Taxing.

The thing about the current presidential administration is that if you're in advertising, and you've been watching, you would have seen it coming.

Since the advertising business' hey-day, since amerika's hey-day, the business, the country has grown mean, unfair and unequal. 

My father made a lot of money as the Chairman of a bland top-20 agency. He might have made 15 or 20 times what a median worker at his agency made. That was the going ratio in the 1970s when his career crescendoed.

Today, the CEOs of the two holding companies which are traded on the New York Stock Exchange (so the only two of the four I have information on) make many times that.

According to the Wall Street Journal's 2023 report on CEO Pay, John Wren of Omnicom made $20,150,000. His median employee made $52,691. A little 4th-grade math has Wren making 382 times as much as a median employee.

Philip Krakowsky of IPG is only nominally less Snidely Whiplash-ian. He made 205 times the wages earned by his median employee.

Off the top of my head, IPG has merged, or otherwise, destroyed, a dozen major agencies out of existence. Ammirati & Puris. SSC&B. Marschalk. Scali. Bozell. Kenyon and Eckhardt. And the squeeziation isn't much less severe at Omnicom. In fact, it might be worst over at shriveling WPP, which under the fetid aegis of Mark Read destroyed the following agency brands, Y&R, JWT, and, I'm sure a few others that escape me right now.

The trumpzis are doing the same. Eviscerating important agencies and functions of government. They're not doing this for philosophical reasons. They're doing this so they can appropriate the money for themselves. 

What's more, how different is the Omnicom-IPG's claim of $1,000,000,000 in "structural" savings different from amereich's so-called department of government efficiency. Boys and girls, efficiency and structural savings are synonyms for unemployment.

Additionally, holding companies bought literally hundreds of agencies. They bought them to squeeze them. When there was no juice left, thousands were fired and the names were gone. The money went to a few people at the top. Oh, and the ostensible share-holders. But really shareholders not with 100 shares here and there, but blocks of tens of thousands.

Like what's happening in washington today, this isn't about any functionality, or even philosophy. The agglomerating of the advertising industry, like the consolidation of virtually every major industry from Telco (three providers) to airlines (four providers) to candy (two providers) to banking (four providers) to political parties (two providers) to hardware stores (two providers) was never about size, scale, efficiency or serving clients better.

Like the government (years ago I might have said 'our' government) the concentration of control is about one thing: the greed of the people at the very top.

The more "shelf space" they control, the more money they get.

With less competition, they can do less for clients and charge more for it. 

Along the way there's a wealth transfer. From the many to the few. Happening in advertising--many support the few. Happening in taxation--where our taxes pay for trillionaire tax cuts.

It worked for Standard Oil. 
It worked for US Steel.
It worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad.

People, that's you and me, get used and eaten.

A few escape.

Even fewer get obscenely wealthy.

The only consolation in all this?

Believe in god or not, they'll rot in hell.

--

Two more things worthy of note.

1. In the last six months WPP has seen revenue drop by about $500,000,000. 

2. They've seen operating profit increase 149.5%. That kind of efficiency comes from having fewer people doing more work, probably for less money and of lower quality. 

Those gains are likely unsustainable. It's like a car engine running in the redline over thousands of miles.

Welcome to madison avenue amerika.