Some 14 months ago, Joe Biden signed Executive Order (EO) #14036 on 7.9.2021. “Today’s historic Executive Order established a whole-of-government effort to promote competition in the American economy. The Order includes 72 initiatives by more than a dozen federal agencies to promptly tackle some of the most pressing competition problems across our economy,” says the White House “Fact Sheet” that supported EO 14036. Per the EO #14036 itself: “A fair, open, and competitive marketplace has long been a cornerstone of the American economy, while excessive market concentration threatens basic economic liberties, democratic accountability, and the welfare of workers, farmers, small businesses, startups, and consumers.” Numbers involved in manufactured housing would broadly agree with those remarks. How these facts and EO claims are playing out in the U.S. in general since it was issued and in manufactured housing more specifically will be examined in this report, fact check and analysis.
To grasp the importance of the issues involved, per the Biden EO: “The American promise of a broad and sustained prosperity depends on an open and competitive economy. For workers, a competitive marketplace creates more high-quality jobs and the economic freedom to switch jobs or negotiate a higher wage. For small businesses and farmers, it creates more choices among suppliers and major buyers, leading to more take-home income, which they can reinvest in their enterprises. For entrepreneurs, it provides space to experiment, innovate, and pursue the new ideas that have for centuries powered the American economy and improved our quality of life. And for consumers, it means more choices, better service, and lower prices.”
Per EO #14036: “The American information technology sector has long been an engine of innovation and growth, but today a small number of dominant Internet platforms use their power to exclude market entrants, to extract monopoly profits, and to gather intimate personal information that they can exploit for their own advantage. Too many small businesses across the economy depend on those platforms and a few online marketplaces for their survival. And too many local newspapers have shuttered or downsized, in part due to the Internet platforms’ dominance in advertising markets.”
Biden EO #14036 said: “The problem of economic consolidation now spans these sectors and many others, endangering our ability to rebuild and emerge from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic with a vibrant, innovative, and growing economy. Meanwhile, the United States faces new challenges to its economic standing in the world, including unfair competitive pressures from foreign monopolies and firms that are state-owned or state-sponsored, or whose market power is directly supported by foreign governments.
We must act now to reverse these dangerous trends, which constrain the growth and dynamism of our economy, impair the creation of high-quality jobs, and threaten America’s economic standing in the world.
This order affirms that it is the policy of my Administration to enforce the antitrust laws to combat the excessive concentration of industry, the abuses of market power, and the harmful effects of monopoly and monopsony…”
According to EquitableGrowth: “A monopsony is when a firm is the sole purchaser of a good or service whereas a monopoly is when one firm is the sole producer of a good or service. Most examples of monopsony have to do with the purchase of workers’ time in the labor market, where a firm is the sole purchaser of a certain kind of labor.”
Note that in practice, it may not be a ‘single’ firm but rather a limited number of firms that dominate a market. Online, for instance, Google and Facebook are sometimes referred to as a duopoly, which Oxford Languages defines as: “a situation in which two suppliers dominate the market for a commodity or service.” Per CFI.com: “A duopoly is a type of oligopoly,” and that same source says: “The term “oligopoly” refers to an industry where there are only a small number of firms operating.” Oxford Languages further says: “a state of limited competition, in which a market is shared by a small number of producers or sellers.”
More precisely, Biden’s EO and White House Fact Sheet are describing “a state of limited competition, in which a market is shared by a small number of producers or sellers,” or a oligopoly – somewhat misusing the more common term “monopoly.” That noted, let’s return to the Biden EO and related fact sheet to see what light it sheds on the current market situation in the U.S. and in manufactured housing more specifically.
