Podcasts about Accountable Capitalism Act

Sometimes a policy proposal comes along that is so bad, it has to be intellectually dismantled before it ever sees the light of day. Senator Elizabeth Warren is famous for such plans. Remember her mantra in the 2020 presidential campaign, “I've got a plan for that”? Thankfully, her [Accountable Capitalism Act](https://www.warren.senate.gov/download/accountable-capitalism-act-one-pager) – which would have ended capitalism as we know it – was rejected, along with her candidacy.But now Senator Warren is at it again. This time she is suggesting that inflation, and higher food prices in particular, are a result of "price gouging" by large grocery store companies. Her solution is to crack down on “Big Grocery” with antitrust legislation, claiming that chains like Kroger are earning monopoly profits while ordinary Americans pay the price. There's just one problem: grocery stores operate on razor-thin profit margins, and represent one of the most competitive markets around.Don Boudreaux alerted me to this story on his blog, Cafe Hayek, where I always start my day. He returned to the show to expose the fallacies at the heart of her proposal. Putting aside the more nuanced issue of price gouging (a topic I've covered with Don in the past), I couldn't let Warren's farcical claims about grocery store monopolies go unchallenged. We discussed whether the idea is born of ignorance, mendacity, or some combination of the two.

(1:27) - Start of interview(2:59) - Yumi's "origin story"(4:18) - Her start with Barclay's Global Investors (which was later acquired by BlackRock).(4:50) -  The lessons she learned working for the Stewardship team at BlackRock (2004-2018)Proxy Voting GroupBig change on engagement with companies started after financial crisis (2007-2009).Impact Dodd Frank Act (2010) - Say on Pay.(10:24) -  Her experience as Global Head of Corporate Governance at Alliance Bernstein (2018-2019).(13:29) - How do governance professionals (proxy voting teams) reconcile dissonances with portfolio managers.(15:17) - Her role at the NYC Office of the Comptroller’s Corporate Governance and Responsible Investment team. "It's hard for asset managers to be advocates, as opposed to asset owners such as the NYC pension funds."(19:29) - Her take on the SEC's new shareholder proposal rules and DOL's new rule shifting away from ESG.(25:09) - Her take on the increasing importance of institutional investors' voice on corporate governance, particularly the top 3-5 asset managers. Any antitrust risks on cross-holdings by institutional investors?(29:39) - Her predictions on how some of these regulations may change during a Biden Administration.(32:20) - Her take on the Boardroom Accountability Project 1.0 (2014) focused on Proxy Access.(35:56) - Her take on the Boardroom Accountability Project 2.0 (2017) focused on board diversity, matrix and refreshment.(39:03) - Her take on the Boardroom Accountability Project 3.0 (2019) calling on publicly-traded companies to adopt a policy requiring the consideration of both women and people of color for every open board seat and for CEO appointments, a version of the “Rooney Rule” pioneered by the NFL. ("at least 20 companies have adopted this practice, and this will continue.")(40:12) - Push on EEO-1 Reports (it's a type of CEO accountability project, "the majority of Fortune 100 companies currently disclose these reports or have committed to disclose them.")(42:59) - Her take on California's SB-876 and AB-979 laws on boardroom diversity.(44:49) - Her opinion on the BRT restatement of the purpose of the corporation (2019).Her involvement with The Test of Corporate Purpose Initiative.What are the quantitative measures or data that can analyze these metrics on corporate purpose?(48:10) - Her thoughts on whether we will ever see employees elect corporate directors per Elizabeth Warren's proposed Accountable Capitalism Act (2018)(49:29) - Her favorite books:East of Eden, by John Steinbeck (1952)Works by Michel Foucalt (studies on biopower and other theories of power)The Happiness Industry, by William Davies (2015)(50:43) - Her mentor was her late grandmother who taught her that "as a woman, you can always take care of yourself and you should ensure your own financial stability, if possible."(51:29) - Lessons from 2020: "You have to live your life today - time is more important than money."(52:36) - The experience of living in NYC under COVID-19.(54:51) - The living person she most admires: Laura Nader. "You have to dress conservatively if you're going to have extremely revolutionary ideas."Yumi Narita is the Executive Director of Corporate Governance at the Comptroller's Office of New York City. The Comptroller serves as investment advisor, custodian, and a trustee to the New York City Pension Funds, which hold approximately $228 billion in assets. In her role as Executive Director, Ms. Narita is responsible for developing and implementing active ownership programs for public equities, including voting proxies, engaging portfolio companies on their ESG policies and practices, and advocating for regulatory reforms to protect investors and strengthen investor rights. Ms. Narita has 16 years of experience in the ESG industry. Prior to this role, she was the Global Head of Corporate Governance at Alliance Bernstein, and Vice President on the BlackRock Stewardship team.Follow Evan on Twitter @evanepsteinMusic/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

