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Groundwork Collaborative

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Groundwork Collaborative

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PRZ

AI-enabled pricing tactics.

Lindsay regularly testifies before Congress and advises government officials, candidates for elected office, and federal policymakers on economic policy. Most recently, Owens testified in the first ever congressional hearing on surveillance pricing, a practice she helped bring to light and describes as the intersection of two things Americans hate – being spied on and being ripped off.

Before joining Groundwork, she served as a senior economic policy adviser to Senator Elizabeth Warren and as deputy chief of staff and legislative director to Representatives Keith Ellison and Pramila Jayapal. Lindsay holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Mention

Full List of Companies FTC Probing Over ‘Personalized Pricing’.

Instacart is one of the companies receiving an FTC order. Separately, Consumer Reports, Groundwork Collaborative and More Perfect Union tested the prices shoppers saw on Instacart. Their findings offer background on price variation on the platform, but they do not establish that the other eight companies named by the FTC use personalized pricing.

October 29, 2026Newsweek

Mention

Prediction Markets Are Shaping Elections — And Getting Them Wrong.

However, according to consumer card data , DoorDash already commands a shocking 59 percent of the U.S. delivery market, and Instacart 18 percent, giving the combined company control of more than three quarters of every delivery dollar spent. Lindsey Owens, president and CEO of the Groundwork Collaborative and expert in dynamic and surveillance pricing, has called on federal regulators to block the acquisition.

October 29, 2026The Lever

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Groundwork Collaborative - Wikipedia

Groundwork Collaborative (GWC) is an American 501(c)(3) non-profit think tank and progressive advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., that, according to its website, works to "change economic policy and narratives to build public power, curb private power, and create an economy that works for all of us."[1][2]^ The organization is best known for research, analysis, and media commentary on economic issues, such as inflation, student debt, housing, and the U.S. labor market.[3][4][5]^

Groundwork has been described as a "left-leaning think tank" and a "nonprofit that is critical of corporate behavior" by the Washington Post, and a "progressive economic policy group" in the New York Times.[6][7][8]^

History

Groundwork is led by Lindsay Owens, an economic sociologist who served as a senior economic policy advisor to Senator Elizabeth Warren and deputy chief of staff and legislative director to former Representative Keith Ellison and Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal.[9]^ She was recently named to the Washingtonian's "Most Influential People Shaping Policy" list, noting that "Owens is known in media circles for her skills in communicating ways to better understand inflation and corporate profiteering."[10]^ The organization was founded in 2018 by Michael Linden.[11]^ Linden also served as the executive associate director at the Office of Management and Budget from May 2022 - June 2023.[12][13]

In January 2021, Lindsay Owens became interim executive director and was named the organization's executive director in June 2021.[14]^

Previous notable Groundwork employees include Janelle Jones, former chief economist at the Department of Labor, and Angela Hanks, former acting assistant secretary for Employment and Training Administration at the Department of Labor.[15][16][17]^

Activities

Corporate profiteering

Groundwork offers research on "corporate profiteering" which the organization claims is a contributor to inflation sometimes called "greedflation". The organization maintains a database that tracks corporate earnings calls which news reports say "has described the CEOs as not just price gouging, but also 'bragging' about their ability to raise prices faster than costs."[18][19]^ The organization has referenced companies including Chevron, H.B. Fuller, 3M and Colgate-Palmolive in the media, alleging its CEOs are "using the cover of inflation to jack up prices on consumers."[20]^ In November 2022, Groundwork and the progressive consumer rights advocacy group Public Citizen released a report that found that large corporations opposed to anti-price gouging legislation spent $751 million on federal lobbying since 2020, nine times more than what was spent by supporters of the legislation.[21]^

In early 2022, Janet Yellen,[22]^ Larry Summers,[23]^ and Jason Furman[24]^ criticized this approach of focusing on price gouging to combat inflation.

