Tom Carper: Senator DowDuPont

In his Forbes debut, Open Markets fellow Austin Frerick wrote that Senator Tom Carper's conflicts of interest may explain why he did little to oppose a merger that is bad for Delaware. DuPont merged with the Dow Chemical Company to create DowDuPont, the world's largest chemical company in terms of sales. This merger occurred amid a massive wave of consolidation in the agricultural sector.

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The Corner Newsletter, July 26, 2018: Trying to Turn Moby Dick into a Minnow — How T-Mobile and Sprint's Pending Merger Could Hurt Rural Americans — The EU's Google Shopping Fine One Year Later

In this issue, we ask whether the EU’s $2.7 billion fine on Google last year has fixed online shopping in Europe, identify some of the facts left out of a recent Wired article about Amazon, and examine how T-Mobile’s takeover of Sprint merger would likely harm rural Americans.

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Mars Buys Another Veterinary Network, as a Candy-Company Turned Pet Care Giant Furthers its Influence Over Animal Health

Last week, Mars, the company best known for brands like Snickers, Skittles, and Wrigley’s gum, purchased AniCura, a network of 200 animal hospitals spanning seven European countries. On its face, Mars’ acquisition of AniCura might not seem to make business sense. What synergies could possibly exist between making candy bars and taking care of sick dogs and cats? Yet, it turns out the deal is part of a much larger trend in which Big Food companies are cornering the business of both feeding and caring for pets.

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Colluding Pork Packers Accused of Pigging Out On Fixed Prices

Since roughly 2009, Americans may have been paying too much for their pork chops, barbeque, hams, and trotters. That’s the claim of two law firms that filed separate class action suits on behalf of consumers and food distributors charging eight major pork packers and an industry data sharing service, Agri Stats, with colluding to manipulate prices.

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