The Federal Reserve was originally set up to be America's development bank. But somehow along the way, it lost its course. Join us as we chat with Professor Bob Hockett about his ideas on returning the Fed to its roots so we can go back to investing in all of America.---Professor Hockett is the author of Financing the Green New Deal: A Plan of Action and Renewal and Money From Nothing: Or, Why We Should Stop Worrying About Debt and Learn to Love the Federal Reserve. He is the Edward Cornell Professor of Law at Cornell Law School, Professor of Public Affairs at Cornell University, and Regular Visiting Professor of Finance at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business. He teaches, writes, publishes and advises in the fields of Enterprise-Organizational and Financial & Monetary Law and Economics, among other fields. He has advanced degrees in Law, Economics, Philosophy, and Finance. He is also Senior Counsel at Westwood Capital, a boutique investment bank in New York City and a Director of both the Public Banking Institute and the Digital Fiat Currency Institute. In the latter connection, his Inclusive Value Ledger (‘IVL’) proposal, which would institute a public digital payments platform and associated system of digital wallets and currency at any ‘level’ of government that adopted it, is under consideration by the New York State Senate and Assembly. And his Digital Greenbacks proposal, which would function as a Treasury-administered IVL at the national level, is under consideration in both Houses of the US Congress. Hockett has previously worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the International Monetary Fund (twice), clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and is a Fellow of New Consensus and The Century Foundation and a Commissioned Author for the New America Foundation. He has also frequently consulted for and testified before the U.S. Congress (Senate Banking and House Financial Services in particular) and consulted for multiple government instrumentalities at the federal, state, and local levels, including the Fed, the Treasury, and the Financial Stability Oversight Council. Most recently he has helped draft multiple pieces of high-profile legislation for each of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, and U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In policy circles he is probably best known for helping develop the Green New Deal white paper and finance plan for Representative Ocasio-Cortez; the Public Housing Green New Deal Act for Representative Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Sanders; the Loan Shark Prevention Act for Senator Sanders and Representative Ocasio-Cortez; the Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Exist Act, the STOP Walmart Act, and the Corporate Democracy Plan for Senator Sanders; the Stop Excessive CEO Pay Act for Senator Sanders and Representatives Lee and Tlaib; the Accountable Capitalism Act for Senator Warren, and the eminent domain plan for underwater mortgages adopted by many U.S. cities after the financial crashes of 2008-09.

Last year Elizabeth Warren proposed the controversial Accountable Capitalism Act. One of its most talked about proposals was focused on "codetermination." Kate & Luigi explain how it works, its effectiveness and examine one country that's been trying it out since the 1950s.

I was careful not to be too dour in my “Progress Report for Liberty: 2018,” noting that many subtle victories for liberty were achieved at the state level while the vitriol of national politics raged around us like a storm. Classical liberals should be cheerful about the ongoing reforms to our drug laws, the forward march of technology, and some notably positive developments in the Supreme Court (including the landmark decision of Janus v. AFSCME).However, I also noted the frightful prospect of a national political scene in which Elizabeth Warren scores points for proposing full-on socialism sneakily disguised as the “Accountable Capitalism Act.” John O. McGinnis, the George C. Dix Professor in Constitutional Law and author of Originalism And The Good Constitution (among other books), has an even more pessimistic take in his recap article, 2018: A Gathering Storm for Classical Liberalism.He notes, first, the ominous trend toward populism, and the popularity of politicians like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who promise to “protect” Americans from the very same forces of competition and free-market dynamism that have built America into the most prosperous nation on earth.Second, although President Trump has ostensibly done some good for free markets, his persona has contributed to what Gene Healy calls “the Cult of the Presidency,” and placed government right at the center of American social life. Based on these dual forces, McGinnis forecasts a gathering storm, in which aggrandizement of the state acts as the engine for a future collectivist revival.McGinnis joined me this Sunday to discuss how the President's recent emergency declaration sets a dangerous precedent for future administrations. Your calls are welcome on the show of ideas, not attitude:

A deeper look into presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren's ACA, a brief Sam Seder response, and some thoughts. Brookings Institute study: https://www.brookings.edu/book/creating-an-opportunity-society/ Listen on YouTube, too! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAee-hPxOP4XHPqasYE_gpQ Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/getinformedgirl Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getinformedgirl Please spread the word and support!