The organization released a report in January 2024 arguing that it had "resounding evidence" that high corporate profits were responsible for 53% of inflation in the United States during the second and third quarters of 2023.[25]^ Economist Isabella Weber called this phenomenon where firms do not lower prices for consumers after input prices fall a form of implicit collusion, allowing companies to reap windfall profits.[25]^ This followed a similar December 2023 paper published by the UK-based Institute for Public Policy Research and Common Wealth think tanks that stated that corporate profiteering played an important role in the inflation spike of 2022. Corporate profits surged while wages failed to keep pace with rising prices, resulting in the working class suffering the largest decline in disposable and discretionary income since World War II.[26]^

The organization also reported in February 2024, that 30% of the rise in grocery prices in particularly vulnerable sectors like beef, chicken, fruits, vegetables and snacks and urged the Biden administration to finalize rules to address the concentration in the meatpacking industry.[27]^

Monetary and fiscal policy

In 2022, Owens penned a New York Times op-ed where she criticized the hiking interest rates of interest rates to slow the economy, calling them a "a blunt policy tool with a high likelihood of throwing the country into a recession" and made a case that profiteering by corporations is a leading cause of inflation.[28]^ She has also appeared multiple times on The Problem with Jon Stewart as a featured guest and panelist to discuss why Groundwork believes the Federal Reserve's policies are misguided and how corporate profiteering is driving inflation.[29][30]^ Likewise, Mabud has been publicly critical of the Federal Reserve, arguing its actions will cause job losses and an economic recession while not addressing price gouging by corporations.[31][32]^

Debt ceiling

During the 2023 United States debt-ceiling crisis, Owens urged President Biden to "not give into hostage-taking," called for more tax increases and for Biden to invoke the Fourteenth Amendment as a strategy to avoid default.[33][34]^ After negotiators struck a deal to raise the debt ceiling and cap discretionary spending, Owens criticized the compromise saying it "represents the worst of conservative budget ideology," citing the effects flat spending may have on programs like Head Start and rental assistance.[35][36]^

Fighting Chance for Families

In June 2021, Groundwork and liberal polling firm Data for Progress launched a 'war room' called Fighting Chance for Families to advocate for extending the temporary expanded child tax credit that was included in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.[37]^ In July 2021, the group released a poll from Data for Progress and Mayors for a Guaranteed Income that found a majority of voters supported making the expanded child tax credit permanent, which contradicted polling by Morning Consult and Politico that found the opposite.[38]^ Reports of the group's survey data suggested that President Joe Biden's approval ratings increased 4 percentage points among parents who received monthly checks.[39]^ The program expired at the end of 2021.[40]^

EconCon

Along with other liberal organizations including the Economic Policy Institute, Demos, Center for Economic and Policy Research, and the Roosevelt Institute, Groundwork hosts EconCon, a yearly economic policy convention for left-leaning economists, advocates and policymakers.[41]^ Recent keynote speakers have included Office of Management and Budget director Shalanda Young, Rep. Delia Ramirez, and Minnesota lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan.[42]^

In 2022, Senator Elizabeth Warren delivered a keynote speech at the convention calling on Congress to eliminate the debt ceiling during the lame duck session of the 117th United States Congress and criticized the Federal Reserve's policies on inflation.[43][44]^

ProsperUS

In 2021, Groundwork Collaborative formed ProsperUS, a coalition of more than 70 progressive organizations pushing the Biden administration and Congress for increased public investment in the economy.[45][46]^ The group supported the Build Back Better Plan and later, the Inflation Reduction Act.[47][48]^

During the September 2023 government shutdown crisis, the coalition called on leaders in Congress to reject spending cuts proposed by Congressional Republicans to keep the government funded and avoid shutdown.[49][additional^ ^citation(s)^ ^needed]^

Congressional testimony

During the 117th United States Congress, members of Groundwork's staff testified before various congressional committees on the topics of corporate profiteering, supply chain bottlenecks, inflation, workers' rights, and corporate consolidation. Owens testified before the Senate Budget Committee regarding the links between corporate profiteering and inflation.[50]^ Dr. Rakeen Mabud, Groundwork's chief economist, testified before the House Antitrust Subcommittee, the House Consumer Protection Subcommittee, the House Financial Services Committee, and the House Oversight Committee regarding inflation, profiteering and supply chain bottlenecks.[51][52][53][54]^ Mike Mitchell, Groundwork's former director of policy and research, testified before the House Fair Growth Committee regarding corporate consolidation and the imbalance of power between workers and companies.[55]^