Biden EO 14036 aptly notes that: “Whereas decades of industry consolidation have often led to excessive market concentration, this order reaffirms that the United States retains the authority to challenge transactions whose previous consummation was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act (26 Stat. 209, 15 U.S.C. 1 et seq.) (Sherman Act), the Clayton Antitrust Act (Public Law 63-212, 38 Stat. 730, 15 U.S.C. 12 et seq.) (Clayton Act), or other laws. See 15 U.S.C. 18; Standard Oil Co. v. United States, 221 U.S. 1 (1911).”
The above means that the federal government has existing tools, not some proposed legislative fix, to deal with market concentration issues. What has actually occurred?
Both left-leaning (more pro-Biden) sources such as Axios and the Open Markets Institute describe Google and Facebook has having a “duopoly” over online advertising. Per Open Markets on 12.2.2021 “Google’s and Facebook’s dominance over digital advertising markets continues to grow with increasingly dire consequences for the financing of independent journalism.” Five months after the Biden EO, the Google-Facebook duopoly “continues to grow.”
That is federal authority under the Sherman Act or Clayton Antitrust Act or other laws are apt, and has been explored in several reports on MHProNews and/or on MHLivingNews, as longtime and detail-minded readers know. But where are the measurable results?
Per the related White House Fact Sheet: “For decades, corporate consolidation has been accelerating. In over 75% of U.S. industries, a smaller number of large companies now control more of the business than they did twenty years ago. This is true across healthcare, financial services, agriculture and more. That lack of competition drives up prices for consumers. As fewer large players have controlled more of the market, mark-ups (charges over cost) have tripled. Families are paying higher prices for necessities—things like prescription drugs, hearing aids, and internet service. Barriers to competition are also driving down wages for workers…lack of competition are now estimated to cost the median American household $5,000 per year.”
“Inadequate competition holds back economic growth and innovation. The rate of new business formation has fallen by almost 50% since the 1970s as large businesses make it harder for Americans with good ideas to break into markets.”
In about 1100 words, the above Biden White House and related descriptions explains much that has gone wrong for the American Dream. But ironically, as the high-profile example from Google-Facebook reflects, while the Biden Administration made several bold promises, in less than 15 months, those promises to act are revealed to be an illusion.
Biden and the Fact Sheet made a point of saying this problem impacts wages.
From the WND NewsCenter, is this pull quote: “It is the New York Post that described the conclusions of an analysis from the Heritage Foundation.” Per Heritage: “The average American has lost $4,200 in annual income since President Biden took office — entirely wiping out gains made under the Trump administration,” the report said.
Incredibly, the White House Fact Sheet opened with these words: “The economy is booming under President Biden’s leadership.” That must be an embarrassment for those capable of being embarrassed by the sobering realities vs. the bold promises.
While the Biden EO and related Fact Sheet mentioned several objective facts, the disconnect between the promises and the results since reveal that most Americans are falling further behind financially.
Manufactured Housing and the Broader American Economic-Political-Nonprofit Scene
Fed Chair Jerome Powell said it bluntly. Per the left-leaning Washington Post, “The Fed sees economic pain ahead. Stock markets are feeling it now.” This week’s manufactured housing Daily Business News on MHProNews market report documents that “pain” day by day.
CBS 3 WBTV said on 9.21.2022: “Falling gas prices have slightly lowered headline inflation, which was a still-painful 8.3% in August compared with a year earlier.” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome “Powell said, “we have got to get inflation behind us. I wish there was painless way to do that. There isn’t.”
“No one knows whether this process will lead to a recession, or if so, how significant that recession would be,” Powell said at his news conference. “That’s going to depend on how quickly we bring down inflation.” That’s yet another apparent example of paltering. The U.S. is obviously already in a recession. There is a general economic recession and a housing recession.
Powell said a year ago that inflation would be transitory. What happened to that claim? Per Fortune on 12.3.2021: “We tend to use [transitory] to mean that it won’t leave a permanent mark in the form of higher inflation,” Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said during a congressional hearing on Tuesday. “I think it’s probably a good time to retire that word and try to explain more clearly what we mean.” The left-leaning AP said 6.22.2021 that: “Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday responded to concerns from Republican lawmakers about spiking inflation by reiterating his view that current price increases will likely prove temporary.” Those pesky facts keep getting in the way of a politically useful narrative for Biden, his party, and their allies.
