Recently Community Rights US Director and Founder Paul Cienfuegos attended the 2019 Farmers Union Convention in Appleton, Wisconsin held January 25-27. While there he had the opportunity to watch and listen to a panel discussion about monopolies, antitrust legislation, and how they affect farmers. After the convention a 54 minute video of the panel discussion was posted on the internet. Shortly after Paul offered his perspective of the panel discussion through a Community Rights (CR) lens. A lens he’s familiar with given his 30 years of experience with CR. Below is the description of the panel discussion, some facts pulled from the discussion, and Paul’s critique.
Panel Description: The Wisconsin Farmers Union held their annual convention last week. The convention is always a whirlwind of democracy in action as the members vote to set their policy priorities for the coming year, and discuss issues affecting farmers for lobbying action throughout the coming year. This year’s convention featured a panel on monopolies and antitrust legislation, including how they affect farmers. This was an informative discussion and brought up some exciting opportunities to move forward on competitiveness in the future.
Panel Discussion Facts: Fun facts discovered from this video: 1. Corporate consolidation has created a noncompetitive market for beef (85% of production owned by four companies – two of them foreign), pork (74% owned by four companies), poultry (54% owned by four companies), corn seeds (89% owned by four companies) and soybean seeds (79% owned by four companies). 2. This leads to higher prices, and the fact that so many are foreign-owned creates a national-security issue. 3. In North Dakota it is illegal for corporations to own farm land. 4. It is time for some more trust-busting. It’s been over 100 years now.
Paul’s critique: I was in the audience for this panel. Two very talented men discussing a critical topic. My disappointment was that they kept returning to anti-trust laws as THE key solution to our corporate consolidation crisis, and those same laws put forth in the late 1800’s as the prime example of why we need them again. Unfortunately, their understanding of history is flawed.
For most of our nation’s first century, corporations were legally subordinate to The People, each required to serve one specific social need and to cause no harm. Their charters were full of requirements and prohibitions, and could be revoked at any time and for any reason by the state where they had been chartered. When revoked, which happened regularly, the corporation would be dissolved, its assets seized and redistributed by the state and its directors sometimes convicted and imprisoned, if the harm was substantial enough. By the late 1800’s, this comprehensive subordination of defining (not regulating) of corporations came to an end, thanks to the state legislatures of NJ and DE, and the US Supreme Court. Within a decade of this period, corporations had become totally out of control – buying politicians and elections, monopolizing goods and services, causing enormous harm to people and nature. The federal government’s solution at the time was anti-trust laws, which broke up the largest of the corporate trusts, but which did nothing to put corporations back into a subordinate servant role to The People. So to claim that anti-trust laws are THE solution is to not know our own history as a country.
I plan to contact both presenters and urge them to expand their understanding of this history, because what they really ought to be calling for is a return to corporations being chartered as our subordinates, with many requirements and prohibitions, as it used to be. Anything less won’t solve this problem. It will only put bandaids on it. And Mother Earth and our nation are in such an advanced state of emergency at this point, that bandaids just won’t cut it anymore. As I listened to this panel, I kept hoping there would be a Q&A session, but it never came. Quite unfortunate.