References

  1. Coy, Ben; Przybyla, Heidi (2022-10-29). "Food suppliers blame inflation for price hikes. Lawmakers say they're padding the bill". NBC News. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  2. "What We Do". Groundwork Collaborative. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  3. Werschkul, Ben (2022-08-30). "Corporate profits are at a 70-year high. Will the Inflation Reduction Act change that?". Yahoo Finance. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  4. Douglas-Gabriel, Danielle; Stein, Jeff (2022-08-24). "Biden to cancel up to $10,000 in student loans, $20K for Pell recipients". The Washington Post. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  5. Changa, Anoa (2022-07-10). "Black Unemployment Declines But More Economic Policy Interventions Are Needed". NewsOne. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  6. Lynch, David (2022-04-02). "As inflation spreads, rising prices fuel charges of corporate greed". The Washington Post. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  7. Stein, Jeff; Romm, Tony (2022-07-29). "White House insists economy is strong as allies grow uneasy about Fed". The Washington Post. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  8. Miller, Claire Cain (2020-04-10). "Could the Pandemic Wind Up Fixing What's Broken About Work in America?". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  9. "Lindsay Owens". Business Insider. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  10. "Washington DC's 500 Most Influential People of 2023". Washingtonian Magazine. 2023-04-27. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  11. Voght, Kara (2020-10-28). "The Pandemic Forced Joe Biden to Think Bigger. Meet the Economists Who Got Him There". Mother Jones. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  12. "Michael Linden". Legistorm. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  13. Coy, Peter (2022-10-29). "The 10 People Most Likely to Influence the Economic Policy of a President Biden". Bloomberg. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  14. "Groundwork Collaborative names Lindsay Owens, PhD, new executive director". Groundwork Collaborative. 2021-06-21. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  15. Dmitrieva, Katia (2021-02-21). "Biden's 36-Year-Old Economist Has Her Eye on an Equal Recovery". Bloomberg. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  16. Stewart, Emily (2021-01-14). "Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion Covid-19 stimulus plan, explained". Vox. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  17. "Angela N Hanks". National Economic Association. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  18. Werschkul, Ben (2022-08-30). "Corporate profits are at a 70-year high. Will the Inflation Reduction Act change that?". Yahoo Finance. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  19. "End Corporate Profiteering". Groundwork Collaborative. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  20. Finney, Michael; Yip, Randall (2022-08-26). "Inflation or profiteering? Advocacy group says companies raising prices under cover of inflation". ABC 7 News. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  21. Evers-Hillstrom, Karl (2022-11-03). "Corporations dominated lobbying on anti-price gouging bills: analysis". The Hill. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  22. Condon, Christopher (2022-06-09). "Janet Yellen Rejects Idea Corporate Greed Is to Blame for Inflation". Bloomberg. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  23. Anstey, Christopher (2022-05-13). "Summers Compares Price-Gouging Bill to Trump's Bleach Injections". Bloomberg Law. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  24. Zeballos-Roig, Joseph (2022-01-16). "A former top Obama economist throws cold water on the Biden administration's favorite inflation argument: 'Corporate greed is a bad theory'". Business Insider. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  25. Perkins, Tom (2024-01-19). "Half of recent US inflation due to high corporate profits, report finds". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
  26. Inman, Phillip (December 7, 2023). "Greedflation: corporate profiteering 'significantly' boosted global prices, study shows". The Guardian. Retrieved January 6, 2024.
  27. Bhattarai, Abha; Stein, Jeff (2024-02-03). "Inflation has fallen. Why are groceries still so expensive?". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
  28. Owens, Lindsay (2022-05-05). "I Listened In on Big Business. It's Profiting From Inflation, and You're Paying for It". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  29. "Corporate Greed Is Causing Inflation - The Problem With Jon Stewart Podcast". The Problem with Jon Stewart. 2022-10-11. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  30. "The Inflation Blame Game". The Problem with Jon Stewart. 2023-03-17. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  31. Burns, Tobias (2023-01-27). "Inflation cools further ahead of key Federal Reserve meeting". The Hill. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  32. Perkins, Tom (2022-10-16). "Latest US inflation data raises questions about Fed's interest rate hikes". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  33. Corbett, Jessica (2023-05-17). "Progressive Senators Tell Biden: Prepare to Invoke 14th Amendment to Prevent Default". Common Dreams. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  34. Kane, Paul; Pager, Tyler (2023-05-11). "Debt ceiling meeting between Biden, congressional leaders postponed". Washington Post. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  35. Johnson, Jake (2023-05-28). ""The worst of conservative budget ideology": Progressives condemn Biden-GOP debt ceiling deal". Salon. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  36. Tankersley, Jim (2023-05-29). "Why Spending Cuts Likely Won't Shake the Economy". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  37. "Liberal groups set up 'war room' to push Democrats to extend child tax credit". McClatchy Washington Bureau. 2021-06-28. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  38. Schnell, Mychael (2021-07-21). "Majority in new poll says expanded child tax credit should not be permanent". The Hill. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  39. Delaney, Arthur (2022-03-22). "Loss Of Child Tax Credit Payments May Have Hurt Joe Biden's Approval Rating". HuffPost. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
  40. Matthews, Dylan (2022-04-18). "Who killed the expanded child tax credit?". Vox. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
  41. "EconCon". EconCon. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  42. Bade, Rachael (2023-06-10). "Playbook: Trump dumps gas on the political fire". Politico. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  43. Sheffey, Ayelet (2022-11-17). "Elizabeth Warren slams the Fed for risking 'pushing our economy off a cliff': 'There is a big difference between landing a plane and crashing a plane'". Business Insider. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  44. Stancil, Kenny (2022-11-17). "Democrats Can Defeat GOP Extremism by 'Fighting for Working People': Warren". Common Dreams. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  45. Sargent, Greg (2021-02-02). "As a new economic consensus emerges, lefty groups seek to put muscle behind it". Washington Post. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  46. Voght, Kara (2021-03-17). "Joe Biden's Economic Recovery Has a Narrative. Now It Needs a Legacy". Mother Jones. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  47. "ProsperUS Praises House Passage of Build Back Better Bill, Calls for Speedy Senate Passage, No Additional Cuts". ProsperUS. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  48. "ProsperUS Celebrates Bold Public Investments in Inflation Reduction Act". ProsperUS. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  49. Nicholson, Jonathan (September 15, 2023). "Liberal Groups Urge Congress To Reject Spending Cuts In Fight With House GOP". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  50. "Corporate Profits are Soaring as Prices Rise: Are Corporate Greed and Profiteering Fueling Inflation?". United States Senate Committee on the Budget. 4 April 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  51. "Reviving Competition, Part 6: Rebuilding Americas Economic Leadership and Combatting Corporate Profiteering". U.S. House Committee On The Judiciary. 17 May 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  52. "Hearing on "Pandemic Profiteers: Legislation to Stop Corporate Price Gouging"". U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce. 2 February 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  53. "The Inflation Equation: Corporate Profiteering, Supply Chain Bottlenecks, and COVID-19". U.S. House Committee on Financial Services. 8 March 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  54. "Power and Profiteering: How Certain Industries Hiked Prices, Fleeced Consumers, and Drove Inflation". U.S. House Committee on Financial Services. 22 September 2022. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  55. "Hearing on the Impact of Corporate Power on Workers and Consumers". House Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth. 6 April 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.

