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Your Call

Why does it matter that a handful of companies control the majority of our economy?

The Amazon Books retail store, the first physical outlet operated by online retailer Amazon.com, at the U Village shopping center in Seattle, Washington.
The Amazon Books retail store, the first physical outlet operated by online retailer Amazon.com, at the U Village shopping center in Seattle, Washington.

On this edition of Your Call, we'll have a conversation about corporate monopolies, in light of Amazon's $4 billion bid to buy telehealth and primary care service OneMedical.

Corporate concentration has reached its highest level. Four big banks control more than 41 percent of the assets of the entire U.S. banking system. Four giant meatpacking corporations control 85 percent of beef processing, and two telecom corporations dominate Internet access.

Guests:

Sarah Miller, executive director and founder of theAmerican Economic Liberties Project

Stacy Mitchell, co-executive director of theInstitute for Local Self-Reliance, and author of Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America’s Independent Businesses

Web Resources:

Institute for Local Self Reliance: America’s Monopoly Problem: Why It Matters and What We Can Do About It

Public Citizen: Regulators and Congress Should Investigate Proposed Amazon-One Medical Merger

The New York Times: The Books Merger That’s About Amazon

NPR: Authors and bookstore owners worry a big publishing merger will affect diversity

Vox: Amazon wants to be your doctor now, too

Bee Soll is a producer with Your Call at KALW, and a producer, writer, and editor at KCBS Radio in San Francisco. She is a former reporter for Crosscurrents and contributor at KPFA Radio.