At the time, May 2021 inflation was officially at 5 percent. It has only gotten worse since then. Back to that AP report on 6.22.2021: ““The Biden inflation agenda of too much money chasing too few goods is causing major harm to hardworking families,” said Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the second-ranking Republican House leader.”
Economics aren’t magic. There are rules of supply and demand that operate nearly as dependably as the law of gravity. When politicos artificially inflate the amount of the currency, inflation is by definition going to follow. The two charts/graphics below tell the tale.
Put differently, numbers of public officials in alignment with the Biden-Democratic agenda were paltering at best, or boldly lying at worst. As NBC’s recent report said about 6 days ago: “Poll: GOP is winning on the economy, immigration; Democrats are ahead on abortion…”
This election will test the Democratic strategist James Carville’s mantra: “It’s the economy, stupid.” The other thing that the Democrats have, per Dr. Robert Epstein and other researchers, are big tech and big media. That noted, is it any surprise that the Biden White House said they want to change that by enforcing antitrust laws, but in practice that won’t enforce those antitrust laws as promised?
Recall the takeaway from the screen capture below. The Democratic party has become the party of the deep pocket corporations and mega-billionaires. See the report linked below to learn more.
In the week that was, MHProNews and our MHLivingNews website unpacks the sobering realities of what has been occurring in the Biden era.
Don’t miss today’s postscript.
With no further adieu are the reports, analysis and expert commentaries found in the articles below that date from 9.18 to 9.25.2022.
What’s New and recent on MHLivingNews
What’s New from Washington, D.C. from MHARR
What’s New and Recent on the Masthead
What’s New on the Daily Business News on MHProNews
Saturday 9.23.2022
Friday 9.22.2022
Thursday 9.21.2022
Wednesday 9.20.2022
Tuesday 9.19.2022
Monday 9.18.2022
Sunday 9.17.2022
Postscript
‘We are entitled to our own opinions, but we are not entitled to our own facts.’ That’s a fair but unique rendition of famous quote shown further below.
A History of Manipulation
Every effective manipulator knows or looks for in their targets (‘marks’) indicators of behavior. The more a manipulator knows, the better than can be a getting a subject – or numbers of subjects – to do what manipulator(s) desire. In the contemporary era, there have never been more tools for manipulation, as some reports linked herein above and below demonstrate.
Odds are excellent you and we have been successfully manipulated on items that range from minor to major. We have to be open to the notion that we have been manipulated. Otherwise, manipulation can go on for years.
A relatively common example is this. Everyone that has clicked on a link that ended up inflecting a computer or other device with a ‘virus’ has been tricked or manipulated. Also common, but less discussed are thousands to millions who voted for this or that candidate based on a ‘platform’ that time later revealed were simply nice sounding or repeated propaganda driven talking points.
American history is twisted by numbers to fit their own agenda-driven narrative. As longtime MHProNews readers may recall from periodic articles, all of human history could in several respects be summarized as the ongoing battle for individuals or groups striving to assert what the Declaration of Independence called our God-given rights. Who are they asserting their rights against? Those who would dominate or otherwise seek to manipulate them.
While some want to assert their individual rights, often potent minorities desire to dominate or rule others. This pattern goes back thousands of years. For instance. The Pharaohs ruled Egypt, to borrow a biblical example. Often brutal punishments, intimidation tactics, and fear were used to keep the enslaved Israelites in line. While treatment of the Israelites was perhaps more stringent, anyone who seriously challenged Pharaoh’s authority – and that of the Pharaoh’s henchmen – in Egypt could meet a similar fate.
