[corp-focus] Victories in 2007

[robert weissman]

Extensive links and forum to comment on this and other columns at: 
http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/editorsblog

Victories in 2007
By Robert Weissman
December 31, 2007

It's easy enough to recount what went wrong in 2007.

But it wasn't all bad. Not only did grassroots movements and citizen 
campaigns -- and sometimes governments responsive to public demands -- 
defeat and resist countless corporate power grabs, they won some vitally 
important, affirmative victories.

Like every new year, 2008 offers renewed hope, and the chance for new 
beginnings. There really were some important gains in 2007 that suggest 
countervailing forces to concentrated corporate power are on the rise.

The following list of 10 victories from 2007 doesn't claim to be 
all-inclusive. And almost all of the victories are partial and inchoate. 
Whether they blossom into fuller achievements will depend on what 
happens in 2008 and beyond. Have ideas for victories that should be 
added to this list? Send me a note (rob@essential.org) or post a comment 
on the blog.

1. Cultural Change on Global Warming

There were numerous small steps forward to meet the greatest challenge 
of our day, including in the biggest carbon polluting country, the 
United States. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a respectable 
energy bill; the ultimately adopted energy bill will modestly improve 
energy efficiency in the United States. Many U.S. states are doing much 
more, most importantly requiring electric utilities to source an 
increasing amount of their energy from renewable supplies. The Sierra 
Club and grassroots groups have combined to defeat dozens of coal-fired 
power plant proposals. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, 
held in Bali in December ended with a fizzle, thanks largely to U.S. 
intransigence, but even at Bali, there was agreement that climate change 
is a real threat.

This last point is probably the main achievement of 2007. There is now 
no serious argument about the reality of climate change and the need for 
action. Going forward, the challenge is to generate the political will 
for meaningful carbon emission cuts, immediately and for the long-term.

2. Bank of the South

Latin American countries joined together to launch the Bank of the 
South, an effort to create an alternative to the World Bank and the 
International Monetary Fund. Latin American countries -- not just 
Venezuela -- are making contributions to the new institution, which will 
then make project loans, especially for initiatives to facilitate 
regional integration.

Says Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, 
"Politically, the new bank is another Declaration of Independence for 
South America, which as a result of epoch-making changes in the last few 
years is now more independent of the United States than Europe is."

3. Treatment for People with HIV/AIDS

Somewhere between 2.5 million and 3 million people with HIV/AIDS in 
developing countries are now receiving life-saving antiretroviral 
treatment. This was only possible because of campaigns by people with 
HIV/AIDS in developing countries and their allies in rich countries. 
First, activist campaigns and speeded-up generic competition brought 
down the price for life-saving drugs from more than $10,000 a year per 
person to, in some cases, less than $100 per person. Then, campaigners 
successfully demanded aid money be made available to save lives.

Treatment coverage is only around a quarter to a third of need, and 
global need will grow dramatically in coming years. More international 
and developing country funding will be needed, and there will be ongoing 
disputes over patent and pharmaceutical issues. But significant progress 
is underway.

4. Thailand and Brazil Face Down Big Pharma

In January, Thailand issued compulsory licenses -- an authorization for 
generic competition for products that remain on patent -- for two 
medicines. This followed a prior compulsory license in December 2006. 
The resulting lowered prices on the medicines enabled Thailand to expand 
treatment significantly in its public health system -- the cost of a 
heart disease drug fell by 98 percent, and just the initial price drop 
on an AIDS drug enabled the country to provide the medicine to an 
additional 20,000 people.

Brazil followed Thailand's example in May, issuing its own compulsory 
license on an important AIDS medicine.

The compulsory licenses led drug companies to lower prices on key AIDS 
drugs around the world. Abbott Laboratories lowered its middle-income 
country price on a vital AIDS drug by 55 percent.

5. The Billionaire's Tax Loophole Comes Under Scrutiny

2007 saw new attention focused on the incomes of super-rich private 
equity and hedge fund managers in the United States -- and the stunning 
fact that they exploit a tax loophole to lower their tax rates to less 
than that of their secretaries.