In Episode 04 of Zero Gravity Media's Random Walk, Robert and Luke pick up where the HSP boys left off with Elizabeth Warren's Accountable Capitalism Act. It's fair to say she'll likely be including this as a part of her platform in her bid for presidency, and thus it's important to debunk this nonsense now.

Stands With A Beer announced her candidacy for President. She also hates corporations. Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez put forth the bold, new idea that Donald Trump is racist. Though dishonesty is one of many possible preconditions for being wrong, it leaves little room for coincidence. How predictable today's left is. Russ and Luke kick off Episode 21 with a discussion of the Yellow Vest Protests. Specifically, they discuss the odd, celebratory protest that it has become. After the protests, they discuss Warren's bill, which she released back in August. The bill is entitled the "Accountable Capitalism Act". This is a truly atrocious bill, and thus, you'll be hearing about this from both HSP and Random Walk this week. In a division of labor, HSP will cover the politics, and Random Walk will cover the philosophy. Other topics include the Budget bill, a confused Pelosi, Democrat infighting, Bernie pre-cucked, an innocent Flynn, and the Hackening. One topic in particular which needs to be discussed to AOC's "The Green New Deal". Let us not equivocate: The Green New Deal is the most anti-human life, anti-wealth, pro-poverty, pro-destruction, pro-misery piece of legislation that has ever been put forth since the actual New Deal, and perhaps the history of the United States. Make no mistake: No industry, no job, no product, no service--no American--by necessity of what The Green New Deal is--will remain unscathed. After a thorough triggering, they get into a Grab Bag Special: Trump's Press Conference. Enjoy, Dear Listener. Topics covered in order: • Elizabeth Warren's presidency • Shutdown for years • Budget Bill • Pelosi confused • Democrat infighting • The Green New Deal • Bernie Precucked • Flynn not guilty • The Hackening Trump Press Conference

Axios recently opined that: Be it guns or global warming, a fascinating trend is unfolding in the Trump era: Corporations, under intense social pressure, are filling a void left bygovernmental gridlock or avoidance. (emphasis added) … [t]his phenomenon is inspired not by the pure benevolence of corporations. Instead, it’s intense pressure from social media mobs … Seeking a remedy to the “governmental gridlock,” Senator Elizabeth Warren introduced the Accountable Capitalism Act,which would seem to codify political government involvement in what has historically been viewed as the exercise of free market capitalism by U.S. based business entities. Charles Elson and Mark Nance join us to discuss this trend and what the law regarding a board’s duty to stakeholders is and should be. Featuring: Charles Elson, the Edgar S. Woolard, Jr., Chair in Corporate Governance and the director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. Mark Nance, Senior Vice President and Global General Counsel for Mylan N.V Teleforum calls are open to all dues paying members of the Federalist Society. To become a member, sign up here. As a member, you should receive email announcements of upcoming Teleforum calls which contain the conference call phone number. If you are not receiving those email announcements, please contact us at 202-822-8138.

Axios recently opined that: Be it guns or global warming, a fascinating trend is unfolding in the Trump era: Corporations, under intense social pressure, are filling a void left bygovernmental gridlock or avoidance. (emphasis added) … [t]his phenomenon is inspired not by the pure benevolence of corporations. Instead, it’s intense pressure from social media mobs … Seeking a remedy to the “governmental gridlock,” Senator Elizabeth Warren introduced the Accountable Capitalism Act,which would seem to codify political government involvement in what has historically been viewed as the exercise of free market capitalism by U.S. based business entities. Charles Elson and Mark Nance join us to discuss this trend and what the law regarding a board’s duty to stakeholders is and should be. Featuring: Charles Elson, the Edgar S. Woolard, Jr., Chair in Corporate Governance and the director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. Mark Nance, Senior Vice President and Global General Counsel for Mylan N.V Teleforum calls are open to all dues paying members of the Federalist Society. To become a member, sign up here. As a member, you should receive email announcements of upcoming Teleforum calls which contain the conference call phone number. If you are not receiving those email announcements, please contact us at 202-822-8138.

