President Joe Biden used a Wednesday speech at the White House to scold fossil fuel companies for raking in huge profits at the expense of U.S. consumers, who are being gashed by high prices at the pump. But instead of calling for a specific policy solution that would force the industry’s hand, Biden asked oil companies to voluntarily stop padding their bottom lines and instead “pass the savings on to consumers.” “So far, American oil companies are using that windfall, the windfall of profits, to buy back their own stock, passing that money on to their shareholders, not to consumers,”…
Windfall
Sanders Calls for Windfall Tax to Defend Economy Against Corporate Greed
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday slammed oil companies for raking in huge profits on the backs of U.S. consumers and reiterated his case for a windfall tax, a demand that came as President Joe Biden’s call for a federal gas tax holiday faced growing pushback from progressives and top officials in his own administration. “Corporate greed is destroying this economy. Right now, people all over the country are paying $5, $6 for a gallon of gas,” said Sanders (I-Vt.), the chair of the Senate Budget Committee. “Meanwhile, in the first quarter of this year, oil company profits were $93 billion,…
Corporate Profits Soared to Highest Levels in 7 Decades Last Year
A new paper published Tuesday shows that U.S. corporate price markups and profits surged to their highest levels since the 1950s last year, bolstering arguments for an excess profits tax as a way to rein in sky-high inflation. Authored by Mike Konczal and Niko Lusiani of the Roosevelt Institute, the analysis finds that markups—the difference between the actual cost of a good or service and the selling price—”were both the highest level on record and the largest one-year increase” in 2021. “Markups this high mean there is room for reversing them with little economic harm and likely societal benefit,” Konczal…