Inequality Media, Robert Reich’s policy advocacy group, released an interesting video this morning that I want to share with you all.
Inequality Media (which does a lot of good work, by the way) released a video detailing the extent of corporate monopolies and corporate consolidation, with everyday examples. Interesting parts about meat packing/supermarket industry (1:27 — 1:47) and the part about the healthcare industry (3:10 — 3:21)
(VIDEO SPOILERS)
(VIDEO SPOILERS)
(VIDEO SPOILERS)
Here are some of the alarming examples:
‘’The four largest food companies control 82% of beef packing, 85% of soybean processing, 63% of pork packing and 53% of chicken processing. All these products and brands? From just ten huge corporations.’’
...[Tyson, Craft, Pepsico, Nestle, ABinBev, Dean Foods, Smithfield, Con Arga foods, General Mills, JBS]
Reich also points out, in healthcare, the industry has had a crazy rate of consolidation, and that this is in part responsible for soaring healthcare costs. Here are some of the examples given in the video (with different sources other than the video):
Anthem (well-point) acquires Amerigroup
en.wikipedia.org/...
‘’On July 9, 2012, Anthem Inc. (then known as WellPoint) entered into an agreement to acquire Amerigroup Corporation for $4.9 billion.’’
Aetna and Anthem purchase Cigna and Humana
‘’According to analyst reports from Deloitte and Irving Levin Associates, provider deals have increased 14 percent every year since 2009. On the payer side, two of the country’s largest insurers — Aetna and Anthem — are in the process of buying two other large insurance companies, Humana and Cigna, respectively.
Both payers and providers are in a race to consolidate, growing their businesses through buying peer companies. The impact on consumers, however, could be drastic and expensive.’’
Finally, although this is not the video, Equitable Growth has some has some good articles about recent corporate consolidation. This one has quite a few studies jammed into it, very interesting. Overall, Reich’s video about corporate consolidation is absolute gold. More awareness about this issue is necessary.
‘’Over the past 20 years, major sectors of the U.S. economy have undergone sweeping consolidation, from airlines to brewing, cable television to drug companies, eyeglasses to finance, and grocery stores to hospitals to industrial chemicals—nearly the entire alphabet of industries in the United States. In many cases, this consolidation has reduced the number of significant competitors in these industries to only three or four, prompting concerns about diminished competition, higher prices, and a range of other harms to the U.S. economy and society. Highlighting these concerns the Obama administration, last year, issued an unprecedented executive order that instructed agencies to ensure that competition plays a role in their policy actions.1 Backing up that executive order was an issue brief from the White House Council of Economic Advisers, or CEA, titled “Benefits of Competition and Indicators of Market Power”—a title whose significance was lost on no one.2’’