Sam Hammond is a policy analyst and covers topics in poverty and welfare for the Niskanen Center. Sam is a previous guest on Macro Musings, and he joins the show today to talk about his new article in National Review which addresses Senator Elizabeth Warren’s new proposal, the Accountable Capitalism Act, and its potentially negative effects. David and Sam also discuss the problematic stereotypes surrounding ‘corporate bigness’, the positive and negative features of co-determination, and why we need universal safety nets. Sam’s Twitter: @hamandcheese Sam’s Medium profile: https://medium.com/@hamandcheese Related Links: *Elizabeth Warren’s Corporate Catastrophe* by Sam Hammond https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/08/elizabeth-warren-accountable-capitalism-act-terrible-idea/ *Big is Beautiful: Debunking the Myth of Small Business* by Robert Atkinson and Michael Lind https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/big-beautiful *Concentration in US Labor Markets: Evidence from Online Vacancy Data* by Ioana Marinescu, Marshall Steinbaum, Bledi Taska & Jose Azar https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3133344 David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Wes, Anurag, Matthew, and Nick split hairs and babies over Elizabeth Warren’s new “Accountable Capitalism Act.” We cover the bill’s main provision in the context of the free market system as a whole and discuss if economics even matters for... Read More ›

Political prognosticators often look at independent, unaffiliated voters for clues about the likely outcomes of upcoming elections. The Civitas Institute recently polled unaffiliated N.C. voters. Rick Henderson, Carolina Journal editor-in-chief, analyzes the poll’s findings. He discusses how the numbers could affect key elections and the fate of proposed constitutional amendments. A Winston-Salem surgeon is challenging state certificate-of-need restrictions that block him from buying an MRI machine. Dr. Gajendra Singh says the machine would help him provide MRI services for patients at a lower price than they would pay at a nearby hospital. You’ll hear highlights from a recent news conference with Singh and Institute for Justice attorneys. IJ is helping Singh challenge the state CON law in court. Among the recent honors for the late U.S. Sen. John McCain is one you might not have expected. Democratic N.C. Sen. Erica Smith praised the longtime Republican U.S. senator and GOP presidential nominee during a speech in the state Legislative Building. Smith used McCain’s words to urge her Democratic and Republican colleagues to do a better job working together. Silent Sam has filled recent headlines, but that Confederate statue at UNC-Chapel Hill is not the only monument generating controversy on college campuses. Shannon Watkins, policy associate at the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, shares her concerns about recent debates involving the future of campus monuments. A leading Democratic U.S. senator is promoting legislation dubbed the Accountable Capitalism Act. Roy Cordato, John Locke Foundation senior economist, highlights flaws in Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s proposal. Cordato explains that capitalism already holds businesses accountable without government intrusion.

Just a few weeks ago, the media was fawning over Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and her youthful makeover of tired socialist ideas. Not to be outdone, Elizabeth Warren penned an essay in the Wall Street Journal introducing a modest proposal to completely remake capitalism as we know it. Her Accountable Capitalism Act would create an “Office of United States Corporations inside the Department of Commerce,” requiring any corporation with revenue over $1 billion to obtain a federal charter. These charters would force businesses to vest decision-making authority in a variety of “stakeholders” that would include the company's workers and other vaguely-defined groups in the communities affected by the company.It would seem like old-fashioned socialism hasn't gone completely out of style if Matt Yglesias' fawning coverage at Vox is any indicator of this kind of plan's popularity with left-leaning Americans. Yglesias writes:“As much as Warren's proposal is about ending inequality, it's also about saving capitalism.”Putting aside the fact that Warren is likely using this to position herself as the hard-left favorite for the 2020 presidential election, it's worth examining what such a policy would actually mean for businesses and working people in the United States. A full analysis would require both a legal scholar and an economist. Fortunately, Professor Richard A. Epstein of the Hoover Institution and NYU's School of Law joined The Bob Zadek Show to explain how Elizabeth Warren's Surreptitious Socialism threatens the foundations of our (mostly) free economy.The most sinister aspect of Warren's proposal is its surface appeal. Giving workers and community members a greater share alongside shareholders and the board of directors seems like a nice way to orient a corporation around goals nobler than a mere profit motive. But as Epstein points out, the way the bill is defined, anyone could claim to be a stakeholder — even a firm's competitors. Take away the forces of free competition and you kill the engine of prosperity.That's far from the only problem. In a global economy, where corporations have a choice of where to do business, such a law would send capital fleeing to other countries to avoid the burdensome compliance costs, which would predominantly be driven by political rather than social or economic concerns.As Milton Friedman explained decades ago, the profit-motive harnessed within a functioning legal system is all that's required for both the individual and collective good to be maximized. Warren's plan to “save” capitalism would conveniently align corporate interests with her own political interests. While she may not wish to turn the U.S. into North Korea overnight, it's a slippery slope from her Accountable Capitalism Act to full-blown socialism.For a full discussion of the long list of errors and economic fallacies Warren makes in her piece, tune into the show of ideas — not attitude.

