Biden Cabinet members actions and issues: on Corporations


Janet Yellen: Investigate retail trading; ensure investors are protected

Yellen told "Good Morning America" it was critical to ensure "that our financial markets are functioning properly, efficiently and that investors are protected." Yellen convened the heads of the SEC, CFTC, the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to discuss retail trading and "whether or not the recent events warrant further action," she told ABC. "We need to understand deeply what happened before we go to action, but certainly we're looking carefully at these events."
Source: Reuters news service on 2021 Biden Cabinet Feb 4, 2021

Janet Yellen: Worried about insufficient oversight of investment firms

Yellen, whose financial disclosures show that she earned a total of $7 million in fees over the past two years, voiced worry about insufficient oversight of large firms that serve as hubs of lending or investment. She says regulators should particularly consider reining in hedge funds and other firms that have escaped heightened scrutiny since the 2008 credit crisis, including in the landmark Dodd-Frank law, which largely focused on big banks.
Source: Politico e-zine on 2021 Biden Cabinet Jan 10, 2021

Janet Yellen: Risks of hedge funds' debt very real and serious

Hedge funds are among the big financial institutions that Yellen has dealt with in her remarks. In remarks at the Brookings event, she said financial market stress showed that the risks posed by hedge funds' debt-fueled investments "were very real and serious," though she did not directly characterize them as responsible for the market seize up.
Source: Politico e-zine on 2021 Biden Cabinet Jan 10, 2021

Tom Vilsack: Problem with corporate concentration at Dairy Export Council

Vilsack became president of the U.S. Dairy Export Council. With Vilsack at the helm of this organization, corporate concentration continued apace, as Dairy Farmers of America acquired Dean Foods. Moreover, dairy farmers entered bankruptcy in record numbers as prices plummeted. According to the Open Markets Institute, fewer and fewer corporations dominate the American food system from seed to plate. This not only subjects farmers to predatory pricing, but hurts consumers at the grocery aisle.
Source: Quad City Times on Biden Cabinet Dec 20, 2020

Tom Vilsack: Urban centers push anti-monopoly measures, not rural places

In a podcast in 2019, he attacked Democratic presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders for criticizing large agriculture companies, saying, "there are a substantial number of people hired and employed by those businesses here in Iowa. So you're essentially saying to all of those folks, you might be out of a job." He argued the focus on anti-monopoly measures came from "folks in think tanks in urban centers who have had very little experience, if any, with rural places."
Source: Reason magazine on Biden Cabinet Dec 19, 2020

Tom Vilsack: Sees multinational corporate agribusiness as partners

How you feel about the potential for progress on climate in Vilsack's administration depends on whether you consider multinational agribusiness to be a partner to climate action or its principal obstacle. Vilsack seems to see them as partners, but that hasn't always led to good results. Vilsack has a track record of mounting seemingly sincere challenges to agribusiness-among others, a hopeful investigation into antitrust violations in the livestock industry-that eventually end in capitulation.
Source: Sierra Club press release on Biden Cabinet Dec 16, 2020

Xavier Becerra: Brought successful antitrust suit against hospital chain

Nor do they tend to mention Becerra's successful antitrust lawsuit against the northern California hospital chain Sutter Health. That case resulted in a $575-million settlement and exposed how hospital mergers drive up costs for patients.
Source: The Los Angeles Times on Biden Cabinet Dec 15, 2020

Tom Vilsack: Tried to increase competition, restrict abusive contracts

Biden's nominee for the Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, held the same position in the Obama administration. To his credit, using his power under the Packers and Stockyard Act, Vilsack did produce sweeping new rules to restore competition and restrict abusive contracts in the livestock and poultry markets only to have the Obama administration back away from them after the disastrous 2010 election.
Source: DailyKos blog on Biden Cabinet Dec 9, 2020

Tom Vilsack: For plan to partially privatize slaughterhouse inspections

Back in 2012, the department floated a plan to partially privatize its inspection of the chicken industry's slaughterhouses. Vilsack promoted the move, declaring before a House subcommittee that the plan "will allow the poultry industry to continue to be profitable, and allow us [the USDA] to save some money as well." Indeed, the department boasted the speedup would save $256.6 million in costs--a windfall that would have accrued mainly to four large companies.
Source: Mother Jones magazine on USDA Biden Cabinet Dec 9, 2020

Marcia Fudge: Co-sponsored Dodd-Frank exemption for some corporate trades

Reps. Gwen Moore and Marcia Fudge cosponsored the Inter-Affiliate Swap Clarification Act along with two Republicans. Moore and Fudge's bill would allow certain derivatives that are traded among a corporation's various affiliates to be exempt from almost all new Dodd-Frank regulations. Fudge advocated for the bill "because it came at request of corporations and businesses in our district," says Belinda Prinz, a spokeswoman for the congresswoman.
Source: Mother Jones magazine on USDA Biden Cabinet Apr 3, 2013

  • The above quotations are from Biden Cabinet members actions and issues.
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2020 Presidential contenders on Corporations:
  Democrats running for President:
Sen.Michael Bennet (D-CO)
V.P.Joe Biden (D-DE)
Mayor Mike Bloomberg (I-NYC)
Gov.Steve Bullock (D-MT)
Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-IN)
Sen.Cory Booker (D-NJ)
Secy.Julian Castro (D-TX)
Gov.Lincoln Chafee (L-RI)
Rep.John Delaney (D-MD)
Rep.Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI)
Sen.Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Gov.Deval Patrick (D-MA)
Sen.Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
CEO Tom Steyer (D-CA)
Sen.Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Marianne Williamson (D-CA)
CEO Andrew Yang (D-NY)

2020 Third Party Candidates:
Rep.Justin Amash (L-MI)
CEO Don Blankenship (C-WV)
Gov.Lincoln Chafee (L-RI)
Howie Hawkins (G-NY)
Gov.Gary Johnson(L-NM)
Howard Schultz(I-WA)
Gov.Jesse Ventura (I-MN) 		Republicans running for President:
Sen.Ted Cruz(R-TX)
Gov.Larry Hogan (R-MD)
Gov.John Kasich(R-OH)
V.P.Mike Pence(R-IN)
Gov.Mark Sanford (R-SC)
Pres.Donald Trump(R-NY)
Rep.Joe Walsh (R-IL)
Gov.Bill Weld(R-MA & L-NY)

2020 Withdrawn Democratic Candidates:
Sen.Stacey Abrams (D-GA)
Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-NYC)
Sen.Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
Sen.Mike Gravel (D-AK)
Sen.Kamala Harris (D-CA)
Gov.John Hickenlooper (D-CO)
Gov.Jay Inslee (D-WA)
Mayor Wayne Messam (D-FL)
Rep.Seth Moulton (D-MA)
Rep.Beto O`Rourke (D-TX)
Rep.Tim Ryan (D-CA)
Adm.Joe Sestak (D-PA)
Rep.Eric Swalwell (D-CA)
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Page last updated: May 20, 2021