What's happening to independent publishers didn't start with Google. It didn't start with algorithms or AI or any particular piece of technology. It started in the 1980s when two deliberate policy changes rewired how American corporations operate. One killed the rules that kept monopolies from forming. The other changed how executives get paid. Together, they turned extraction into the most profitable corporate strategy in nearly every industry. Understanding this explains why airlines, banks, food companies, and tech platforms all consolidated the same way—and why forty years of both parties did nothing to stop it.
Read full article
