Press Releases
Watchdog That Documented Pandemic Profiteering by Shipping, Trucking and Meat Packing Industries Applauds Biden Crackdown on Industry Overcharging
Washington D.C. – During his first State of the Union address, President Biden called out pandemic profiteering that has squeezed the pocketbooks of everyday families, which government watchdog Accountable.US has been documenting for months: “You got four basic meat packing facilities. That’s it. You play with them or you don’t get to play at all. And you pay a hell of a lot more. […] During the pandemic, about half a dozen or less foreign-owned companies raised prices by as much as 1,000 percent and made record profits. […] Tonight, I’m announcing a crackdown on those companies overcharging American businesses and consumers.”
Accountable.US also called the Biden administration’s newly announced initiative against shipping industry profiteering a major step towards getting to the root of one of the major drivers of rising costs for consumers.
Over and over, we’ve seen industries that play a starring role in the supply chain use the pandemic as cover to charge abusive rates and fees which get passed onto average consumers. Whether it’s the oligopoly of meatpackers or the big shipping, oil and trucking companies, these industries pretend they have no choice but to inflate prices at the same time they boast of huge profits, reward their shareholders and executives millions, or mistreat their own workers. They do have a choice, but they chose to pad their bottom line and enrich a small group of investors at the expense of consumers.”
Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US
Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress have given their corporate donors a free pass to price gouge with impunity as they obstruct the President’s Build Back Better plan to address the supply chain crisis and bring costs down for families.
KEY RESOURCES FROM ACCOUNTABLE.US:
Big Oil Companies Net $75 Billion in Profit While Americans Struggle to Heat Homes, Fill Gas Tanks
