There was an old lady that lived in a shoe

She controlled the phone company and there was nothing anyone could do

She ruled with an iron fist, she owned the land lines, the rates and most of the the phones

She alone decided what you’d pay to use her phones and there was no choice in dial tones

She made you pay for party lines, more for private lines and way more for a long distance call

She owned the yellow pages and their crazy rates for a ¼ page, she owned it all

Before social media came to be, you needed Ma Bell to “reach out and touch someone”

But momentum started to change and this monopoly was broken into Baby Bells and all thought Ma Bell was done

“Monopolies are bad” screamed the public and lawmakers in DC

“From businesses that control us and our interests we must be free”

The Sherman Antitrust Act introduced in 1890 was an attempt to stop an industry from controlling all free thought and trade

Then in 1914 Congress passed the Clayton Antitrust Act and formed the Federal Trade Commission to see the ruling against monopolies must be obeyed

Fast Forward 97 years and new monopolies are formed and band together to control what is now all digital communication

Twitter, Apple, Google and Amazon formed the super oligopoly showing contempt for the law with no limit to their overbearing deprivation

So you may wonder what happened to free thought and speech when it is gone

Blame it on now Grandma Bell, her children may not have made a ripple but the grandkids are her evil spawn