Event Alert! Senator Elizabeth Warren on What We Can Learn from Crypto’s Collapse: On January 25 at 1:30pm ET/10:30am PT, join Economic Liberties and Americans for Financial Reform for a virtual discussion with Senator Elizabeth Warren on what we can learn from the crypto meltdown and the subsequent collapse of the industry’s significant political capital. Until the failure of crypto exchange FTX, crypto enjoyed a halo of legitimacy as a reputable area of innovative finance. As crypto money poured into Washington, Senator Elizabeth Warren was one of a handful of progressive leaders to sound the alarm over the dangers of these highly speculative instruments. RSVP here.
Economic Liberties’ Aviation Industry Program Hits Cruising Altitude: Last April, Economic Liberties launched an aviation program to push back against airline consolidation and initiate a national conversation about the downsides of deregulation. Since then, Economic Liberties’ aviation industry expert Bill McGee has been at the center of explaining how the industry’s sole regulator — the Department of Transportation — can begin to flex its atrophied muscles to protect travelers, promote competition, and expand economic prosperity. TIME featured Bill’s insight in “Blame the Airlines for American Inequality,” which compellingly ties deregulation to worsening regional inequality; MSNBC featured his commentary in a powerful segment after Southwest stranded two million holiday travelers; and, after last week’s FAA outage grounded all flights, The New York Times published Bill’s in-depth essay on how to rethink airline regulation in America.
Economic Liberties Takes On Pennsylvania's Most Powerful Hospital Monopoly: In partnership with Congresswoman Summer Lee, PA State Rep. Sara Innamorato, and SEIU, Economic Liberties released “Critical Condition: How UPMC’s Monopoly Power Harms Workers and Patients.” The paper is an in-depth examination of how the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UMPC) has used its power to drive down wages, working conditions, and the quality of care in Western Pennsylvania, and includes a robust policy agenda for reducing that power and reintroducing competition into the local health care market. Today at 10:30am ET, tune in to a virtual press conference in which Congresswoman Lee, State Rep. Innamorato, and Economic Liberties' Director of State and Local Policy Pat Garofalo present the report's findings to the public.
Congress Passed Significant Antitrust Reform Boosting Antitrust Enforcers’ Budgets: As the 117th Congress came to a close, Economic Liberties celebrated the passage of the most important piece of antitrust reform since the mid-1970s in the end-of-year omnibus. By a massive 80 vote margin in the Senate, the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act immediately boosts the antitrust enforcement agencies’ baseline budgets by double digits and raises the fees that large companies must pay to pursue a transaction that falls under the agencies’ jurisdiction. It also makes it easier for state AGs to bring successful cases. This will translate into a sizable jump in antitrust action at both the federal and state level. We can’t wait.
Hear Hear! The Biden EO on Competition Delivers Innovation and Lower Prices for Hearing Aids: Forty million Americans experience some type of hearing loss. That’s why the Biden administration took aim at the small cartel of hearing aid manufacturers that kept prices high and access low. Since the FDA’s new rule allowing over-the-counter hearing aid sales went into effect this fall, Fast Company reported that a “seismic shift” has taken place in the hearing aid market, and new devices are being rolled out “in a variety of shapes, sizes, and prices…retailers and drug stores are about to be awash in these devices.” We’re grateful for the leadership of Tim Wu, who spearheaded the competition EO from his perch at the White House before returning to Columbia Law School earlier this month.
After Economic Liberties’ Criticism, Microsoft Yanks Constitutionality Argument Against the FTC: Microsoft President Brad Smith has made his progressive bona fides an important part of why the FTC should approve its merger with video game maker Activision, which would represent the largest tech deal in history. That’s why, after the FTC sued to block the merger, we were surprised to read Microsoft’s lawyers' claim the agency itself was unconstitutional in its legal rebuttal. Perhaps Smith was surprised as well: not long after our critique was sent to lawmakers and reporters, Yahoo filed “Oops: Microsoft Called the FTC Unconstitutional, Regrets the Error.” In fairness, who among us hasn’t accidentally argued to abolish the administrative state?
Economic Liberties’ Trade Program Exposes Big Tech Boondoggle in CHIPS Act: Behind the scenes, Big Tech works aggressively to tie the hands of regulators around the world by trying to hijack U.S. trade policy and enforcement tools. As the CHIPS Act was being crafted, Big Tech interests went into stealth overdrive to insert provisions that targeted regulatory actions the industry dislikes as “illegal trade barriers” that countries must eliminate or suffer U.S. sanctions. Rethink Trade Director Lori Wallach led an all-hands-on-deck effort to expose obscure but dangerous provisions buried in the massive bill and get them successfully stripped out of the final legislation. We’re grateful for Rethink Trade’s tireless work to make sure U.S. trade policy doesn’t undermine ongoing global efforts to rein in Big Tech.
