In The Washington Post, Stacy Mitchell explains why West Virginia and North Dakota are leading the nation in vaccine delivery — they opted to rely on independent pharmacies, rather than the chains. “These small providers have proved remarkably nimble. Meanwhile, CVS and Walgreens have stumbled.”
Stacy argues that Americans have been misled to think large companies are inherently more efficient. But independent pharmacies — like local banks, family farms, and other small businesses — possess “economies of small scale,” she writes. “It’s their local ownership that makes all the difference.” Read the article.
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 Monopoly power in the peanut industry has pushed thousands of small farmers to the brink of bankruptcy. It has also made peanuts more expensive to taxpayers than any other crop in the country. In Civil Eats, Ron Knox tells the monopoly story of America’s favorite snack. Read the article.
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 ILSR helped organize fifteen independent business associations, representing over 60,000 independent businesses across the country, to submit a letter to President Biden. Their letter urged him to appoint personnel who are committed to restoring competition, ensuring small businesses have a fair shot, and willing to use the full extent of their legal authority granted by Congress. Read the letter.
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Small businesses have a critical role to play in a healthy economy and democracy, shaping the antimonopoly agenda and ensuring that these policies are a central part of Congress’s economic recovery strategy. Join independent business advocates, experts, and small business leaders from across the country on February 22th from 1:00 – 2:15 pm ET for a webinar and live Q&A. The event is co-sponsored by 17 national and local independent business organizations. Find more information here.
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UPCOMING EVENTS
- On February 16th, Shaoul Sussman will speak on an American Bar Association panel about strengthening New York’s antitrust laws. Register here.
- Stacy is speaking at the Good Business Summit hosted by Lowcountry Local First. The event takes place on February 24th & 25th. Register here.
- On March 11, Kennedy Smith’s will close the North Carolina Main Street's annual conference with a keynote address. She will highlight how Covid-19 is impacting main streets across the U.S. and what communities can do about it. Register here.
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WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO
- Politico quoted Stacy on Jeff Bezos’s announcement that he’s switching jobs at Amazon. “We’re certainly not going to take our eyes off Jeff Bezos. He deserves as much scrutiny as he’s been getting. He’s the vision.”
- Stacy also spoke with the Financial Times about Bezos’s alliance with Wall Street, which allowed Amazon to lose billions of dollars in its early bid to monopolize markets. “Independent bookstores could have multiplied across the country with that business model. But of course, they weren’t allowed to lose money.”
- One Zero also interviewed Stacy on the FTC suing Amazon for stealing from its workers. “Historically, the FTC has done almost nothing to stop dominant corporations from abusing workers. So this is a step in the right direction, and I hope it portends much more aggressive action against Amazon and other monopolistic firms.”
- Kennedy Smith spoke to The Pointer about what local communities and governments accomplished to help small business weather the pandemic. “In the very early days of the pandemic, when the federal government hadn’t put any money out yet, communities did amazingly creative things.”
- Also, Next City discussed ILSR’s banking research and Goldendale Sentinel cited our research showing that dollar stores “are not merely a byproduct of economic distress, they’re a cause of it.”
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ICYMI
This year, ILSR is publishing a series of reports on how monopoly manifests across industries, and how its power impacts our economic well-being, perpetuates our racial divisions, and hinders our ability to confront our climate crisis. Check out the first three in our series:
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NEWS STORIES WE'RE FOLLOWING
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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
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