How Big Corporations Keep Us Poor...
from The Poverty Trap Hosted by Joan DeMartin
“They [Researchers for the Oxford Review of Economic Policy] find that monopolistic pricing takes a bite out of every income group’s share of national income, with the notable exception of the top 20 percent, whose incomes rise. In effect, companies are using their market power to extract wealth from poor and middle-class households and deposit it in the pockets of the wealthy, to the tune of about 3 percent of national household income in 2016.” The Washington Post, 2018 Jane Fonda’s Workout book, a 1981 classic that assumed Biblical status with me, didn’t just talk about exercise, but the benefits of sound nutrition, too. I no longer have the book, so I’m paraphrasing from memory, but I’m pretty sure she pointed out that our typical, sugary breakfast was brought to us by a few of the big corporations like General Mills, for example, which had a near monopoly on the breakfast market at the time. And those companies bought their way to our kitchen tables through constant, clever advertising even though what they were selling was chock full of nothing but sugar, and wasn’t good for anyone, let alone growing children. Remember “Tony the Tiger” and his Sugar Frosted Flakes? “They’re Great!”, he roared into our living rooms (strategically targeting the cartoon crowd) …and millions of us were hooked. Get full access to The Poverty Trap at povertytrap.substack.com/subscribe
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