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Corporate consolidation is hurting Americans. Now is the time to rein it in.
Just weeks after Sanford Health and Fairview Health Services called off a mega-merger that would have remade Minnesota’s healthcare system, Cleveland-Cliffs announced its interest in acquiring U.S. Steel, a combination that would remake Minnesota’s Iron Range. The relentless pace of merger news is no anomaly though. In 2021 merger activity set an all-time high helping […]
Prescription drug middlemen are bad for patients, crushing indy pharmacies
Kemper Drug in Elk River recently closed its doors for the last time after having served the community for over 70 years. Businesses fail every day, but Elk River became the latest in a long list of Minnesota cities to lose one or all of its pharmacies since 2006. Behind the alarming loss of independent […]
Minnesota can play a big role in challenging corporate power
This is part of an occasional series on the new threat of monopoly power on America’s economy and political system. Read part 1 on efforts to curb monopoly power in the 19th century. Part 2 on how the successful effort to curb monopoly power helped build the middle class. Part 3 on the Reagan-era intellectual […]
Robert Bork helped dismantle anti-monopoly policy, and we’re living with the consequences
This is the third in an occasional series on the new threat of monopoly power on America’s economy and political system. Read part 1 on efforts to curb monopoly power in the 19th century. And part 2 on how the successful effort to curb monopoly power helped build the middle class. “Oh, yes, they’ll cut […]
From one Roosevelt to another: How we cracked down on corporate power and built a middle class
This is the second in an occasional series on the new threat of monopoly power on America’s economy and political system. Read part 1 on efforts to curb monopoly power in the 19th century. In 1912 former president Theodore Roosevelt and New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson barnstormed the country debating how to tackle corporate power. […]
We’ve fought monopoly power before — we can do it again
This is the first in an occasional series of commentaries on the new threat of monopoly power on America’s economy and political system. While billionaires get wealthier and corporate profits set new records, the rest of us are left with inflation, shortages, stagnant wages, hollowed out communities and a society increasingly driven by extremism and […]
Democrats need to become antimonopolists again | Opinion
Inflation has skyrocketed, real wages are declining for many people, and baby formula is nowhere to be found. With polling consistently finding rising prices as the top concern of voters, these interlocking economic crises are likely to have a major impact on November’s elections, with a bleak outlook for Democrats currently. It would seem obvious […]
Minnesota needs a strong price gouging statute | Opinion
In New York last week, Attorney General Letitia James launched a rule-making process aimed at combatting what her office called “illegal price gouging and corporate greed.” The move is an effort to shield New Yorkers from rising prices and is an innovative attempt to use the state’s price-gouging statute to challenge concentrated corporate power. Here […]
Minnesota must curb anti-competitive tactics if it wants to be an innovation center | Opinion
Minnesota was Silicon Valley before Silicon Valley. Fueled by government contracts for code-breaking machines during WWII, Minnesota companies were leaders in the computing revolution that transformed our world. Today, policymakers are seeking to recapture that past glory and build a tech ecosystem to rival the hub out West. Standing in the way of that vision […]