To say it’s been a busy 2024 for the Economic Liberties team and the anti-monopoly movement would be a severe understatement. We’ve packed in a lot of work during the last year, covering Big Tech, airlines, trade, healthcare, consumer finance, merger enforcement, housing, utilities and more. That’s why, as we wind down for the holidays, we wanted to share our eleven favorite Economic Liberties moments from the past year.
It was not easy to pick our favorites and we couldn’t have done this without the many partners and friends who joined us. Please know we are very grateful for you as we close out the year.
Here we go with our Economic Liberties year-end highlight reel (in no particular order).
Successful organizing for the FTC block of the Kroger-Albertsons merger. Since the deal was announced back in 2022, Economic Liberties, in partnership with local chapters of the UFCW and the Stop the Merger Coalition, has been working to stop the dangerous Kroger-Albertsons merger, which would raise grocery prices, decrease choice, and reduce worker power in communities across the country. That effort culminated in the FTC winning its merger challenge after an intense trial in Portland, Oregon—which we were on the ground for— in a blockbuster decision this month.
Rep Summer Lee puts Anti-Monopoly on stage at the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference. After years of organizing auxiliary events during the annual CBC week to build power and recognition of anti-monopoly policy within the black community, we were thrilled to partner with Representative Summer Lee to discuss the stakes of the fight against corporate power at the main conference. The rousing panel, featuring our own Morgan Harper, touched on the flow and influence of corporate money in Black politics (the CBC conference was sponsored by Amazon!) and the institutional hurdles that policymakers like Lee run up against in fighting for self-reliant communities free from corporate power.
Codification of DOT’s automatic refund bill in the FAA. In April of this year, the Department of Transportation finalized a rule mandating that airlines give consumers automatic refunds in the event of a cancellation or delay — the exact type of pro-consumer policy we called for in “How to Fix Flying” in January. When an industry-supported effort in Congress to weaken the rule started gaining steam, we sprung into action, putting pressure on Congressional leaders to not just let it stand, but codify the original rule in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024. Now, your right to an automatic refund isn’t just an agency rule, but the law of the land. We also loved the public recognition of DoT Secretary Buttigieg as an anti-monopolist — a story which was well told in a recent Politico profile. That headline quote is from none other than our own Bill McGee.
DOJ’s landmark Google Search win with outside support and advocacy from USvGoogle coalition. The Google search case was one of the first major Section 2 trials under the Biden-Harris administration and a big priority for Economic Liberties. As you may know, we led a communications war room in collaboration with Tech Oversight Project to counter Google's well-resourced outreach strategies, and launched a daily Big Tech on Trial newsletter. Wired described us as the "the Law Geeks Exposing Google’s Secretive Antitrust Trial.” And it worked, demonstrating this type of organizing is a critical strategy for future trials. In August, the judge declared that “Google is an illegal monopolist” handing the DOJ one of its biggest wins in nearly 20 years. As the case moves on to the next phase, our legal team has laid out durable legal remedies that don’t just right Google’s wrongs, but future proof the industry from illegal monopolization.
The end of junk fees. No one hates junk fees like the Economic Liberties team. This has been a campaign for us and close allies, like the Consumer Federation of America, ever since Director Chopra coined the phrase. This week the FTC published its final rule — no more pesky resort fees — and the CFPB has done the same with credit card late fees and overdraft fees. But the longer-term effort is what is happening in the states. In January 2024, we launched a comprehensive campaign with an online research hub, model legislation and, a national poll. In 2024, 13 states introduced bills proposing broad junk fee bans, with eight of them passing in at least one chamber and successful, bipartisan legislation in Minnesota signed into law.
First-in-the-nation legislation to ban algorithmic rent fixing. In March of this year, with partners at Local Progress, we released a policy paper explaining how corporate landlords are using algorithmic software to fix rents and raise prices. Following this, we saw the introduction of legislation at the federal, state, and local levels banning the practice. To aid those efforts, we launched an “End Rental Price-Fixing” campaign — with San Francisco becoming the first jurisdiction to pass it into law. BONUS: Our work struck such a deep nerve with RealPage — the corporation at the center of lawsuits filed by the DOJ and State AGs Mayes and Schwalb — they sent us a cease-and-desist letter, which you can read about in Politico.
DOJ Antitrust Division sues to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster after our Break Up Ticketmaster Campaign organizes 100,000+ Americans. In May 2024, the DOJ announced its case to break up the live entertainment giant, marking a major win for our Break Up Ticketmaster campaign, which galvanized a whole new generation of anti-monopolists after Ticketmaster — predictably — fumbled the sale of high-profile music tours like Taylor Swift and Beyonce. We’re already prepared for the next stage of this fight when the case goes to trial — under a Trump DOJ — with a legal brief and the remedies that can create a fair live events industry.
USTR asks Mexico to probe labor rights violations against workers in Matomoros after Rethink Trade and unions file a petition. In October 2024, Rethink Trade, alongside SNITIS and the United Steelworkers, filed a Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) petition under the USMCA against Vidrio Decorativo Occidental (VDO), a glass manufacturer in Matamoros, Mexico. The petition accused VDO, a subsidiary of Michigan-based ODL Inc., of retaliating against union activists, interfering with the right to strike, and supporting a company-controlled union. On Nov. 8, the U.S. Trade Representative officially requested Mexico to review the case, activating the RRM process. This marks the fourth RRM petition filed by Rethink Trade, and we remain hopeful that workers will soon secure the right to choose their union and negotiate better wages and conditions.
FTC finalizes ban on non-competes to boost wages, unleash entrepreneurship, and make it easier to switch jobs. To the delight of workers across the country, the Commission estimates its final rule banning these restrictive clauses will increase wages by more than $400 billion over the next decade and create an additional 8,500 new startups per year. As the rule faces baseless legal challenges from big corporations and trade groups, we’ve been working with coalition partners to defend it in the courts, urge states to institutionalize it to protect their communities, and lifting up workers' stories online and in the media.
Everyone hates Pharmacy Benefit Managers and it’s time to break up Big Medicine. After years of research and advocacy from Economic Liberties and our close allies like the National Community Pharmacists Association, taking on structural conflicts in the healthcare industry has become a mainstream, bipartisan priority. Pharmacy benefit managers — the previously hidden, powerful middleman that recently even President elect Trump called out — are firmly in the crosshairs. Countless letters, op-eds, research papers, and events culminated in an FTC investigation and lawsuit against the big PBMs earlier this year, and there’s a new bill from Senators Hawley and Warren to crack down on the core structural conflicts of this market. The other big idea from Economic Liberties that is beginning to take root is a Glass-Steagall for healthcare. We detailed this solution in our paper “Medicare Advantage and Vertical Consolidation in Health Care,” which has been making waves in the healthcare policy community. Stay tuned for more on this from Economic Liberties in the new year.
2024 Anti-Monopoly Summit showcase and law student happy hour. For the second year in a row, our sold-out Summit, hosted in partnership with more than a dozen labor and business organizations, demonstrated the growing appeal of the antimonopoly movement. Watched by nearly 15,000 people online and covered by 25 reporters in outlets like Bloomberg, HuffPost, The Hill, it was a blockbuster day. Following closely behind as our favorite in-person event was our annual summer happy hour for law students. Building the anti-monopoly bench is more important than ever and we are optimistic as so many packed a DC patio for a happy hour with Chair Khan and AAG Kanter to hear why they should join the movement. Our numbers are growing.
If you made it this far, thanks again for reading and being a supporter and partner to Economic Liberties. We hope you have a wonderful holiday season and rest up for the fights in 2025!