The "carried interest" loophole lets private equity and hedge fund 
managers characterize a big portion of their management fees -- their 
cut of the very high profits they make for investors -- as capital gains 
income, instead of ordinary income. That means they can pay federal 
taxes at a 15 percent rate, instead of 35 percent.

The House of Representatives passed legislation to eliminate the 
loophole, but it failed in the Senate.

The issue won't be going away, however. Says Damon Silvers of the 
AFL-CIO, "It's finally dawned on people that the richest Americans 
aren't paying any taxes."

6. The U.S. Minimum Wage Goes Up

It's still a long way from where it should be, but popular support for 
raising the minimum wage forced Senate Republicans to accede in May to a 
minimum wage rate hike.

The lowest paid workers in the United States (not counting farm workers 
and others exempted) will earn $7.25 in 2009. Roughly 13 million workers 
are expected to see their wages rise as a result.

7. McDonald's Agrees to Pay Tomato Pickers More

McDonald's in April agreed to pay a penny a pound more for the tomatoes 
it uses, with the extra money going directly to Florida farmworkers.

McDonald's agreed to the arrangement in response to a farmworker 
campaign coordinated by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. The 
coalition had earlier won a similar victory against Taco Bell.

Farmworkers earn about $10,000 a year. If the entire industry went along 
with the penny-a-pound arrangement, farmworker wages would rise by about 
75 percent.

Unfortunately, an intransigent Florida Tomato Growers Exchange is 
refusing to implement the McDonald's accord, fatuously claiming that it 
would violate unnamed federal and state rules. McDonald's is placing its 
extra payments in escrow.

Meanwhile, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers is now focusing on Burger 
King, which is largely owned by Goldman Sachs and other private equity 
operations. They continue to reject the penny-a-pound demand -- which 
would cost Burger King as estimated $250,000 a year.

8. School Fees Phased Out

For decades, the World Bank and other international agencies instructed 
developing countries to impose educational and health user fees -- 
charges to go to school, or get access to care. The result: poor 
children (especially girls) were locked out of school, and sick people 
from poor families were denied healthcare.

Healthcare fees remain widespread, but primary school fees are finally 
being phased out throughout many of the world's poorest countries, in 
part due to 2000 U.S. legislation requiring the United States to oppose 
World Bank loans that include user fees.

Primary school enrollment increased by 36 percent in sub-Saharan Africa 
and 22 percent in South and West Asia between 1999 and 2005, according 
to UNESCO. "Much of this is due to the abolishment of primary school 
tuition fees in 14 countries," says Global Action for Children. "This 
ground-breaking measure has leveled the playing field, allowing many of 
the world’s poorest children access to the school house door."

9. White-Collar Drug Pushers Punished

In May, the maker of Oxycontin, a highly addictive painkiller, pled 
guilty to charges of misbranding its drug. Purdue Pharma will pay more 
than $600 million in connection with the guilty plea.

Oxycontin offers major benefits to cancer patients and others with 
chronic pain, but is prone to abuse. It is especially popular in 
Appalachia, where it is known as hillbilly heroin.

U.S. Attorney John Brownlee says that scores of people have died as a 
result of Oxycontin abuse. The federal case against Purdue charged its 
sales reps misled health providers -- including non-specialists in pain 
management -- about the addictive properties of Oxycontin.

Purdue, a privately held Connecticut-based company, launched a major 
effort to avoid prosecution, including employing Rudy Giuliani to meet 
with prosecutors and argue against filing of charges.

But Brownlee refused to back down, though he did make some concessions. 
He did agree not to charge company executives with felonies (three pled 
guilty to misdemeanors), and he agreed to accept a guilty plea from a 
Purdue subsidiary, leaving the parent free to continue selling the drug 
to Medicare and other federal programs. The government could have come 
down harder on "white-collar drug pushers," says Dr. Sidney Wolfe of 
Public Citizen's health Research Group.

10. The Bush Countdown Begins

Only 385 more days of the Bush regime.

Happy New Year!


Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Multinational 
Monitor, <http://www.multinationalmonitor.org> and director of Essential 
Action <http://www.essentialaction.org>.

(c) Robert Weissman

This article is posted at: 
<http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/corp-focus/2007/000270.html>.