While details differ somewhat in each of these examples, let’s jump forward to the 20th century. The Nazis, Bolsheviks, Soviets, Chinese Communists, Cuban Communists, Vietnamese Communists, and so on similarly used superior weapons, tactics, propaganda, fear and rewards to keep their respective people in line.
In the U.S., there have been two major parties throughout the late 19th into the 21st centuries.
Democrats and Republicans have darker and brighter personalities in their respective party’s histories. Keep in mind that a party label alone doesn’t make someone ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ George W. Bush (R) is known by millions for how he manipulated the U.S. into two Middle Eastern Wars (Iraq and Afghanistan). A crisis is used, or a crisis is set in motion that was predictable but not avoided. Some assert that is part of the story of 9-11, just as some asert that the Russian invasion of Ukraine could have been avoided by team Biden had peace truly been desired.
The evidence based historic case can be made that Democrats organized a long game strategy over a century ago that has brought them to their current grip on city and state level politics in numbers of often coastal states such as California, New York, Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts, Delaware or New Jersey. Illinois is also among the Democratically dominated states, though a closer look at several of those states reveal that the urban centers tend to be more Democratic while the more rural counties tend to be more Republican.
Numbers of Democratic leaders pre-President John F. Kennedy (D) we’re quite comfortable with an often-racist heritage that dated back to the era of slavery. “Jack” and his brother Bobby Kennedy raised the ire of some within their own party for pushing for minority rights.
History reveals Republicans were the party of President Abraham Lincoln (R), who fought to keep the union together and used the battle between the northern and slave-holding southern states to end slavery. But slavery was a global phenomenon, it existed in essentially every nation and continent, except possibly Antarctica. Republicans were also the party that pre-Civil War helped runaway slaves escape and which attracted abolitionists who worked to end slavery. Republicans were the party that fought to give women in the U.S. the right to vote. But objectively, for various periods in the 20th century, Republicans were often the party of ‘big business.’ So, no political party has a perfect history, any more than any political candidate is perfect.
Republican Richard M. Nixon arguably betrayed millions of his conservative constituents by making his infamous deal which ‘opened’ investment in Communist China to the U.S. and the West. That is a dark part of Republican history that is sadly overlooked and misunderstood. The “Commitment to America” preachers led by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA-R) ought to own up to and specifically repudiate those dark chapters of Republican history, perhaps starting with Nixon’s ‘opening’ relations with China that has cost Americans untold trillions of dollars in the decades since.
Several U.S. presidents from both major parties were deeply influenced by what President Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower (R) dubbed the military industrial (intelligence) complex. President Kennedy (D) in a similar note threatened to do away with the CIA. There are two back-to-back Americans presidents from both major parties that recognized the harms that the military-industrial-intelligence complex posed.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – attorney, author, and chairman of a health advocacy nonprofit – has said several times that he does not buy the official narrative of either his uncle John F. Kennedy’s assassination nor the cover story on the assassination of his father, the late Senator Robert F. “Bobby” Kennedy.
That military-industrial-intelligence complex is revealing when examined. Why? Among other reasons, because the U.S. government has for decades increasingly come under the influence of ‘big.’ ‘Big’ military connected businesses are a key to understanding the military-industrial-intelligence nexus. But it isn’t just ‘big military’ that has influence over the U.S. government.
For instance, paraphrasing the work by Minneapolis Federal Reserve researchers reveals how ‘Big Housing’ has long held sway at HUD.
Big Pharma helped drive COVID19 policies under both the last year of the Trump Administration (R) and all of the PINO Biden (D) regime. Keep in mind in the quotes from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that he is a lifelong Democrat.
Big Banking/Big Finance has long held influence over U.S. politics, although from time-to-time populists like Andrew Jackson (D) fought their influence.
