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Boxed Out: Our New Report on How Predatory Buying is Killing Off Small Businesses

Boxed Out: Our New Report on How Predatory Buying is Killing Off Small Businesses

Stacy Mitchell

September 22, 2022

Powerful retailers are killing off small businesses by dominating supply chains. Our new report argues it’s time to revive the Robinson-Patman Act and restore antitrust enforcement against predatory buying.  READ MORE


Recent

A Renaissance for Black Voices and Spaces

A Renaissance for Black Voices and Spaces

Luke Gannon

September 22, 2022

This week on Building Local Power, we are joined by Brandi Collins-Dexter, author of Black Skinhead: Reflections on Blackness and our Political Future and Stacy Mitchell, Co-Director of ILSR. We engage in a riveting conversation on how political parties have  READ MORE


Statement on FTC Commissioner Bedoya’s Call for Fairness to be Main Goal of Antitrust Enforcement

Statement on FTC Commissioner Bedoya’s Call for Fairness to be Main Goal of Antitrust Enforcement

Stacy Mitchell

September 22, 2022

Commissioner Bedoya made a powerful case that the guiding aim of antitrust should be fairness, including fairness for small businesses. This would represent a fundamental shift for the agency, which has long allowed misguided ideas about “efficiency” to trump fairness.  READ MORE


WATCH: Midwest Forum on Fair Markets

WATCH: Midwest Forum on Fair Markets

Reggie Rucker

September 22, 2022

Co-hosted by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and Open Markets Institute, this is the antimonopoly, pro-democracy event you don't want to miss!  READ MORE


Inflation: The True Monopoly Story

Inflation: The True Monopoly Story

Luke Gannon

August 25, 2022

On this episode of Building Local Power, Rakeen Mabud the Chief Economist at Groundwork Collaborative and Ron Knox, Senior Researcher and Writer at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, take us on a riveting journey exposing the story of inflation that  READ MORE


In The Atlantic: Amazon’s Dangerous New Acquisition

In The Atlantic: Amazon's Dangerous New Acquisition

Luke Gannon

August 22, 2022

In early August, Amazon announced it would pay $1.7 billion to take over iRobot. In a new essay in The Atlantic, Ron Knox writes that if the deal is allowed to happen, Amazon would buy its way to dominance in  READ MORE


Stacy Mitchell Keynotes the Launch of The Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project

Stacy Mitchell Keynotes the Launch of The Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project

Luke Gannon

August 17, 2022

The Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project (CAMP) aims to reform Canadian competition law. For their launch event, Stacy Mitchell, a leader in the U.S. antimonopoly movement, spoke on the importance of antimonopoly to a fair and free economy and democracy.  READ MORE


Stacy Mitchell Gives Keynote Speech at the National Rural Grocery Summit: “Trustbusting Is Making a Comeback”

Stacy Mitchell Gives Keynote Speech at the National Rural Grocery Summit: "Trustbusting Is Making a Comeback"

Luke Gannon

June 22, 2022

ILSR Co-Director Stacy Mitchell gave a barnburner keynote address at the National Rural Grocery Summit, where she detailed how monopolistic corporations are squeezing independent businesses and farmers out of the market — and the antimonopoly comeback that is fighting to r  READ MORE


In-Depth

Report: How New Federal Antimerger Guidelines Can Roll Back Corporate Concentration and Build Local Power

Report: How New Federal Antimerger Guidelines Can Roll Back Corporate Concentration and Build Local Power

Stacy Mitchell

June 29, 2022

Earlier this year the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice announced plans to revise their merger guidelines, setting the stage for a new era in antitrust regulation. ILSR's new report details how new federal antimerger guidelines can restore competition and build local power.  READ MORE


2022 Independent Business Survey: Top Challenges and Policy Priorities

2022 Independent Business Survey: Top Challenges and Policy Priorities

ILSR

March 30, 2022

ILSR surveyed 908 small, independent businesses across across the country. We asked about the challenges they face and the policies they believe would improve the survival and success of independent businesses.  READ MORE


