Global Economy
For more than a quarter century, IPS has been a leader in strengthening citizen responses to the global economy through research, writing, film, education, and coalition building. The project has produced dozens of books, articles, films, and educational materials.
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Executive Excess 2012: The CEO Hands in Uncle Sam's Pocket
Nationwide, budget cuts have axed 627,000 public service jobs just since June 2009. Schools, health clinics, fire stations, parks, and recreation facilities—virtually no public service has gone unsqueezed. Tax dollars haven’t seemed this scarce in generations.
Yet tens of billions of these scarce tax dollars are getting diverted. These tax dollars are flowing from average Americans who depend on public services to the kingpins of America’s private sector. They’re subsidizing, directly and indirectly, the mega-million paychecks that go to the top executives at our nation’s biggest banks and corporations.
Recent Work
Op-Ed
Our Great Fiscal Opportunity
December 19, 2012 - This is a chance for the American public to engage in a critical debate over national priorities. By John Cavanagh
Commentary
Latest "Fiscal Cliff" Proposals Would Deepen Inequality
December 19, 2012 - The early reaction by many progressive organizations is that it would be better to go over the cliff than accept the emerging bargain the President has offered. By Scott Klinger
Blog
European Parliament Supports Robin Hood Tax in Landslide Vote
December 14, 2012 - Yeas outnumbered nays by a margin of 6-to-1. The next step will be a vote in the European Council, which is likely to happen in early 2013. By Sarah Anderson
Blog
AlterNet: Five Job-Destroying CEOs Trying to "Fix" the Debt
December 10, 2012 - In poll after poll, the American people say they are far more concerned about the jobs crisis than the "debt crisis." A powerful coalition of CEOs says they have an answer for both problems. By Sarah Anderson and Scott Klinger, published in The Nation and Salon.com
Magazine Article
Canada Should Tell Mining Firm to Stop Bullying El Salvador
December 6, 2012 - Re-posted with permission from Embassy Magazine: Vancouver-based mining company Pacific Rim is butting heads with the government of El Salvador. By Manuel Perez-Rocha
Report
We're Not Broke
December 5, 2012 - This commonsense guide to avoiding the fiscal swindle would nearly eliminate the budget deficit while making the United States more equitable, green, and secure. By Emily Schwartz Greco
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Mining for Profits in International Tribunals - Updated
Download Mining for Profits in International Tribunals
Download Extrayendo Ganancias En Tribunales Internacionales
- Released May 9, 2013
By Sarah Anderson and Manuel Perez-Rocha
How transnational corporations use trade and investment treaties as powerful tools in disputes over oil, mining, and gas. / Como las empresas mineras transnacionales utilizan las reglas de los acuerdos de inversión y de comercio como poderosos instrumentos a su favor en las disputas por el petróleo, la minería y el gas.
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"Fix the Debt" CEOs Enjoy Taxpayer-Subsidized Pay
Download CEOs Pushing Austerity Enjoy Taxpayer-Subsidized Pay
- Released May 2, 2013
By Sarah Anderson, Scott Klinger, Javier Rojo
A new report by IPS and Campaign for America's Future shows that America’s top CEOs are pocketing massive taxpayer subsidies at the same time they’re pushing austerity cutbacks in government programs that benefit ordinary citizens.
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Corporate Tax Dodgers: 10 Companies and Their Tax Loopholes
Download Corporate Tax Dodgers Report 2013
- Released April 15, 2013
By Sarah Anderson, Scott Klinger, Javier Rojo
A new report looks at 10 U.S. corporations that have used an array of tax loopholes and corporate subsidies to slash their tax bills: Bank of America, Citigroup, ExxonMobil, FedEx, General Electric, Honeywell, Merck, Microsoft, Pfizer, and Verizon.
