WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, President Donald Trump continued his assault of regulatory independence by firing two Democratic Federal Trade Commissioners. This move is part of a broader pattern in which Trump is dismantling checks and balances in service of his billionaire backers and corporate allies.
In a video statement, fired FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya deftly called out how this ouster directly benefits Trump’s billionaire benefactors and their companies, noting:
“Right now, you cannot be thinking about me. You have to be thinking about the billionaires over Donald Trump’s shoulder at his inauguration. I am currently suing Amazon – in not one, but two lawsuits. I am enforcing a 20 year privacy consent decree against X. I am sitting as a judge in a matter where the FTC staff is trying to strengthen the privacy rules that apply to Meta. I am also sitting as a judge in a separate matter, in which FTC staff is alleging that pharmacy middle-men are illegally raising the price of insulin. Who is helped by this attempt to remove me? Is it people like you or is it the billionaires who have sent hundreds of millions of dollars into Donald Trump’s pockets? That is the question to ask right now.”
This firing is the latest in a long list of actions the Trump administration has taken to reorient government to strategically benefit billionaires. Tax the Greedy Billionaires is a new coalition joining a rising chorus calling out these dangerous actions and urging Congress to tax billionaires now to restore the balance of power in our society.
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