Foreign-Owned Meatpacker Receives Trade War Bailout, Critics Say it Won’t Help Farmers
Foreign-Owned Meatpacker Receives Trade War Bailout, Critics Say it Won’t Help Farmers

Last week, several senators called on the USDA to stop giving federal trade-related farm aid to foreign-owned corporations, particularly Brazil’s JBS, the largest meatpacker in the world. This follows a bill by Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., that would require USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service to only purchase foods from American companies, when available. Read the latest story by Open Markets Food & Power reporter Claire Kelloway on how the debate around foreign corporations receiving federal contracts misses the larger question of whether or not these contracts will trickle down to farmers at all.

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BlogsClaire Kelloway2019, June 2019, Food & Power, Food & Agriculture, Claire Kelloway
Deutsche Welle: Washington to Big Tech: You're on notice
Deutsche Welle: Washington to Big Tech: You're on notice

Deutsche Welle interviews Open Markets Deputy Director Sarah Miller about the shift in attitude by American lawmakers to Silicon Valley and how big tech is now on Washington's crosshairs. "These corporations were really the darlings of American commerce, and it's hard to believe, as someone who has been working on these issues for three or four years, how quickly that has changed, not just among progressives, but also among conservatives here in the US," she said.

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ClippingsOpen MarketsJune 2019, 2019, Google, Facebook, Amazon
Bloomberg: Big Tech Could Get Subpoenas in House Probe, Top Democrat Says
Bloomberg: Big Tech Could Get Subpoenas in House Probe, Top Democrat Says

Bloomberg's Naomi Nix reports on how the U.S. House panel conducting an antitrust investigation of technology companies is prepared to issue subpoenas as it begins by focusing on the impact of digital platforms on news media organizations. She also reported that Open Markets Institute Director of Enforcement Strategy Sally Hubbard has been tapped to testify at the first hearing as a witness.

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ClippingsOpen MarketsJune 2019, 2019, Competition Law & Philosophy
NYT: Antitrust Troubles Snowball for Tech Giants as Lawmakers Join In
NYT: Antitrust Troubles Snowball for Tech Giants as Lawmakers Join In

The New York Times speaks with Open Markets Deputy Director Sarah Miller about antitrust enforcement in the U.S. as the House Judiciary Committee announced an official investigation scrutinizing the tech giants just hours after the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission were reported to be dividing jurisdiction over Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook. Compared to Europe and other regulators around the globe, “Federal enforcers have a lot of catching up to do,” said Miller.

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ClippingsOpen MarketsJune 2019, 2019, Facebook
NYT: Google and Amazon Are at the Center of a Storm Brewing Over Big Tech
NYT: Google and Amazon Are at the Center of a Storm Brewing Over Big Tech

The New York Times speaks to Executive Director Barry Lynn about the storm brewing around Big Tech as the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission divide jurisdiction over the largest corporations to enforce antitrust law. “Until we see what they intend to do, none of this means anything,” said Lynn. “Maybe they are simply blowing smoke so the president gets happy for a moment so they can go back to doing nothing.”

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ClippingsOpen MarketsJune 2019, 2019, Google, Barry Lynn, Politics
Why Monopolies Abroad Don’t Justify Monopolies at Home
Why Monopolies Abroad Don’t Justify Monopolies at Home

In a recent interview, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg deployed a talking point that other platform monopolists are increasingly using. Don’t break up Facebook, she said, because that will just allow Chinese companies to come in and fill the void. What’s wrong with this argument? It presents a false choice.

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BlogsOpen Markets2019, May 2019, Facebook, Google, Amazon, Trade & National Security, Competition Law & Philosophy
Catch Share Programs Consolidating Alaskan Fisheries – Cutting Out Small, Rural, and Young Fishermen
Catch Share Programs Consolidating Alaskan Fisheries – Cutting Out Small, Rural, and Young Fishermen

A recent study documenting consolidation and specialization in Alaska’s fisheries over the past three decades illustrates a broader trend taking hold in coastal communities across the country. Catch share programs, a new fisheries management system, are turning fishing rights into tradable commodities, driving up the cost to fish and consolidating fishing rights into the hands of a few wealthy owners.

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BlogsClaire Kelloway2019, May 2019, Food & Agriculture, Claire Kelloway
Testimony of Open Markets fellow Beth Baltzan to the House Ways & Means Committee on "Enforcement in the New NAFTA"
Testimony of Open Markets fellow Beth Baltzan to the House Ways & Means Committee on "Enforcement in the New NAFTA"

Open Markets fellow Beth Baltzan testified as a witness to the House Ways & Means Committee on “Enforcement in the New NAFTA.” Her testimony, based in part on a piece she published in the Washington Monthly, pointed to the principles unratified Havana Charter as a solution to global trade. The charter “included rules that guaranteed workers’ rights, provided protections against destructive foreign investor behavior, and required trading nations to abide by anti-monopoly rules.”

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Testimony & Comment LettersOpen Markets2020, Trade & National Security, May 2019
Observer: What Breaking Up Facebook Would Actually Entail, According to Experts
Observer: What Breaking Up Facebook Would Actually Entail, According to Experts

Open Markets' fellow Matt Stoller talks to the Observer about what breaking up Facebook would look like. “This isn’t rocket science,” Stoller told Observer. “The government should just hire an investment bank to break up the company. Then regulate the data practices and interoperability so that social networking is a neutral communications platform instead of a predatory one.”

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ClippingsOpen MarketsMay 2019, 2019, Facebook, Politics
Democrats Need to Tame the Facebook Monster They Helped Create
Democrats Need to Tame the Facebook Monster They Helped Create

If you are thinking about Facebook or questions of political economy, an important and telling hearing took place recently in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Democratic leaders Frank Pallone and Jan Schakowsky did an oversight review of Facebook’s regulator, the Federal Trade Commission, with all five commissioners, including Chairman Joe Simons, advancing ideas on how to address privacy rules in America today.

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Op-EdsOpen Markets2019, Facebook, May 2019