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Critical Takes on Corporate Power @criticaltakes.bsky.social · 3h

Indeed!

Critical Takes on Corporate Power @criticaltakes.bsky.social · 7h

The mood will get even more cheerful when people start looking at the accounts of some of the global pharmaceutical firms and realising how much profit they've been making.

Critical Takes on Corporate Power @criticaltakes.bsky.social · 7d

Better, apparently, for the Thames to be full of human excrement than for the people who poured money into this corporate disaster to take a bath.

Reposted by Critical Takes on Corporate Power

SOMO - Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations @somoamsterdam.bsky.social · 7d

🚨 ExxonMobil has been lobbying relentlessly to take down the EU’s CSDDD.

Its playbook?
- Lobbying
- Funding think tanks
- Media sponsorships

⚠️The EU cannot let those causing the climate crisis write the rules to get out of it.

www.somo.nl/how-big-oil-kills-sustainability-and-climate-legislation/

How Big Oil kills sustainability and climate legislation - SOMO

Inside ExxonMobil’s lobby campaign to take down the EU’s CSDDD When the EU finally agreed on its landmark Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) in 2024, it was hailed as a breakthro...

www.somo.nl

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Critical Takes on Corporate Power @criticaltakes.bsky.social · 8d

If you look at the accounts of some US pharma firms, you see variations of the same thing:

Global profit margins up to 30 pct but UK profit margins well below 10 pct.

Why does the UK seem so much less profitable?

Reasonable guess: some UK profits are booked somewhere else with a lower tax rate.

Reposted by Critical Takes on Corporate Power

Nick Dearden @nickdearden.bsky.social · 8d

Big pharma is at war with the UK. If we want to save the NHS, we can’t back down.

By me 👇

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Big pharma is at war with the UK, and the government can’t back down now | Nick Dearden

The industry has always wanted the NHS to pay more for its drugs; now it is pulling research and investment out of Britain, says director of Global Justice Now Nick Dearden

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Critical Takes on Corporate Power

Mepassistant (Quentin) @mepassistant.bsky.social · 8d

Ah yes, nothing says "I'm a European company committed to Europe" like "Cut regulations or we we'll let Europe's economy tank".

Such Europeans, brings tears to my eyes.

POLITICO Europe @politico.eu · 8d

Airbus, Siemens, Novo Nordisk and other industry heavyweights are preparing a pledge to invest billions in Europe if the EU follows through on plans to slash red tape and ease industrial hurdles.

You deregulate, we’ll invest billions, industry titans to tell EU

Airbus, Siemens among industry heavyweights to pressure EU to follow through on deregulation and competitiveness drive.

ow.ly

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Critical Takes on Corporate Power @criticaltakes.bsky.social · 8d

Could be evil due diligence, though.

When the client wants to do business with a crook who's got away with it so far, so they pay you to write a report saying "there's no proof that he's a crook."

Critical Takes on Corporate Power @criticaltakes.bsky.social · 9d

The AI bubble, thinking radically, monopolies in Africa and a new name and mission for Publish What You Pay.

The latest Critical Takes newsletter is out!

criticaltakes.org/newsletters/...

If you'd like to get the latest once a month in your inbox, sign up here:

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Critical Takes on Corporate Power @criticaltakes.bsky.social · 11d

Politicians in the UK and elsewhere seem to struggle with the difference between big biz' arguments for things which are useful to business and also to society, or just greedy and short-sighted.

e.g. "better infrastructure and consistent policy" vs "rich people will leave if you tax wealth".

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Critical Takes on Corporate Power @criticaltakes.bsky.social · 13d

A good indicator of the parochialism of UK politics is the idea that the sovereign debt yield of one of the world's bigger economies can be moved by the words of a city mayor.

"Oh, but traders said so." Traders say whatever they feel like.

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Critical Takes on Corporate Power @criticaltakes.bsky.social · 14d

And based on very poor grasp of the facts.

Take Eli Lilly. The pre-tax profit margin of its main UK sales unit over the last five years was just over 6 pct.

The equivalent global margin? 25 pct.

You don't need to be a tax expert to figure out what's likely going on. No-one seems to have tried.

Reposted by Critical Takes on Corporate Power

Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 16d

Truly, this is where even capitalism's greatest cheerleaders must admit it fails utterly

James Murray @james-bg.bsky.social · 16d

Investors are backing enough LNG tanker capacity to put the world on track for 4C of warming. This is when we're on track for 3C of warming and aiming for well below 2C. Investors are backing assets that'd be stranded even under the worst climate scenarios. www.businessgreen.com/news/4519373...

Study: $48bn at risk of being written off as LNG tanker orders rise 300 per cent

New analysis warns LNG tanker oversupply could leave investors and shipping operators with stranded assets as clean energy transition gathers pace

www.businessgreen.com

3 27 69

Reposted by Critical Takes on Corporate Power

Alex Cobham @alexcobham.bsky.social · 17d

Fascinating (and worrying) analysis, with some grounds for optimism - and potentially a number of warnings for the UN #TaxConvention negotiations...

