Groundwork’s Lindsay Owens on FTC’s Findings on Pioneer

Groundwork’s Lindsay Owens on FTC’s Findings on Pioneer: “Congress should tax back the industry’s windfall profits and issue every American a refund”

Following last week’s news that the Federal Trade Commission blocked former Pioneer CEO Scott Sheffield from joining the ExxonMobil board due to an alleged price-fixing conspiracy, Groundwork Collaborative’s Executive Director Lindsay Owens reacted with the following statement:

“Americans have been working harder and harder to cover rising energy costs, with the understanding that supply chain snags and geopolitical forces were keeping prices high. Now the Federal Trade Commission has uncovered the real source behind the price at the pump: collusion.”

“The Department of Justice should criminally prosecute Scott Sheffield and Congress should tax back the industry’s windfall profits and issue every American a refund.”

Email press@groundworkcollaborative.org to speak with Lindsay Owens on the impact of corporate profiteering on rising prices. 

Background

• Price fixing in the oil and gas industry may have contributed to 27% of inflation in 2021, according to research from Matt Stoller, research director at the American Economic Liberties Project.

• From April to September 2023, corporate profits drove 53% of inflation. Comparatively, over the 40 years prior to the pandemic, profits drove just 11% of price growth.

• Groundwork was one of the first to expose the link between corporate price gouging and inflation. Starting in the summer of 2021, Groundwork began digging through recent corporate earnings call transcripts across multiple industries experiencing record-high prices. This research revealed CEOs openly bragging to their shareholders about their ability to raise prices beyond their rising costs to increase profits. To justify these moves, CEOs hid behind the cover of supply chain issues and the economic turmoil caused by the pandemic.