Jackson, per Wikipedia: “The Bank War was a political struggle that developed over the issue of rechartering the Second Bank of the United States (B.U.S.) during the presidency of Andrew Jackson (1829–1837). The affair resulted in the shutdown of the Bank and its replacement by state banks.” Per the federal archives: “…Jackson vetoed it, declaring that the Bank [of the U.S.] was “unauthorized by the Constitution, subversive to the rights of States, and dangerous to the liberties of the people.” After his reelection, Jackson announced that the Government would no longer deposit Federal funds with the Bank…”
But it was another Democrat, the bigoted President Woodrow Wilson (D) that per the U.S. Senate website: “It took many months and nearly straight party-line voting, but on December 23, 1913, the Senate passed and President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act.” Democrats widely supported the creation of what today is called “the Fed” while Republicans widely opposed it. The Fed’s and Big Banking/Big Finance influence over Republicans has risen or waned over time since. More recently, it is worth noting that Texas Republicans as part of their platform took the fascinating step of calling for sweeping changes with the Fed. What was once branded as ‘conspiracy theory’ thinking is perhaps beginning to emerge in more mainstream thoughts among Democrats like RFK Jr, Dr. Epstein, Glen Greenwald, and Republicans that similarly believe that the system is rigged.
So, what populist Jacksonian Democrats fought to kill – i.e.: the power of big banks over the federal government, Democrat Wilson and his colleagues fought to bring back to a new – and some would say almost echoing Jackson – and even more unconstitutional level.
Big banks, big oil, big sugar, big media, big tech, big unions, big housing, big philanthro-capitalist (philanthro-feudalism) foundations and nonprofits…
…the history of “big” in America is an often-overlooked sub-theme to a proper and more objective understanding of American history. All of these ‘BIGs’ have used propaganda, rewards/punishments and other mechanisms to get and attempt to hold a significant degree of power.
The power of ‘big’ – often working in sly conjunction among various economic and professional sectors – helps explain several of the U.S. wars since the Spanish American war. A false flag or other slyly agenda-driven propaganda-narrative would create ‘support’ for conflicts that enriched a few while others bled, died, or otherwise paid for a given war. There have long been voices in media that pushed back against the various conflicts, but there had also long been ‘news’ organizations that gladly carried the propaganda water for ‘big’ groups that benefit from war.
Candidate turned President Trump (R) rode a populist wave in 2016 that brought together a coalition of Christians, small businesses, farmers, ranchers, low tax, low regulation, limited government believers, working class, and “patriots” who wanted to restore an idealized vision of Americans and America First. This was branded by Trump as MAGA – Make America Great Again. Ironically, the 2022 midterms this year fall on the same date as the 2016 election – November 8th.
But MAGA begs the question, which Democrats and Establishment (i.e: pro-‘big’] Republicans slyly exploited. Those anti-MAGA, anti-Trump forces pressed: ‘when was America Great and why?’ For example, some essentially rhetorically asked or accused: ‘Was America great during segregation?’
That is ironic and hypocritical because segregation was a largely Democratic device, along with Jim Crow laws and the militant terror tactics of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). As Cambridge.org said: “Between 1877 and 1910 the KKK fueled Democrats’ push to establish one-party rule and Jim Crow.” So those who think that the current efforts by Democrats to hold power and essentially one party national rule need to look more closely at the Reconstruction era, or the Tammany Hall era in New York City.
Propaganda and sly lies has long been a tool of the power hungry. Propaganda, which often involves the advertising industry’s use of repetition of a message or theme, combined with power and terror-fear tactics worked in Nazi (National Socialist) Germany. A closer look at that phase of German history reveals the Nazis were fascists. Nazis studied U.S. media and the strategies of the Democratic Party history of racism and deployed those tactics in their quest for power over Germany.
Recall that fascism, per Hitler’s ally in Italy – Benito Mussolini – should be called corporatism. Autocratic-Fascism is what has reared its ugly head in the U.S. too. Who says? Ironically several prominent Democrats and democratic supporters, along with MAGA or “Americans First” and “America First” Republicans.