Magnus Løvold @magnuslovold.bsky.social · 17d

After the Geneva round of the #PlasticsTreaty talks ended without a deal, troubling questions are being raised about the role played by @unep.org Executive Director Inger Andersen — and an apparent bid to topple the Committee’s elected Chair medium.com/points-of-or...

Palace intrigues

The plastics treaty talks in Geneva ended without a deal. As negotiators weigh their options about the way forward, troubling questions are…

medium.com

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Critical Takes on Corporate Power @criticaltakes.bsky.social · 21d

So Trump swept into the UK to be wined and dined by the King.

Big Tech bosses came too, bearing pledges of huge UK investments (mostly for data centres).

Our govt, desperate for good economic news, is boosting this as a win for the UK.

But the *point* of US Big Tech is to monopolise the data.

Nick Dearden @nickdearden.bsky.social · 21d

‘As long as Big Tech commands and controls what’s going on, ultimately, Starmer’s investment deals are about building US corporate monopolies’

Pleased to be quoted in this @WIRED piece 👇

www.wired.com/story/climat...

Anti-Trump Protesters Take Aim at ‘Naive’ US-UK AI Deal

Thousands marched in London to protest President Donald Trump’s second state visit. Among them were many environmental activists unhappy with Britain’s new AI deal with the US.

www.wired.com

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Critical Takes on Corporate Power @criticaltakes.bsky.social · 21d

So Blackstone is going to spend £9bn a year buying stuff in the UK, which it might have done anyway.

In a £2.5 trillion economy, why is that a big deal?

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Critical Takes on Corporate Power @criticaltakes.bsky.social · 22d

New on Critical Takes:

Transforming the world economy requires us to think bigger, recognise the challenges and work jointly with activists and social movements.

criticaltakes.org/society-and-...

A shorter version of a powerful article originally published by @somoamsterdam.bsky.social

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Critical Takes on Corporate Power @criticaltakes.bsky.social · 23d

When it talks about AI, the UK government sounds as credulous as a cargo cult.

"We must induce the miraculous tech from over there to land here, then it will diffuse its magic and solve our problems."

It's the worst possible time in politics to adopt such a tone.

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Critical Takes on Corporate Power @criticaltakes.bsky.social · 27d

One way to consider this question is to download the annual report of any big British pharma company, scroll down to the balance sheet and look at the number recorded against "retained earnings."

These numbers can be very, very, very large.

Critical Takes on Corporate Power @criticaltakes.bsky.social · 28d

When corporate monopolists dominate food supplies in African countries, food prices go up.

How can African regulators respond? The former head of Zambia's competition commission explains.

Listen/read here:

criticaltakes.org/the-corporat...

Critical Takes on Corporate Power @criticaltakes.bsky.social · 29d

"Corporations say that being allowed to summarily execute their under-performing workers could drive up productivity.

"This kind of dynamic thinking is what we need to unlock competitiveness," said AN executive.

Trade unions claim the strategy would be inhumane and ineffective."

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Critical Takes on Corporate Power @criticaltakes.bsky.social · Sep 9

New!

Tackling agrifood monopolies in African countries.

Former Zambian competition regulator Chilufya Sampa talks to Critical Takes about the landscape of regulation in Africa, the data problem and the vital role of civil society.

Listen/read here:

criticaltakes.org/the-corporat...

Critical Takes on Corporate Power @criticaltakes.bsky.social · Sep 8

Corporate lobbyists pushing for new, weaker EU rules for business.

Based on the logos, it looks like an unholy alliance between Big Tech and the same old European business elites which expect others to bear the costs of their strategic mistakes (e.g. with respect to China).

Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) @corporateeurope.org · Sep 8

⚠️Corporate lobby groups are promoting a radical plan to create an EU-level ‘28th regime’ of parallel, weaker rules for start-ups and ‘innovative’ companies

This could enable social dumping and trigger a race to the bottom for social rights

corporateeurope.org/en/2025/09/s...

#RulesToProtect

A social dumping disaster? EU’s ‘ 28th Regime’ plans could help corporations bypass member state rules | Corporate Europe Observatory

In the name of competitiveness, corporate lobby groups are promoting a radical plan to create an EU-level ‘28th regime’ of parallel, weaker rules. This could help corporations to avoid stricter member...

www.corporateeurope.org

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Critical Takes on Corporate Power @criticaltakes.bsky.social · Sep 5

Do you have a link to that EITI paper? Thanks.

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Critical Takes on Corporate Power @criticaltakes.bsky.social · Sep 2

Here's a really interesting, in-depth proposal for taxing the excess profits of the biggest corporations.

US-focussed, but also relevant elsewhere.

It includes this stunner: IMF researchers found that from 2011 to 2017, 70 percent (!) of the largest multinationals' profits were excess profits.

Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · Feb 6

Market power is at an all-time high, and corporate giants use tax advantages to entrench their dominance.

A well-designed excess profits tax can help level the playing field. @nikolusiani.bsky.social and @iraregmi.bsky.social lay out a framework for doing so ⤵️ rooseveltinstitute.org/public...

Taxing Excessive Profits: Designing a Pro-Competition Corporate Tax System - Roosevelt Institute

In a new analysis, Niko Lusiani and Ira Regmi lay the groundwork for developing a pro-competition tax on excess corporate profits in America.

rooseveltinstitute.org

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