Profit schemes at poors' expense
Robert Reich:
Putting an end to collusion and price fixing is necessary today as it has always been, but that's
not enough. The collusion is encouraged by the excessive concentration in large companies. We need
to break them up or compel them to split up, with adequate new laws.
For the field of petroleum products, reducing the price is the wrong goal (it would exacerbate
global heating).
What we need instead is a
windfall
profits tax, to redirect that money to important needs (including more support for the
non-wealthy). This could, in effect, serve as a kind of carbon tax.
For the field of rental housing, we would put an end to companies' owning large numbers
of houses
and apartments
for rent. This can be seen as a strong form of deconcentration, bringing the rental housing market
back to the way it operated 30 years ago.