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ending corporate greed act
Democrats Urged to Embrace Agenda to Combat Crisis of 'Corporate Power' in US
"People are ready for a progressive, pro-democracy, pro-worker agenda to take on corporate control. We just need leaders to have the courage to enact it."
Nov 15, 2022
The economic justice group Fight Corporate Monopolies on Tuesday said the Democratic Party must take note of the midterm electoral victories of a number of progressive candidates who have been outspoken about their plans to fight corporate greed, and enact a legislative agenda to combat what the group called a "corporate power crisis" in the United States.
"Legislators have the next two years to enact an economic populist, pro-democracy agenda--one that breaks through partisan divides--that would rebalance power away from monopolies, corporate special interests, and Wall Street," said the organization as it unveiled its Corporate Power Agenda.
The 19 policy recommendations focus on making everyday life more affordable for Americans, strengthening antitrust enforcement, and protecting small businesses from monopolization.
The agenda was released a week after progressives including Reps.-elect Greg Casar (D-Texas), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), and Sen.-elect John Fetterman (D-Pa.) won midterm races after campaigning on ensuring that "corporations pay their fair share," passing the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, and closing "the unnecessary gap between skyrocketing corporate profits and working people's poverty wages."
\u201cMy election proves that fighting and getting dark money out of politics is still good policy and good politics!\u201d— Summer Lee (@Summer Lee) 1668094218
The election results showed that American voters are demanding their representatives in Congress aggressively fight corporate greed, said Fight Corporate Monopolies (FCM).
"Democrats can seize our massive electoral victories to fight for bold solutions for the majority of voters who want to see politicians break the chokehold corporations have on our political system, economy, and democracy," said Helen Brosnan, the group's executive director. "Small businesses are decimated by monopolies, workers are crushed by corporate bosses, and families are fed up with Wall Street taking home record profits while they struggle--but we've seen that it doesn't have to be this way."
"Small businesses are decimated by monopolies, workers are crushed by corporate bosses, and families are fed up with Wall Street taking home record profits while they struggle--but we've seen that it doesn't have to be this way."
Passing legislation to outlaw price fixing and price gouging--supported by 76% of voters, according to FCM--would "instantly caution executives against collusive behavior that results in higher prices and excess profits, and bar those convicted of price fixing from continuing to work in their industry, introducing further deterrents that are essentially nonexistent today."
The Democrats could also pass the Ending Corporate Greed Act, sponsored by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) to adopt an economy-wide excess profits tax and ensure corporations, whose profit margins hit a 70-year high in 2021, are contributing to the greater good rather than further enriching their CEOs and shareholders.
To show that the party stands with workers over corporations, said FCM, the Democrats should pass the PRO Act to make it easier for workers to unionize and the Workplace Mobility Act, which would free an estimated 30 to 50% of American workers--including many in low-wage jobs--from being forced to sign noncompete agreements.
Policy recommendations for confronting the outsized influence corporations have on policymaking include closing the fundraising loophole that allows candidates and super PACs to coordinate their activities, "allowing corporations and billionaire donors to directly influence elections," and banning stock buybacks, which "skyrocketed over the last two decades, hitting a record of $881.7 billion in 2021."
To stop corporations from buying back their own shares instead of using profits to increase production and worker compensation, Democrats could pass the Reward Work Act, which includes a provision rescinding a 1982 rule that allowed stock buybacks--which had previously been treated as illegal market manipulation.
The Corporate Power Agenda also focuses heavily on confronting monopolization, which according to FCM has affected 75% of U.S. industries in the past two decades.
"Monopolization is happening in big markets, like search engines, online commerce, airlines, seeds and chemicals, and social networks," said the group. "It's happening in small markets as well, in hospitals, prison phone services, syringes, portable toilets, funeral caskets, mixed martial arts, and so on."
"At the same time, politicians at the federal and state level have stood by and cheered on these monopolies as they've amassed power over our economy and our lives," added FCM.
The trend toward corporate concentration has left Americans feeling that "society and politics are out of their control," said the group, as households struggle to cope with the rising cost of goods and services while earning take-home pay that is "up to 30% lower than it should be."
To confront corporate monopolies, FCM called on Democrats to:
- Adopt an "abuse of dominance standard," which would revive traditional antitrust enforcement to protect businesses and workers from the abuses of dominant corporations, potentially modeled on the 21st Century Antitrust Act in New York, which was sponsored by state Sen. Michael Gianaris;
- Fund antitrust agencies at the federal and state level;
- Push the federal government to enforce the Robinson-Patman Act, which "outlaws the producers of goods from behaving anticompetitively and protects American businesses and workers from monopolists," but which has not been meaningfully enforced by regulators since the 1970s;
- Ban megamergers like recent ones between T-Mobile and Sprint, Time Warner and AT&T, and Live Nation and Ticketmaster, by passing the Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act;
- Rein in private equity profiteers by passing the Stop Wall Street Looting Act;
- Stop giving big businesses tax breaks that disadvantage local competitors; and
- Stop passing bailouts for giant corporations.
