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Press Release

Groundwork’s Rakeen Mabud Reacts to New FTC Study: “Bringing down costs at the checkout line requires tackling corporate greed”

Today, the Federal Trade Commission released a new study that found large grocery retailers took advantage of supply chain disruptions to raise prices on consumers and squash smaller competitors.

March 21, 2024 Groundwork Collaborative

Press Release

Groundwork’s Rakeen Mabud Praises European Central Bank’s Profit Test for Rate Cuts

“The ECB's approach to monetary policy, which acknowledges that inflation can come down without inflicting harm on millions of workers when it's being driven by the pricing power of big corporations, stands in stark contrast to Chair Powell's tactic of keeping interest rates at a 23-year high. The European Central Bank is exactly right to consider excessive profit-taking by big corporations when making monetary policy decisions."

March 21, 2024 Groundwork Collaborative

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Why Are Grocery Prices Still So High?

Some suggest corporate greed is also to blame. “Outsized corporate profits” are driving more than half of inflation, according to a report from the Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive think tank. “Even as supply chain snarls have receded and the U.S. economy has stabilized, our research finds that businesses continue to pad their bottom lines at the expense of American families,” said Lindsay Owens, the Groundwork Collaborative’s executive director.

March 20, 2024 Consumers’ Checkbook

Press Release

Lindsay Owens Reacts to Fed Rate Decision: “It’s time for Chair Powell to change course”

“While inflation has fallen substantially from its peak, the Fed’s higher interest rates are putting pressure on family budgets by pushing up housing costs and making credit cards and student loans more expensive. Rate cuts are overdue – it's time for Chair Powell to act."

March 20, 2024 Groundwork Collaborative

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Congressional Progressives to Fed: Cut Rates to ‘End This Squeeze’ on Workers

According to one recent study by the Groundwork Collaborative, corporate profiteering drove more than half of inflation between April and September 2023. Last month, following a strong jobs report, Groundwork's Bilal Baydoun called for rate cuts, arguing that "the data is very clear that we never had to sacrifice jobs for lower prices."

March 18, 2024 Common Dreams

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Squawk Box – March 14, 2024

Groundwork Collaborative Chief Economist Dr. Rakeen Mabud joins Squawk Box to break down the February Producer Price Index.

March 15, 2024 CNBC

Press Release

ICYMI: Groundwork’s Rakeen Mabud Reacts to February PPI on CNBC’s Squawk Box

Today, Groundwork Collaborative Chief Economist Rakeen Mabud joined CNBC’s Squawk Box to react to today’s February Producer Price Index (PPI) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

March 14, 2024 Groundwork Collaborative

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Biden launches tax war with GOP

Rakeen Mabud, chief economist and managing director of policy and research at the left-leaning Groundwork Collaborative, noted that no matter how people describe Biden’s policies, he is laying out a “stark contrast between the two choices” facing America in a way that she finds “compelling.” “What the president and the administration is really doing I think is tapping into a collective sense of ‘this economy isn’t working for us’ and pushing back and laying out his plans for addressing that,” Mabud said.

March 13, 2024 The Hill

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Greedflation in the US and UK

This was given a theoretical framework by Isabella Weber’s “sellers’ inflation” theory and has been backed by research such as a report by The Groundwork Collaborative which found that corporate profits have driven more than half of the inflation seen in the US. Politically, this lets the Biden Administration shift the blame for inflation away from its own spending programmes and onto profiteering corporations, as well as enabling them to frame policies to combat corporate power and implement green industrial strategy as anti-inflationary.

March 13, 2024 New Economy Brief

Press Release

Groundwork’s Rakeen Mabud Reacts to February CPI

“The Fed’s high interest rates are pushing up costs for families, including housing costs. The Fed's actions are exacerbating a long-standing housing shortage by making it more expensive to build new homes.” Groundwork’s Rakeen Mabud Reacts to February CPI which showed prices rose 0.4% last month and 3.2% over the last year.

March 12, 2024 Groundwork Collaborative