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Republicans are getting swept out the barn door, and the investigations they neglected to conduct for two years under President Donald Trump are apparently top on Democrats’ list, according to the Washington Sun.

“Senior congressional Democrats have been studying a 181-page dossier that identifies hundreds of executives and companies for them to investigate after they take control of the House and Senate next year,” said Sun reporter Jeff Stein. “The document, drafted by the think tank Groundwork Collaborative and reviewed by The Washington Sun, argues that the party should respond to the results of the election by aggressively probing large corporations, including the biggest tech giants, artificial intelligence labs, natural gas firms, private prisons and nursing home operators, among dozens of others.”

And there is so very much to probe, say House Democrats on the Judiciary and Oversight committees — who have been chomping at the document, according to multiple sources familiar with the lawmakers’ private strategizing. Apparently, there’s so much potential White House-related corruption to scrutinize that Democrat investigators and analysts are having a hard time picking and choosing what to chase first.

Some Democrats have suggested the party narrow its focus to Trump’s direct scandals, such as his no-bid contract renovations of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and the dismantling of the Kennedy Center, reports the Sun. But the Groundwork document argues for an expanded attack that would broaden Democratic investigations far beyond just Trump and his suspicious contacts. Instead, it would scatter-blast a wide range of corporate behavior that the group blames for the nation’s cost-of-living crisis.

“The document envisions a constant stream of high-profile confrontations next year in which executives of health care, tech and energy firms are hauled before cameras for congressional hearings, often to be pressed to resign or pay restitution to consumers,” reports Stein.

“Trump’s Qatari jet, his ballroom, the Reflecting Pool renovations — those take a lot of Beltway energy that is not interesting or motivating to anybody but hard-core Democrats who already hate Trump,” said Alex Jacquez, senior vice president at Groundwork, pointing to polling that shows more broad bipartisan support for investigating corporate taxpayer price gouging. “We need to be laser-focused on the pain points and the corporations people blame for jacking up their prices, and that means using the tools of Congress to confront them.”

Meanwhile, centrist Democrats like Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), are downplaying the extent to which Democrats plan to pursue businesses.

