How Big Oil Rigged the System and Stuck You With the Bill (with Faiz Shakir)

Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Civic Ventures

Business, Government, News, Politics

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 19 November 2024

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, Nick And Goldy are joined by Faiz Shakir, Executive Director of A More Perfect Union, to discuss the shocking revelation of an international oil price-fixing conspiracy. Their conversation explores how the collusion between American oil companies and the foreign nations that make up OPEC significantly contributed to inflation, costing American families between $500 and $1,000 annually. Shakir explains how the Federal Trade Commission uncovered this conspiracy and highlights the urgent need for increased regulatory oversight and harsher penalties to protect consumers from corporate malpractice. Faiz Shakir is the Executive Director of the nonprofit education, advocacy, and journalism organization, More Perfect Union, and former campaign manager of Senator Bernie Sanders’ 2020 Presidential Campaign. Prior to his work with Senator Sanders, Shakir held various leadership positions within the Democratic Party and progressive organizations, working to advance social and economic justice issues. Social Media: @faiz.bsky.social @fshakir @perfectunion @moreperfectunion.bsky.social @MorePerfectUS Further reading: An Oil Price-Fixing Conspiracy Caused 27% of All Inflation Increases in 2021 A 2024 Timeline of Big Oil Greed House Democrats investigate whether Big Oil colluded with OPEC to inflate gas prices The Truth Behind the Latest Oil Price-Fixing Scandal Gas Price Fixing Scandal Grows as Another US Oil Exec 'Caught Colluding With OPEC' Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer, @civicaction YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Substack: The Pitch

Transcript

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0:00.0	The rising inequality and growing political instability that we see today are the direct result of decades of bad economic theory.
0:10.3	It's time to build our economy from the bottom up and from the middle out, not the top down.
0:15.8	Middle out economics is the answer. Because Wall Street didn't build this country. Great middle class built this country.
0:22.6	The more the middle class thrives, the better the economy is for everyone, even rich people like me.
0:34.4	This is Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer, a podcast about how to build the economy from the middle out.
0:42.6	Welcome to the show.
0:48.0	This episode will be coming out after the election, Nick.
0:53.9	But if Harris wins, I think it's safe to say she'll have won on the economy.
1:01.1	And if she loses, she'll, I mean, have lost on the economy.
1:05.4	A lot of other factors there.
1:07.2	But you don't win the White House without winning on the economy.
1:09.6	And if she loses on the
1:11.4	economy, it's because people are still very angry about that spike of inflation earlier in the Biden
1:20.3	administration. And if you are angry about inflation, a lot of that inflation has to do with prices at the pump.
1:29.0	Yeah. And we've, you know, over the last year or so, learned a lot more about that. And we've
1:36.8	learned in particular that, you know, approximately $1,000 of extra cost per year for every American was due to a conspiracy
1:48.8	by the oil companies. That sounds very Trumpian. You're this is like you've gone full
1:55.0	Q&on here. There's conspiracies. You must be able to bank that up with evidence, Nick.
2:01.1	Well, it turns out we do have evidence.
2:03.4	It turns out, among other things, we have the texts of the CEOs of the oil companies,
2:11.0	revealing the fact that they were participating in this conspiracy, and no one knows more about this
2:16.8	than our old friend Fas Shakir,
	...

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