Corporate Crackdown

Under the Biden administration, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) achieved record levels of enforcement. It recovered record sums from imposing penalties, had a high count of enforcement actions, and significant numbers of white collar criminals were disbarred from executive board seats. The SEC has secured these accomplishments through effective litigation, emphatic rulemaking, and rigorous enforcement of the law.

The Department of Labor (DoL) has been prolific in using its rulemaking abilities to protect workers and increase wages while using its investigative and enforcement authority to hold bad corporate actors accountable. This list is not meant to be comprehensive, but highlights major victories in increasing overtime pay, addressing misclassification of employees as independent contractors, and cracking down on widespread illegal use of child labor. 

Lina Khan and the Federal Trade Commission have been the target of endless Wall Street Journal hit pieces and antagonistic lobbying from billionaires hoping to cut short Khan’s tenure at the helm of the consumer protection agency. This is not a coincidence. Under Khan’s leadership, the small agency has punched well above its weight by writing cogent rules  to protect consumers, blocking anticompetitive mergers, and bringing enforcement actions to punish illegal corporate practices.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has been an active regulator under the Biden administration, helping shift the balance of power in labor relations to empower workers. The NLRB has utilized both enforcement actions and rulemaking capacity to help workers and unions, much to the chagrin of big business groups. 

Corporate revolvers are keeping industry giants from facing real accountability.

Now is the time for progressives to weigh in on jobs that don’t require Senate confirmation.

FTC Chair Lina Khan has explicitly called for more resources to investigate oil and gas mergers, as current funding and staffing levels are forcing the agency to “make difficult decisions” on how to pursue enforcement in oil and gas markets. How many more anti-competitive business practices could the agency unveil with more time and funding?

Ostensibly prestigious universities are partnering with online programs that offer non-degree courses to the tune of more than $10,000. Prominent names like Caltech, USC, and Georgetown have lent credibility to the programs, but they are little more than a scam facilitated by Obama-era deregulation.

Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission took enforcement action against Invitation Homes, the country’s largest single-family home landlord. It’s an action that not only identifies corporate malfeasance as a key source of the sky-high rent prices tenants are facing, but one that also sends a warning shot to other corporate landlords to quit using such practices – with the potential larger impact of lowering rental prices.