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Featured: Rescue Mission
Economic Liberties Lays Out a Boeing Bailout Plan that
Puts Workers, Passenger Safety, and Innovation First
Boeing needed federal intervention long before the Coronavirus pandemic brought commercial aviation to a halt. The company’s long history of showering cash on shareholders at the expense of employees, suppliers, safety, and its own long-term survival decimated its ability to carry out its core mission. In “Rescue Mission: Bailing Out Boeing and Rebuilding It to Thrive,” we lay out seven conditions for public assistance to return Boeing to a functional, productive, and innovative state.
Join us on Thursday, March 26 at noon ET for an event with Economic Liberties’ Fellow Maureen Tkacik and the American Prospect’s Alexander Sammon to learn more. RSVP here.
The Coronavirus Response Should Put People,
Communities, and Small Businesses First — and
Help Corporations Later
Economic Liberties is engaging deeply with allies and policymakers to combat the myth that corporate bailouts must happen immediately — something that was true during the 2008 financial crisis, but isn’t actually true now. We released a memo explaining the differences, as well as a framework for an overall coronavirus response that included strict “strings attached” provisions to accompany any corporate bailout.
As Senators McConnell and Schumer consider a massive bill that would create a bailout fund that could leverage trillions of dollars to further concentrate not only the power of large corporations, but also the power of the Trump Administration, Economic Liberties issued a statement encouraging Congress to instead immediately pass a series of simple bills to fund hospitals, provide cash to families, pause rent and mortgage obligations, and blunt layoffs.
New Economic Liberties Data on Stock
Buybacks Bolsters Calls for Ending Them
As big corporations’ calls for bailouts grew, Economic Liberties released shocking new data on how much the top 50 U.S. corporations spent on stock buybacks over the past five years. The total? More than $1.1 trillion — with many corporations spending well upwards of 50 percent of profits and, in a number of cases, 8 out of every 10 dollars — in juicing their own stock prices. Our data went viral on social media and helped consolidate support for buyback bans among policymakers.
Ahead of the Curve on the Defense Production Act
Before the threat from coronavirus had fully sunk in to popular consciousness, Economic Liberties made the case in Wired and Buzzfeed — and in Congress with both Democrats and Republicans — for using the Defense Production Act to address looming medical supply shortages caused by concentrated production in China. Watch our March 17th virtual event with Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), who was an early leader on invoking the DPA, along with Economic Liberties’ Executive Director Sarah Miller and Steering Committee members Lucas Kunce and Rush Doshi on the urgency of making critical supplies here at home.
Putting the Brakes on Pandemic Profiteering
Economic Liberties called on Congress to give the Federal Trade Commission more time to review mergers, lifting the current requirement that mergers are automatically approved after a 30 day waiting period expires. In good times, this is just one small way that our laws and regulations are tilted towards concentrating corporate power — now, in an emergency, it promises to help large businesses and predatory finance gobble up smaller businesses who are on the ropes.
We're Hiring!
We’re looking for a Director of Advocacy for our sister 501(c)4 organization, Economic Liberties Action. You’ll contribute to the development and execution of strategies and partnerships to draw attention to the harms of the most powerful corporations and their efforts to influence and control political outcomes. Apply here.
Website: www.economicliberties.us
Twitter: @econliberties
American Economic Liberties Project
1150 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste. 800
Washington, DC 20036
United States
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