[bombcar]

There's a number of these where there's a desire to make it appear there is competition, but actually all are owned by the same conglomerate.

I would be 0% surprised if similar things haven't been done or tried in optometry, dentists, etc.

[eclipticplane]

To a lesser extent you can throw funeral homes into that mix. A few companies control many of them and buy more of them every year. They keep their local names. You still work with "Jacobs And Sons Funeral Services, established 1912" but really you're just paying Service Corporation International.

[bombcar]

Yeah, and a big part of this is they used to be generational family businesses, but now the "and Sons" often don't want to carry on, so after they've serviced Jacobs they sell.

[3maj]

For the last 5-10 years one of the most popular strategies for mid-sized PE firms has been the dental clinic roll up.

[monkeybutton]

Funny you should say that: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-private-equ...

[webnrrd2k]

I go to a small optometry practice, and I was told by my optometrist, several years ago, that it was a common thing for practices to be bought up by large corporations. They then sweat-shop the employees in an attempt to extract maximum returns. My optometrist didn't want to work like that so he (and his partners) didn't sell. But, in Southern California, it's a common thing for optometrist to build up a practice and flip it to larger companies.

[bombcar]

You can make a moderately comfortable bonus living this way IF the companies are remote and your clients are local - build business, flip to company, wait a bit, start a new one, wait for the old to implode, get your customers back, and repeat.

Similar to a guy I knew who sold his restaurant four times, each time buying it back for a song from the new owner who couldn't make it work out.

[riahi]

See luxottica and their “brands”.

[mywittyname]

They even own the insurance company, EyeMed...

[bombcar]

I honestly think at some point this gets to the place of "operating under false pretences" to have so many brands that are actually the same company behind it.

Perhaps "brought to you by HOLDING_COMPANY_X" should be required.

[bobthepanda]

Starbucks owns a bunch of “independent” shops

[samstave]

BlackStone

Vangauard

Etc.

There have been COUNTLESS videos about the above and how much they own.

These are the monopolies we should be going after.

[colinmhayes]

Index funds almost never vote with their shares. To say that vanguard having equity ownership without utilizing their voting rights leads to market failures seems incredibly naive.

[bombcar]

Bogle of Vanguard fame actually warned against the problem that Vanguard and Vanguard like things could cause: http://johncbogle.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/n...

[samstave]

Sure, until you actually look at the matrices of controlling board / ceo / congress seats these guys hold, and what has been recorded throughout history in what they do when investing...

Its incredibly naive to think that they arent actively affecting prices.

"What are you talking about, these guys are JOB CREATORS! they only invest in index holds!"

Yeah... good luck deciphering whats really happening when you think such.

---

I don't give a shit what you think about John Oliver, but his "Corp Consolidation" piece shows you just how these units operate:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00wQYmvfhn4

By funding of the smaller guys to be bought out by their bigger players... they then control the play of that industry...

Then they ensure that they all buy in-network shit... so all profits stay in the family. Incestuventure Capitalism. (And no its not about "economies at scale on pricing"

"Economies at SCALING of Price Fixing" <-- Truth.

Food. Oil. Housing. Transport. Healthcare. Education. Policing/Politics ("Safety").

OWNING THE MASLOWS HIERARCHY OF NEEDS. That's their business model.

[whimsicalism]

That's... just not true. Vanguard absolutely votes its shares.

[jjtheblunt]

What? They're not monopolies.

[samstave]

Is the Fed not a monopoly on your FIAT American Note? Just because they have "12 independent 'Member Banks'?

You're understanding of a monopoly is outdated. Plus, you're likely to knee-jerk with a "Thats not the defenition of a monopoly!"

Cool get all semantic on the third grade defenition of an insanely nuanced issue.

Monopoly in the dictionary sense is the same as a fucking sound-bite from the news on a highly complex nuanced global issue that takes one to have decades, and in some cases centuries, of input factors to understand the nuance.

[whimsicalism]

Yes, the Fed is a sanctioned quasi-governmental monopoly, just like the police or the taxman is.

You'll note that "the Fed" was not in your original list. Also, definition is spelled definition.

[pc86]

Good luck arguing with someone who says "FIAT" as if that's the ace up their sleeve.

[samstave]

An ace up my sleeve? Definitions mean something, until they don't.

" What Is Fiat Money?

Fiat money is a government-issued currency that is not backed by a physical commodity, such as gold or silver, but rather by the government that issued it."

The Federal Reserve derives its authority from the Congress, which created the System in 1913 with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act. This central banking "system" has three important features: (1) a central governing board—the Federal Reserve Board of Governors; (2) a decentralized operating structure of 12 Federal Reserve Banks; and (3) a blend of public and private characteristics.

>>https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/about_14986.htm

>>Some observers mistakenly consider the Federal Reserve to be a private entity because the Reserve Banks are organized similarly to private corporations. For instance, each of the 12 Reserve Banks operates within its own particular geographic area, or District, of the United States, and each is separately incorporated and has its own board of directors. Commercial banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System hold stock in their District's Reserve Bank. However, owning Reserve Bank stock is quite different from owning stock in a private company. The Reserve Banks are not operated for profit, and ownership of a certain amount of stock is, by law, a condition of membership in the System. In fact, the Reserve Banks are required by law to transfer net earnings to the U.S. Treasury, after providing for all necessary expenses of the Reserve Banks, legally required dividend payments, and maintaining a limited balance in a surplus fund.*

(Tell me you can read this in plain english and not see the amount of Spell-Binding) <-- Do you have any idea the power of the written language?

And the Government that issues it is backed only on the faith in the government, of the constituents that make up said government.

And the fact that the government is largely seen to be an oligarchy.

So the US dollar is a fiat currency, backed by the US government, which is backed by the people that live under said government...

And the people who back the government are?

THOSE IN GOVERNMENT.

Everyone else is.... starts with a P.

[samstave]

>>Fed is a sanctioned quasi-governmental monopoly

Im sorry, where do I UNVOTE for 'sanctioned quasi-governmental EVERYTHING' and still live it what is called a 'democracy' OR -- IMAGINE THIS even a "representative republic*!"?

--

I forgot to mention, only a fucking moron replies on a tpyo!

You fail your username:

https://i.imgur.com/BoaqyUw.png