I&#x27;ve been saying this for a couple of years now. When wealth&#x2F;wage inequality gaps widen and more and more money is funneled into the top .5%, those people and orgs simply do what they do best: financial, industry, and market manipulation in order to strengthen their positions.<p>Its very dangerous because it makes the already wealthy and powerful even more so, and reduces choices for the consumer, while actually driving up costs because less competition.<p>While its a very simplistic point, the oil industry is a good example of this. Ignoring the greater geopolitical&#x2F;strategic game around the petrodollar as a reserve currency, what is happening right now is all the strappy young startup oil companies are being gobbled up by the big guys. I&#x27;m pretty sure as soon as all the m&amp;a&#x27;s are done oil ppb will rocket back up.