Senator Warren has proposed sweeping changes to how corporations would be allowed to operate in the United States -- no longer will they cater to stockholders only, but they will have to take into account the needs of a wide range of "stakeholders" (workers, communities, etc.). Special guests Gene Epstein and Peter Klein join Tom. Show notes for Ep. 153

The Accountable Capitalism Act would deliver neither accountability nor capitalism.

The Accountable Capitalism Act Elizabeth Warren unveiled her new idea in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal.  It is her new bill, called the Accountable Capitalism Act.  Of course, I have said this before, there is no truth in advertising when it comes to legislation. Whenever Congress passes a bill, the name of the bill is generally the opposite of what the bill actually does. So if they pass a bill called, "Tax Simplification", that means that they just complicated the tax code. But nobody wants to vote for a bill that's called "Tax Complication", so you can't label it "Tax Complication" when that's what we're doing, so you label it Simplification so everybody will like it. This is All About Socialism That's what Elizabeth Warren is doing in her Accountable Capitalism Act.  This is not about Capitalism. This is about Socialism. The idea here is that Capitalism is not accountable, and so this act is going to hold Capitalism accountable. In reality, capitalism holds everybody accountable. Under a Capitalist system, everybody is accountable for their own actions.  If you screw up, then you have to suffer the consequences. If you make a mistake, it's on you.  If your business fails, there's not bail-out. Capitalism is the Ultimate in Accountability So Capitalism is the ultimate in accountability. It's fair and everybody is held accountable for their own decisions and their own actions.  What Elizabeth Warren wants to do is to take that accountability away.  She wants to have the government get in there and take away the accountability inherent in the Capitalist system. The Socialist Un-Accountability Act Not only is the act mislabeled, it is actually the Socialist Un-Accountability Act. It wants to take people who would normally be accountable and make them unaccountable. It's all Socialism wrapped up in a Capitalist bow. What she wants to do is: She wants to force corporations with over $1 billion in revenue, regardless of their profit, to appoint at least 40% of their board from the ranks of their workers She wants to re-install the stakeholder accountability that existed until the 1980's Warren: Profits have Screwed Up the Country I read the op-ed and I listened to her interview with Kramer on CNBC and according to Elizabeth Warren's revisionist version of American History, corporations cared about their stakeholders, meaning their employees, customers, communities up until the 1980's. Then all of a sudden, in the 1980's, everything changed. All of a sudden, it was all about profits. It was all about maximizing shareholder value.  And that's what screwed up the country.,

Thom's gives his take on Elizabeth Warren's Accountable Capitalism Act, the detrimental impact of Ronald Reagan, and protecting military service members from predatory financial practices. Listeners respond, and pose questions on tariffs, public education, and the plus side of abandoning civilization. Economist Richard Wolff explains the real underlying crisis in Turkey is one of debt and an international business cycle failing over from boom to bust. Bob Ney of Talk Media News catches us up with the ongoing setup for a possible showdown with Trump. And Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. explains the case he recently led that resulted in a recognition that Monsanto's weed-killer Roundup is carcinogenic. Lastly, Thom advises a listener why they need to think more deeply about the issue of health insurance.