Ive here. The Competition Act is a clear example of why the United States has become too corrupt and lazy to develop appropriate industrial policy. Note that we have industrial policy by default. You can see which industries are favored due to subsidies such as tax breaks and continued high growth where profit levels have barely slowed down: healthcare, higher education, banking and money management, real estate and arms dealers.

Sanders wants any industrial policy-themed handout to include some persuasive clause, such as a ban on share buybacks.

Plus any bill with a cute name will almost certainly get lipstick on some really big pigs.

by Jessica Corbett.Originally Posted in common dream

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders made it clear on Tuesday that he would not support a unanimous vote in the upper house Global Competition Act The rules he denounced as “company benefits” have not changed.

“At a time of rising income and wealth inequality, the American people are outraged by the unprecedented corporate greed happening around them,” Sanders (I-Vt.) began. speech in the Senate.

The chairman of the Senate Budget Committee delivered a 20-minute speech against the “America’s Manufacturing Opportunity, Leading Technology, and Economic Strength (COMPETES) Act.”

“Today, while the working class in this country is grappling with higher gas prices, higher food prices and higher house prices, the billionaire class and big corporations are doing very well, in fact, never before. Better yet,” Sanders said. “The American people want Congress to address corporate greed and ensure that the richest and most profitable companies pay their fair share of taxes.”

“However, this week, now, what are we debating in the Senate? We’re discussing legislation to provide about $53 billion in corporate benefits with no strings attached to the highly profitable microchip industry,” he noted. “Yes, if you can believe it…this legislation also provides $10 billion Rescue Jeff Bezos so that his company Blue Origin can launch a rocket ship to the moon. “

Sanders noted that Bezos, who also founded Amazon, has seen his fortune soar during the ongoing pandemic.As of press time, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranking Bezos is the second-richest person in the world with a fortune of $190 billion, behind SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, with a fortune of $252 billion.

Amid unprecedented greed, the Senate is currently debating $53 billion for the highly profitable microchip industry and a $10 billion bailout for Jeff Bezos so he can send a rocket ship to the moon. I’m on the floor against it. https://t.co/Q1KriJd8gx

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 22, 2022

Sanders announced in his Senate speech that he would not support any unanimous request to expedite passage of the U.S. Competition Act, which the House approved in February, unless the two “extremely important” amendments he proposed were sung. name vote. .

In response to microchip companies, the senator said, “provide $53 billion to an industry that already outsources tens of thousands of jobs to low-wage countries and spends hundreds of billions of dollars to buy back stock with no strings attached. Corporate benefits might make sense to some people.” People, but it doesn’t make sense to me, and I don’t think it makes sense to the American people. “

Sanders’ First Amendment “would prevent microchip companies from receiving taxpayer aid unless they agree to issue warrants or equity to the federal government,” he explained. “If private companies are to benefit from more than $53 billion in corporate benefits, the financial gains these companies receive must be shared with the American people, not just with wealthy shareholders.”

“In other words, the whole point of this amendment is that if these companies want taxpayer assistance, we’re not going to socialize all the risks and privatize all the profits,” he added. “If those investments become profitable as a direct result of these federal grants, then taxpayers in this country are entitled to a return on that investment.”

The senator noted that his amendment to the microchip industry “would also require these high-margin companies not to buy back their own stock, not to outsource American jobs, not to repeal existing collective bargaining agreements, and to make efforts in any union organization. remain neutral. . . ”

The second amendment “would simply cancel the $10 billion bailout that Jeff Bezos flew to the moon,” Sanders said, acknowledging the billionaire’s personal wealth. “If Mr. Bezos wants to go to the moon, let him use his own money, not taxpayer money.”

While Sanders criticized these two specific elements of the U.S. Competition Act, progressives and foreign policy experts have raised other concerns.as common dream report Last month, an analysis by Ashik Siddique of the Policy Institute’s National Priorities Program called the bill “part of a dangerous trend of increasing tensions between the U.S. and China.”

“The U.S. Competition Act would authorize hundreds of billions of dollars in new federal spending for initiatives aimed at promoting U.S. competition with the world’s other largest economy,” Siddiq wrote, “even if other key components of the U.S. economy are chronically underfunded. insufficient.”