Issue Brief: Handcuffed by the Courts

Issue Brief: Handcuffed by the Courts

Ron Knox

March 8, 2022

Beginning in the late 1970s, a series of Supreme Court cases upended U.S. antitrust laws — laws that were once the linchpin of a comprehensive, democratic check on corporate power. This issue brief traverses the history and argues that Congress must take action to undo these pro-monopoly decisions.  READ MORE


Report: Small Business’s Big Moment

Report: Small Business's Big Moment

Kennedy Smith

January 24, 2022

One of the biggest challenges facing America’s towns and cities is leveling the playing field for small businesses. Our new report shows how civic leaders can use the American Rescue Plan to do just that, which will provide communities and local economies with lasting benefits for decades to come.  READ MORE


Report: Amazon’s Toll Road

Report: Amazon's Toll Road

Stacy Mitchell

December 1, 2021

Amazon is exploiting its position as a gatekeeper to impose steep and growing fees on the small businesses that must rely on its site to reach the online market, our new report finds. Even as these exorbitant fees bankrupt sellers, they are generating huge profits for Amazon, a fact that the tech giant conceals in its financial reports. These profits are not only the spoils of Amazon's monopoly power. They are the essential fuel that feeds its market-domination strategies.  READ MORE


Fact Sheet: How Amazon Exploits and Undermines Small Businesses, and Why Breaking It Up Would Revive American Entrepreneurship

Fact Sheet: How Amazon Exploits and Undermines Small Businesses, and Why Breaking It Up Would Revive American Entrepreneurship

Stacy Mitchell

June 16, 2021

In splashy campaigns and lobbying at the Capitol, Amazon claims that it has “a mutually beneficial relationship” with the small businesses that depend on its platform. This fact sheet tells the real story, and explains what Congress needs to do.  READ MORE


In The Nation, the Left Should Fight for Small Business

In The Nation, the Left Should Fight for Small Business

Susan Holmberg

December 2, 2020

It's hard to believe, but Democrats used to be the party of small business. In The Nation, Stacy Mitchell and Susan R. Holmberg argue that the left should once again embrace small business. Doing so is crucial to reversing inequality & rescuing democracy. It’s also key to winning Congress.  READ MORE


Featured Audio and Video

Anti-Merger Guidelines Would Stop Corporate Concentration, Revive Local Economies — Episode 153 of Building Local Power

Anti-Merger Guidelines Would Stop Corporate Concentration, Revive Local Economies — Episode 153 of Building Local Power

Jess Del Fiacco

June 16, 2022

On this episode of Building Local Power, host Jess Del Fiacco is joined by her colleagues John Farrell, Stacy Mitchell, and Ron Knox, where they discuss the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission's plan to overhaul their mergerREAD MORE


Germany’s National Broadcaster Features Stacy Mitchell, as Scrutiny of Amazon’s Power Grows

Germany’s National Broadcaster Features Stacy Mitchell, as Scrutiny of Amazon’s Power Grows

Luke Gannon

June 7, 2022

In May, Germany’s national public television network, ARD, broadcast a new documentary, “Is Amazon a Monopoly?” which featured an interview with Stacy Mitchell. The documentary drew a prime-time audience of more than 3 million viewers.READ MORE


Listen: What Could Possibly Go Right? Finding Our Muscle as Citizens

Listen: What Could Possibly Go Right? Finding Our Muscle as Citizens

Luke Gannon

May 27, 2022

Vicki Robin, host of the podcast “What Could Possibly Go Right?” asks ILSR Co-Director Stacy Mitchell, “In this moment of great turmoil what promise do you see on the horizon?” In other words, what could possibly go right? READ MORE


Listen: The Cost of Dominant Food Delivery Apps

Listen: The Cost of Dominant Food Delivery Apps

Luke Gannon

May 25, 2022

Kennedy Smith joined The Morning Show on Wisconsin Public Radio to talk about how the largest, Wall-Street-fueled delivery apps are using their market power to extract ever-increasing profits from restaurants.READ MORE


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