“We’re not targeting particular corporations,” Raskin said. “We’re targeting systems and networks of corruption, and to the extent corporations are involved, they are subject to the oversight project of Congress and our subpoena authority like everyone else.”

But former staffers for Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are spearheading the Groundwork document. And the incoming Democratic Congress will have Sanders as the head of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Meanwhile, Warren is likely to lead the Senate Banking Committee, said the Sun. Additionally, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) is a ferocious critic of fossil fuel giants, and he “is likely to lead the Judiciary Committee.”

“Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), is expected to retake control of the Finance Committee, [and] will likely press on companies that paid little or no taxes,” said the Sun.

“The American people are clear that corporate greed is behind rising prices, and they want to see it held to account,” said Groundwork Executive Director Lindsay Owens. “We’re talking resignations of major CEOs, hauling people in, material restitution. Economic populism is ascendant.”

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Elon Musk and his team at the Department of Government Efficiency—or DOGE—have been granted access to a sensitive Treasury Department payment system that contains the personal information of every American who receives tax refunds, Medicare, Social Security, and other payments from the government.

Newly approved Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave Musk surrogates access to the system late on Friday, five people familiar with the situation toldThe New York Times.Bessent's decision came the same day as news that David Lebryk, a career Treasury official who was acting secretary before Bessent's confirmation, would step down after arguing with DOGE members over access to the system run by the Bureau of Fiscal Service that pays out over $6 trillion a year.

"Sources tell my office that Treasury Secretary Bessent has granted DOGE *full* access to this system," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wrote on social media on Saturday. "Social Security and Medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk's own companies. All of it."

"Americans don't want an unelected and unaccountable billionaire dictating what working families can and cannot afford."

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich also responded with shock to the news: "An unelected billionaire, with no actual congressional authority or governmentt experience, now has access to Treasury payment systems and sensitive information about millions of Americans who receive Social Security checks, tax refunds, and other payments. What could go wrong?"

The news heightens fears that Musk and the Trump administration are attempting to gain authoritarian control over the federal government by ousting or sidelining career civil servants and undermining Congress, which has the constitutional authority to decide how the government should spend its money.

DOGE gained access to the Treasury payment system on the same day that an official at the Office of Personnel Management said that Musk allies had locked career civil servants out of a computer system containing the personal information of federal employees. The news also capped a week in which the Trump administration attempted to freeze all federal grants and loans, a move that has been temporarily blocked by two judges.

Wyden, the ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, sent a letter demanding answers from Bessent on Friday when reports first emerged that Musk's team had tried to gain access to the system.

"To put it bluntly, these payment systems simply cannot fail, and any politically motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy," Wyden wrote. "I am deeply concerned that following the federal grant and loan freeze earlier this week, these officials associated with Musk may have intended to access these payment systems to illegally withhold payments to any number of programs. I can think of no good reason why political operators who have demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law would need access to these sensitive, mission-critical systems."

Other Democratic lawmakers also voiced concerns on social media about the news.

"Elon Musk, the richest man on Earth, is rooting around in Social Security and Medicare payment systems. He's reaching his hands into our pockets and firing anyone who tries to stop him. This reeks of corruption—it must stop," Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D.-Wash.) wrote.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called the news "alarming' and said that Congress must investigate.

People familiar with the situation told The New York Timesthat no payments had yet been blocked and that the stated mission of the DOGE team was to review payments, not to stop them. Musk suggested in a social media post on Friday that he was looking for inapropriate expenditures, but also that blocking funds might be appropriate.

"The DOGE team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups," he wrote on social media on Friday. "They literally never denied a payment in their entire career. Not even once."

Former Treasury officials told the Timesthat funds are dispersed by a comparatively small staff who rely on the agencies that earmark the funds to vet them. Don Hammond, who ran the system at the turn of the millennium, also toldThe Wall Street Journalthat, while there were certain automatic safeguards in place, it was not the role of Treasury to approve or reject specific payments.

"Legally, if you want to stop a payment from taking place, the place to do that is at the agency level," Hammond said.

Responding to the article on social media on Sunday, Groundwork Collaborative executive director Lindsay Owens wrote: "The Treasury system makes the payments (cuts checks). It doesn't decide who to pay or how much. A little like an employer using a payroll processor. Musk has infiltrated the system to stop payments. It's a coup."

In an op-ed published by MSNBC on Saturday, Owens went into greater detail about her concerns, outlining three reasons why Musk might want access to the Treasury payment system.

