The War Room

THE WAR ROOM'S MISSION

We believe: America’s economy is at its strongest when it is competitive and open to all, not controlled by a monopolistic few.

Today, big corporations have too much power. These monopolies are jacking up prices, cheating workers out of an honest day’s pay, choking off innovation and opportunity, and bullying small businesses that create good jobs and anchor our communities.

We finally have champions on the side of the American people – not in Big Tech’s or Big Pharma’s pockets. A new generation of fearless federal antitrust enforcers, alongside their state counterparts all across the country, are fighting to break up monopolies and protect working families, entrepreneurs, and honest businesses from corporate bullying.

Big Tech, Big Pharma, Big Ag, and Wall Street have declared “war” to keep their grip on power. A small cabal of massive corporations and their front groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are flooding Washington with money, lobbyists, misinformation, and smears to maintain their grip on economic and political power and make sure the law applies to everyone except them.

It’s time to fight back. The Fight Corporate Monopolies War Room is fighting on the side of working families, honest businesses, and economic fairness to defeat the campaign to undermine federal antitrust enforcement, rein-in lawless monopolies and end their abuse.

WHAT’S AT STAKE FOR OUR ECONOMY

The middle class was born out of a dynamic, competitive economy that lifted up working people, fueled innovation, and spurred growth across the country. This was achieved before, and can be achieved again.

As families find it harder than ever to make ends meet, they see CEOs bragging about increasing prices and corporate profits reaching new records. But this is not the only way corporate monopolies and economic concentration hurts the American people:

Corporate Monopolies are Jacking Up Prices

• Prices increase 7% on average when big corporations merge and push out competition.
• Price markups have risen to 61%, tripling from 21% in the 1980’s due increased consolidation.
• Big corporations have cost the average American household $5,000 a year by raising prices and holding down wages.

Corporate Monopolies are Cheating Workers Out of an Honest Day’s Pay

• Monopolies have led to lower pay for workers with the median annual compensation driven more than $10,000 lower due to increased employer concentration.
• Employees get a smaller percentage of profits today than 30 years ago due to corporate concentration, even though corporations now make $14,000 more in profit per worker.
• A quarter of American workers, including roughly 1-in-5 minimum-wage workers, are bound by entrepreneurship-killing noncompete clauses driven by big corporations.

Corporate Monopolies are Choking Off Innovation and Opportunity

• As corporate consolidation rose, America’s start-up rate collapsed, falling by half since the 1970s.
• Dominant monopolies invest less in basic research, with big corporations spending more in stock buybacks than research and development.
• Noncompete clauses, pushed by big corporations, reduce new-firm entry by as much as 18%.

Corporate Monopolies are Bullying Small Businesses that Create Good Jobs and Anchor Communities

• Money spent at small businesses generates a 76% greater return to the local economy than money spent at national, big box chains.
• 67% of independent businesses said they are paying higher prices and receiving less favorable terms as a result of growing concentration among suppliers.
• Big corporations pushed out tens of thousands of Black-owned businesses, driving the per-capita number of Black employers down by 12% in under 20 years.