Nidhi Hegde, director of strategy and programs at the American Economic Liberties Project, said the agenda "will enable elected leaders who ran on fighting for working families to make it a reality at the federal, state, and local level."
\u201cReally excited to see this @fightmonopolies agenda. This excellent set of policy recommendations will enable elected leaders who ran on fighting for working families to make it a reality at the federal, state and local level! A better world is possible. Let's go!\u201d— Nidhi Hegde (@Nidhi Hegde) 1668537427
"People are ready for a progressive, pro-democracy, pro-worker agenda to take on corporate control," said FCM on social media. "We just need leaders to have the courage to enact it."
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Sanders to Hold Hearing on 'How Corporate Greed and Profiteering Are Fueling Inflation'
"The American people," said the Senate Budget Committee chair, "are sick and tired of being forced to pay outrageously high prices for gas, rent, and food while large corporations make out like bandits."
Apr 01, 2022
U.S. Senate Budget Committee Chair Bernie Sanders announced Friday that next week he will hold a hearing to expose how corporate profiteering in the midst of multiple global crises is driving inflation.
As prices increase, corporate profits hit a record high of nearly $3 trillion in 2021, up 25% in a single year.
The event--entitled "Corporate Profits Are Soaring as Prices Rise: Are Corporate Greed and Profiteering Fueling Inflation?"--is scheduled for April 5 at 11:00 am ET and will follow his introduction last week of the Ending Corporate Greed Act.
"Let me be clear," Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement. "The American people are sick and tired of corporate greed. They are sick and tired of being ripped off by corporations making record-breaking profits. They are sick and tired of being forced to pay outrageously high prices for gas, rent, and food while large corporations make out like bandits.
"We cannot continue to allow large, profitable corporations to use the war in Ukraine, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the specter of inflation to make outrageous profits by price gouging Americans in every sector of our economy," he added. "It's time we discuss how corporate greed and profiteering are fueling inflation."
Sanders' statement highlighted how key sectors are behaving:
Across every major industry, prices continue to rise--this includes a 38% increase in the price of gasoline, a 44% increase in the price of heating oil, a 41% increase in the price of a used car, a 24% in the price of rental cars, and a 17% increase in the price of furniture. Further, Tyson Foods recently increased beef prices by 32%, the price of chicken by 20%, and the price of pork by 13%. As prices increase, corporate profits hit a record high of nearly $3 trillion in 2021, up 25% in a single year.
As Common Dreams reported Thursday, domestic corporate profits adjusted for inventory valuation and capital consumption hit $2.8 trillion last year, up from $2.2 trillion in 2020, according to the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).
"CEOs can't stop bragging on corporate earnings calls about jacking up prices on consumers to keep their profits soaring," Lindsay Owens, executive director at the Groundwork Collaborative, said in a statement about the analysis. "These megacorporations are cashing in and getting richer--and consumers are paying the price."
Owens is one of three experts set to testify at the Senate Budget Committee's Tuesday hearing. She will be joined by Robert Reich, a public policy professor at the University of California, Berkley who served as U.S. labor secretary during the Clinton administration, and Michael Faulkender, a finance professor at the University of Maryland who served as assistant secretary for economic policy at the Treasury Department under former President Donald Trump.
Both Reich and leaders from the Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive nonprofit, have praised recent proposals by Congress to curb corporate profiteering--which 82% of U.S. voters believe is fueling inflation, according to polling from last month.
Praising the Ending Corporate Greed Act--which Sanders unveiled with Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.)--Rakeen Mabud, Groundwork Collaborative's chief economist and managing director of policy and research, said that "families, workers, and consumers expect their government to stand up against the kind of corporate abuses we're seeing today and Sen. Sanders' bill does exactly that."
If made into law, as Common Dreams reported, the proposal would impose a 95% tax on a company's profits that top its average profit level for 2015-19, adjusted for inflation. It would only impact companies with $500 million or more in annual revenue and be limited to 75% of income per year.
"A windfall corporate profits tax is badly needed to put the brakes on corporate profiteering that has run rampant over the course of the pandemic," said Mabud. "And now, the war in Ukraine is providing yet another opportunity for multinational energy giants and oil executives to drive up profit margins--while forcing families to pay more at the pump and on their energy bills."
Sanders' office estimates that the legislation, which is inspired by previous wartime measures, "would raise $31.9 billion from three of the top oil companies alone" in a single year, referring to Chevron, ExxonMobil, and ConocoPhillips.
The senator said last week that "the time has come for Congress to work for working families and demand that large, profitable corporations make a little bit less money and pay their fair share of taxes."
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