MIDWEST FORUM ON FAIR MARKETS
What the New Antimonopoly Vision Means for Main Street
WITH KEYNOTES BY:
Keith Ellison, Minnesota Attorney General
Alvaro Bedoya, FTC Commissioner
September 22nd 10am - 2pm CT
Minneapolis, MN
And streaming on these platforms:
Newly Confirmed Panelists:
- Shawn Phetteplace - Midwest Regional Manager for Main Street Alliance, a coalition of small businesses advocating for a level playing field
- RF Buche - President at GF Buche Co, an independent grocery store in South Dakota
- Angela Schwesnedl - Owner of the independent bookstore Moon Palace
- Stu Lourey - Government relations for the MN Farmers Union
- Constance Carlson - Assistant Statewide Director, UMN Extension Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships
- Diana Tastad-Damer - Political director for UFCW local 1189 dedicated to grocery and meatpacking workers
- And more to come!
After several decades in which government policy actively encouraged corporate concentration, Americans are suffering the consequences. From stagnant wages to sky-high prices, struggling family farms to shuttered local businesses, communities across the country are squeezed as a few giant corporations consolidate control over our economy and political process. Monopoly power has become a leading issue at the kitchen table and along Main Street.
Join us on Thursday, September 22nd, for a half-day forum* that will explore new federal and state action to reinvigorate our antitrust policies and support small businesses, family farms, working people, and communities.
The forum will feature keynotes by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya, along with panel discussions by people on the frontlines fighting for antimonopoly reform in Minnesota and nationally. The forum will help lay out a path for creating an economy in which power and prosperity are widely distributed and progress is easier to achieve.
Co-hosted by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and Open Markets Institute, this is the antimonopoly, pro-democracy event you don't want to miss!
*Lunch will be provided.
Welcome Remarks:
- Barry Lynn, Open Markets Institute
- Stacy Mitchell, Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Keynotes:
- Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison
- FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya
Panel Discussions:
Retail and Buyer Power - Remedies that state and federal policymakers have to level the playing field in the retail sector where megacorporations abuse their power to control prices and product availability.
Food Systems - How corporate consolidation harms farmers, food chain workers, and the families that depend on them, and how regulators can foster resilient and equitable food systems.
Healthcare and Hospitals - How antitrust policy can reverse the concentration in healthcare and hospital systems that has led to poorer health outcomes and care for midwesterners.
