|
Hello, Readers! It’s a new year, and we have a new look for our newsletter. Please let us know what you think! Also, as you know, we’re in the midst of our big once-a-year fundraising drive. We’d be grateful for your support.
|
|
|
ON THE PODCAST
ILSR | Dec. 27, 2018
|
|
In Building Local Power's last episode of 2018, ILSR's Stacy Mitchell, John Farrell, and Chris Mitchell take a look back on developments in the movement against corporate concentration in the past year and reflect on what more it’ll take to grow local power in 2019.
The three cover Amazon, dollar stores, big-box retail, and how all of these rely on the expanding "subprime economy" Americans are subject to. They also discuss massive shifts occurring in the energy sector.
Listen to the full episode here.
|
|
ILSR | Nov. 29, 2018
 In this episode of Building Local Power, Stacy Mitchell speaks with Kimber Lanning, founder of Local First Arizona. A seasoned entrepreneur and community development expert, Kimber has made it her life’s mission to cultivate self-reliant communities. Her work focuses on implementing systems and policies to ensure a level playing field for entrepreneurs.
Listen to the full episode here.
|
|
WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO
- Our study of dollar store chains spurred lots of conversation, on social media, and in traditional outlets. Check out summaries, citations, and additional reporting on the dollar store research from Civil Eats, Newsweek, The Atlantic's City Lab, Democracy Journal, The Washington Post (in both news and opinion), Business Insider, Next City, WCCO-Minneapolis, Axios, Strong Towns, CBS-Austin, Huffington Post, and Fast Company.
- Zach Freed, Research Associate at ILSR, was quoted in a recent Huffington Post piece on the new Democratic majority's plans to investigate monopolies and write new antitrust legislation.
- Stacy Mitchell was profiled in the Portland Press Herald on her work at ILSR, and on Maine's self-reliant ethos.
|
|
ICYMI
Our factsheet has stats and strategies you can use at the local level to keep the rapid spread of dollar stores in check. Check it out here.
|
|
|
NEWS STORIES WE'RE FOLLOWING
- Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) is urging the FTC to open an antitrust investigation of Amazon. In a letter, the senator says that the terms Amazon imposes on sellers who use its platform may be helping it monopolize the online market.
- For small businesses, one consequence of the government shutdown is that SBA loan approvals have ground to a halt.
- Last year, the U.S. hit a 10-year high in the amount of retail square footage that went dark. Those losses, though, were mostly big-box stores and malls. Local retail has proved more resilient. Independent bookstores, for example, have grown more than 30% since 2009.
- Trump likes to criticize Amazon on Twitter, but newly public emails show a top official in his administration has been quietly meeting with an Amazon executive. At stake is a huge contract that could give Amazon control of much of federal procurement.
- Meanwhile, the antitrust agencies employ a revolving-door of economists who also work for big corporations. No wonder, then, that their models almost invariably show that proposed mergers will benefit Americans.
- The town of Gloster, Miss., is getting its first grocery store in decades. It’s great news — but the story also illustrates how a lack of capital has impeded local entrepreneurs, leaving 1 in 5 Mississippi residents without ready access to fresh food.
- Right now, policy tilts the economy in favor of goliath corporations. What would happen if it favored smallness instead?
- Two city council members from Seattle, where Amazon is based, met with officials in New York City to warn them about Amazon's proposed second headquarters in Queens.
- What happens when markets are no longer governed by public rules? An investigation into Amazon's labyrinthine third-party Marketplace finds fraud and sabotage among sellers, with autocratic verdicts meted out by Amazon’s own court and appeals system.
|
|
UPCOMING EVENTS
-
January 26. Washington, D.C. Stacy Mitchell will be speaking at the Winter Policy Meeting of the Mayors Innovation Project. Stacy will be on the panel “Building a Strong, Diverse, and Resilient Local Business Community”.
-
January 29. Online. Stacy Mitchell will be the guest for a “celebrity edition” of the monthly Ask Strong Towns webcast. Stacy will join Strong Towns President Chuck Marohn to discuss building financially resilient communities.
|
|
From informing policymakers to shaping media coverage, ILSR's research is
making an impact. Please help us work to create an economy that's more
competitive, equitable, and prosperous by making a donation today.
|
|
|
|