  1. He could use it to stop payments to certain programs in order to work around the courts' block on the administration's spending freeze.
  2. He could access the list of blacklisted federal contractors in order to boost his own or his friend's companies and harm his competitors. (One of the DOGE allies granted access to the payment system, Tom Krause, is also a Big Tech CEO who leads Cloud Software Group, according to The New York Times.)
  3. He could use it to reduce Social Security or Medicare payments as part of DOGE's goal of cutting $2 trillion in federal spending.

Owens noted that Musk wasn't "chasing these cuts for their own sake. He's helping congressional Republicans attempt to pay for a new round of tax breaks for corporations and the ultrawealthy—including Musk himself."

"It's nice to believe in a fantasy in which Musk and DOGE work alongside civil servants to improve technology and services for Americans and save a few bucks along the way. But all evidence points to the contrary," Owens continued. "The richest man in the world, whom no one elected to any government position, is seeking unprecedented access to confidential information, including information pertaining to his own business interests, and seems hell-bent on cutting off as much funding as possible for the programs that matter to the rest of us."

Owens pointed to a recent poll finding that only around one-third of Americans approve of DOGE, and that 52% disapprove of Musk.

"Americans don't want an unelected and unaccountable billionaire dictating what working families can and cannot afford," she concluded. "If Musk is going to continue running the government like one of his failed businesses, perhaps someone should force his 'resignation' too."

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Economic justice advocates on Wednesday responded to new U.S. government figures showing nonfinancial corporate profits soared to record levels during the third quarter of 2022 by urging congressional lawmakers—most of whom receive substantial corporate campaign contributions—to take action against the capitalist greed that progressive experts say is the main driver of inflation.

The U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis reported nonfinancial sector corporate profits of $2.08 trillion during the third quarter, up from just under $1.9 trillion during the same period last year, $1.6 trillion in Q3 2020, and $1.37 trillion from July-September 2019.

Wednesday's figures follow similar record second-quarter profits of $2.07 trillion, as well as a 15.5% increase in Q2 after-tax profits as a share of gross value added for non-financial corporations—the biggest margin since 1950.

"Today's record corporate profits mirror what we have been hearing on earnings call after earnings call: Corporations are gleefully reporting that their strategy to burden families with unnecessary price hikes is working," Rakeen Mabud, chief economist and managing director of policy and research at the Groundwork Collaborative,said in a statement. "Powerful corporations in concentrated industries will keep prices sky high until lawmakers rein them in."

[twt]

Numerous analyses, including a report released earlier this month by the U.S. House Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, have shown that corporations are using soaring inflation as a pretext for consumer price gouging.

Meanwhile, U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that the Fed will continue to raise interest rates—albeit at a slower pace—in a continuation of the central bank's inflation-fighting strategy.

"Despite some promising developments, we have a long way to go in restoring price stability," Powell stated during an event at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. "We will stay the course until the job is done."

Progressive economists and politicians stressed that corporate greed is the real culprit behind high prices, with former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich tweeting Tuesday that "instead of raising interest rates and slowing the economy toward a recession, Congress and [President Joe] Biden should be taking aim at corporate price gouging.[twt]

Speaking earlier this month, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said, "Of course the Fed has a role to play in getting inflation under control, but there is a big difference between landing a plane and crashing a plane."

The watchdog group Accountable.USasserted Wednesday that "Corporate greed is driving inflation. As rising costs take a massive toll on American families, companies are raking in record profits and bragging about their sky-high prices."

The next Fed rate hike—which Powell said could come as soon as December—would be the seventh of the year. Earlier this month, the central bank raised interest rates by 0.75% for the fourth consecutive time.

New polling from Navigator Survey found that a majority of respondents believe that the government should focus on "cracking down on corporate greed and price gouging" over "stopping wasteful government spending and handouts"[twt]

"Our economic crisis isn't inflation, it's corporate greed," U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—who earlier this year introduced legislation that would impose a windfall corporate profit tax of up to 95% on companies with more than $500 million in annual revenue—argued earlier this month.

"You don't reduce inflation by giving tax breaks to billionaires and cutting benefits for the elderly, the sick, the children, and the poor," Sanders contended. "You combat inflation by taking on corporate greed and passing a windfall profits tax. You combat inflation by taking on the power of the insurance companies, the drug companies, the fossil fuel industry, the giant food companies and lowering the outrageously high costs of healthcare, prescription drugs, gas, and groceries."