E07: Attack on American Free Enterprise System - Part 1

Monopolies Killed My Hometown

"Attack on American Free Enterprise System", or better known as The Powell Memo. Lewis Powell wrote this memo for the education committee of the American Chamber of Commerce two months before he was nominated to sit on the US Supreme Court.

I looked at this American memo for two main reasons. First, Canada tends to follow the economic path laid by the US. Second, in the last episode I talked about ecosystems. I said the largest trees can't change the rules to benefit themselves, but businesses can. This memo provides the outline for how the business community worked to change the rules for their benefit over the last 40-50 years. Knowing this history is relevant to the conversation we're going to have about Competition Policy in Canada.

Other people have more scholarly reviews and analysis of this memo. I view this as Powell invoking a moral panic to get the business community to fight back. I break down why I think this is the case.

Some links from today's episode:

• The Powell Memo
• A Corporate Blueprint to Dominate America
• The Powell Memorandum's 40th Anniversary: Impunity For Control Fraud
• Compete to Win Final Report - aka The Wilson Report
• Canadian Chamber urges independent review of Competition Act
• The Methods of Moral Panic Journalism by Michael Hobbes
• Panic! On the Editorial Page by Michael Hobbes