Back Then When Robert Reich Said Evidence Of Corporate Concentration Is Everywhere And Elon Musk Nodded Along

Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich expressed concerns over the increasing power of select organizations and said that corporate concentration is everywhere in December 2022.

What Happened: Reich cited examples of corporate mergers in different sectors and highlighted the fact that few giants control a lot of industries.

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“Wall Street has consolidated into 5 giant banks. Airlines have merged from 12 carriers in 1980 to 4 today. A handful of drug companies control the pharmaceutical industry. Four giants control over 80% of meat processing. The evidence of corporate concentration is everywhere,” Reich tweeted on December 30.

Interestingly, Elon Musk replied to his tweet saying he agrees with the notion. “Agreed, reduced competition is not good for the people,” Musk tweeted.

Agreed, reduced competition is not good for the people

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 30, 2022

Reich had been highlighting the economic disparity through his tweets and articles. In December, he stated that the biggest economic story of these times isn’t about supply and demand; rather, it’s about institutions and politics. “It’s about power,” he said.

In a video, Reich highlighted the fact that the median annual earnings of full-time wage and salaried workers in 1979, in today’s dollars, was $43,680. “The median earnings in 2018 was $45,708. If between 1979 and 2018, the American economy almost tripled in size, so where did the gains go? Most went to the top,” he stated.

The biggest political change over the last four decades is the overwhelming dominance of big money in politics — influencing what those rules are to be,” Reich had said in his video at the time.

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