys and activities -- and pulled out that old standby "Monopoly," jammed in and forgotten between "Life" and "Stratego."
Rather than write about the likes of Tim Pawlenty and his relative strengths over Rob Portman's budget experience... oh, sorry, I seem to have put myself to sleep there. The real choices aren't exciting to write about, so let's travel to the Land of Make-Believe instead, shall we?
It is July, a few summers back, at Paramount's Kings Dominion theme park near Richmond, Va. And as Patrick the Starfish, SpongeBob SquarePants' best cartoon friend, I am the goofy hero of the afternoon.
Pearson is tilting the coverage of U.S. history to win approval by school boards in red states, and in doing this, allowing the most conservative school boards in the nation to determine what gets taught in New York State schools.
Control by two behemoth labels would prevent the development of innovative new digital music distribution models, would take away avenues of exposure for independent artists, and would raise the price of digital music for consumers.
Monsanto's monopoly limits farmers' choices and threatens our livelihoods. But America's antitrust laws were enacted to protect us from this very situation. These laws are premised on the belief that competitive markets produce the best products, and they need to be enforced.
The lack of competition in our deregulated high-speed Internet marketplace has gotten so bad that the U.S. has gone from number one in broadband penetration at the close of the 20th century down to 25th in the world.
A monocle has everything a hipster craves. It complements a twirly mustache. Perfect! Using facial muscles to hold a monocle in place causes one to sneer. Excellent! A monocle creates the impression that the person knows everything there is to know. Fantastic!
Let's make Bank of America remember the old adage: "The pigs get fat and the hogs get slaughtered." Let's use their own greed to stoke the "Occupy Wall Street" sentiment that is -- quite correctly -- sweeping the country.
Is there viable competition anywhere to Google? Let's forget about the poor Microsoft shareholders and ask what the fact that Bing only exists due to massive subsidies says about the health of competition in search.
You might be experiencing a horrible 1980s flashback right about now. No, it's not because legwarmers are in style again. It's because AT&T, that monopoly that once lorded over your rotary phone, has resurfaced with a scheme to rule your mobile phone as well.
Examining the larger set of documents from the initial phase of the Skyhook trial against Google is opening a window into Google executives' views on how they sought to reinforce Google's monopoly and collect personal information from its users.