Both Democrats and Republicans have fingerprints on the rise of zoning laws in the early 20th century. Zoning came over time to be used in ways that effectively created barriers to more affordable housing. Those barriers included apartments in areas of single-family homes but also included pre-HUD Code mobile homes and post HUD Code manufactured homes. Those barriers to affordable housing disproportionally harmed minorities.
So, to unravel the seemingly complex history of American economic, political, military, domestic and foreign policies some key principles are useful. Politicians and big business leaders often palter. They may boldly lie but will back that lie by a steady diet of propaganda that becomes believable over time. What the Capital Research Center dubs “Deception and Misdirection” are present in several politicos, business leaders, nonprofits and others.
No one should better grasp these notions than longer time manufactured housing pros who understand that much of what people think they know about manufactured homes is just wrong. How is that possible? Through the same mechanisms that are outlined above.
For the upcoming midterms, per the political wonk that advises AMAC, the GOP is poised to take perhaps 4 dozen seats in the House of Representatives and could net 4 pickups in the U.S. Senate. More on that in two of the reports linked above.
But it isn’t enough to elect the ‘right’ candidates or to vote out the ‘wrong’ people who hold power. To the extent that the GOP is being rebuilt by Trump into an America First party that is a workers-middle class-small-business-retirees party that opposes the power of ‘big business’ in government, the people will have to hold them accountable to stick with that pledge when the pushback gets intense.
Boiled down and oversimplified. It is big vs we the people. Millions have been manipulated into voting for the interests of big businesses of whatever type, even if Democratic Party leaders claim they oppose ‘big.’
This report began by examining the Biden White House fact sheet and EO #14036. They are a classic example of promising a lot, speaking several truths, but which was predictably an example of paltering, posturing, propaganda and pick-pockets ripping off Americans. Wealth is being transferred to certain special groups during the Biden regime era by the tens to hundreds of billions of dollars. MHProNews examined this report a year ago. We projected then that all the fine sounding promises would go nowhere. The article below was posted on July 11.2021. That was just two days after EO #14036 was posted on the White House website.
How did we know what would be the likely outcome? Follow the money. Follow the facts, evidence, and history. And keep your BS detector nearby. Biden wasn’t about to toss out the very people who put him in power. See the related reports to learn more and keep your skepticism up and your BS decoder handy. ##
PPS: MHProNews reminded readers that what was true almost 60 years ago is still true today.
Liars lie to get what they want because the truth won’t get it for them. Charade was released on December 5, 1963.
Most of us are not habitual liars. Most of us are not trying to rip off as many of our neighbors as possible. Those who recognize the grave harm that comes from such “Deception and Misdirection” often point to ancient and still relevant religious truths.
The case can be made that without those ancient truths about God, the devil, and human nature, we can’t have a society that functions well for the majority of people. Who made that case? No less a historic figure than the first U.S. President, George Washington.
Why not tune in to former CNN reporter turned satirical pundit Chris Plante this week via WMAL 9 to noon ET M-F? Plante has a way of making the news funny, while still conveying serious truths. Enough said for this Sunday installment of MHVille’s weekly headline news recap. ##
need to wait years for legislation that in the past has often led to little or no discernable benefit. https://www.wnd.com/2021/05/solution-big-tech-oligarchs/
Again, our thanks to free email subscribers and all readers like you, our tipsters/sources, sponsors and God for making and keeping us the runaway number one source for authentic “News through the lens of manufactured homes and factory-built housing” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” © ## (Affordable housing, manufactured homes, reports, fact-checks, analysis, and commentary. Third-party images or content are provided under fair use guidelines for media.) (See Related Reports, further below. Text/image boxes often are hot-linked to other reports that can be access by clicking on them.)
By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHProNews.com.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing.
For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com.
This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position, and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.
Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach
Related References:
The text/image boxes below are linked to other reports, which can be accessed by clicking on them.