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Mandate for Change: Policies and Leadership for 2009 and Beyond
- Published January 28, 2009
- ISBN 978-0-7391-3167-1
By Chester Hartman
Three decades ago, conservative ideologues at The Heritage Foundation produced a primer on the Reagan Revolution entitled Mandate for Leadership, which offered an overarching philosophy against the role of government and in favor of markets.
Today, IPS has taken on the same task for the Obama administration. Mandate for Change is aimed at strengthening the new administration at a time when the need for progressive policies — and appointing progressive people to lead such efforts—is most urgent.
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Development Redefined: How the Market Met its Match
- Published September 16, 2008
- ISBN 978-1-59451-523-1
By Robin Broad and John Cavanagh
Rejecting the “flat worldism” of the globalists as well as the peaks and valleys of trade and aid policies over the years, Robin Broad and John Cavanagh guide us through the raging debate over the best route to development for the poorer nations of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
This book takes readers on a journey through the rise and fall of the one-size-fits-all model of development that richer nations began imposing on poorer ones three decades ago. That model — called the “Washington Consensus” by its backers and “neoliberalism” or “market fundamentalism” by its critics — placed enormous power in markets to solve the problems of the poor.
The authors have stood at the epicenter of these debates from their perches in the United Nations, the U.S. government, academia, and civil society. They guide us back in time to understand why the Washington Consensus dominated for so long, and how it devastated workers, the environment, and the poor. At the same time, they chart the rise of an “alter-globalization” movement of those adversely affected by market fundamentalism. Today, this movement is putting alternatives into action across the globe, and what constitutes development is being redefined.
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Field Guide to the Global Economy (Second Edition)
- Published April 1, 2005
- ISBN 978-1-56584-956-3
By Sarah Anderson, John Cavanagh, Thea Lee
This fully updated and expanded second edition of The Field Guide to the Global Economy presents the latest facts to help make sense of the rapidly changing international economy. Illustrated throughout with charts, graphs, and cartoons, the book documents new trends, including the foreign “outsourcing” of U.S. service jobs, as well as the increasing influence of mega-firms like Wal-Mart and labor union–free China on workers around the globe.
Published in conjunction with the Institute for Policy Studies, an independent research institute based in Washington, D.C., this accessible guide explains how global institutions such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, and North American Free Trade Agreement affect communities, workers, the poor, and the environment. The book dispels the widely disseminated propaganda about current globalization policies and provides an update on the burgeoning movement that is challenging them, from Bolivian water warriors to U.S. student anti-sweatshop activists.
- January 2, 2013
Albany Times Union features report “A Pension Deficit Disorder: The Massive CEO Retirement Funds and Underfunded Worker Pensions at Firms Pushing Social Security Cuts”
Visit the publisher's website • See the reportWhile America's CEOs have been fretting about the fiscal cliff, millions of American workers face a financial disaster that gets much less media attention. There's a half-trillion-dollar deficit in the nation's worker retirement benefits.
. . . Fifty-four of the CEOs leading Fix the Debt benefit from lavish executive retirement programs. Their collective pension assets total $649 million, which comes to more than $12 million per CEO. That's enough to garner a $65,000 retirement check each month starting at age 65, according to a new report by the Institute for Policy Studies, which I co-authored. In contrast, the average retiree receives just $1,237 from Social Security each month.
Yet, the firms headed by Fix the Debt CEOs owe their U.S. pension funds more than $100 billion, according to the IPS study. U.S. law requires businesses to keep their pension debts manageable.
. . . Beware of CEOs who are lecturing us about tightening our belts. Workers would better off if CEOs worried about fixing their companies' pension debts.
Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/CEOs-retirement-plans-4162737.php#ixzz2HKSbLDNA
- January 2, 2013
The Huffington Post
Visit the publisher's websiteDid all their high-priced subterfuge pay off? The New Year's deal was a huge disappointment for those hoping that President Obama would use his bargaining position to strike a strong blow against the extreme inequality that is undermining our economy and democracy. But the Fix the Debt campaign also suffered a loss. After one of the most ambitious corporate lobby campaigns in history, they failed to win any of their three major objectives:
- Cutting earned benefit programs such as Social Security and Medicare
- Cutting corporate tax rates ("pro-growth tax reform" in Fix the Debt speak)
- Shifting to a territorial corporate tax system, which would grant a permanent corporate tax holiday on offshore income, including the hundreds of billions stashed in the world's tax havens. Fix the Debt companies alone stood to gain an immediate 134 billion windfall from this reform, according to an Institute for Policy Studies report.
As in the tale of the Trojan Horse, however, we cannot assume that the Fix the Debt army is going to just sail away. Corporate tax reform is expected to be a major focus of Congress in 2013, starting as early as the debt ceiling fight, which is likely to come to a head in March. . . .
Congress's New Year's Eve capitulation to their wealthiest benefactors heightens the stakes for the corporate tax fight. Because Congress and the White House lavished so much on high-income individual taxpayers, they may well find themselves with fewer goodies to pass out to corporations. These will have to be paid for with either higher deficits or even more draconian cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and other programs ordinary Americans depend upon.
- December 26, 2012
The Baltimore Sun features article “A Pension Deficit Disorder”
Visit the publisher's website • See the article - December 19, 2012
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Visit the publisher's websiteFormer Minnesota U.S. Reps. Bill Frenzel and Tim Penny are co-chairs of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the umbrella organization for the Campaign to Fix the Debt. That has given them an insider's view as the powerful new group has amassed more than $40 million and field offices in 18 states since July, all in an attempt to influence the budget talks.
. . . The approach has some critics. The organization gets nearly all its money from corporate donations, giving rise to questions from groups like the Institute for Policy Studies, which claims that Fix the Debt's plans to seek cuts to Social Security and Medicare are a veiled effort to secure corporate tax breaks at the expense of the poor and elderly.
- December 19, 2012
The Hill Blog
Visit the publisher's websiteTax hikes for millionaires and Social Security cuts for grannies. Those two divisive issues have dominated media coverage of the “fiscal cliff” debate. But now President Obama is hinting that corporate tax breaks might be in the mix.
[FedEx CEO] Smith later explained his idea for a compromise: accept tax increases for the rich in exchange for an offer to “lower corporate tax rates to a territorial tax system.”
Why would a wealthy guy like Smith be willing to barter away his personal tax breaks for this corporate perk? His argument is a patriotic one – that this reform would encourage corporations to bring their money back to America to invest and create jobs.
The trouble is, similar tax breaks on overseas earnings haven’t led to job creation in the past. . . .What is certain is that a shift to a territorial system would be a boost to the bottom line of global companies like Fedex . . . In public, the administration has not supported a territorial reform. But we saw two years ago how President Obama eventually backed down on his campaign commitment to repeal the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy.
If one of his chief negotiators [Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner] favors a territorial tax system, it’s not hard to imagine that this dubious corporate tax break wind up on the table in the mad rush to reach a deal.
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-a-budget/273573-corporate-tax-breaks-in-the-mix#ixzz2HJyHTRKA - December 14, 2012
Salon.com features blog “AlterNet: Five Job-Destroying CEOs Trying to "Fix" the Debt ”
Visit the publisher's website • See the blog - December 13, 2012
HispanicBusiness.com
Visit the publisher's websiteFlorida's former senator and a one-time head of the national Republican Party, Mel Martinez, said Thursday that members of his own party need to get ready to go along with higher taxes.
"Republicans are going to have to swallow the pill they don't want to swallow," Martinez said on a conference call with reporters about the effects of the so-called "fiscal cliff" debt talks in Washington.. . . The Campaign to Fix the Debt has come under fire from a liberal group, Institute for Policy Studies, which produced a study showing that many of the campaign's businessmen calling for entitlement reforms have huge nest eggs but lead companies that have retirement-fund pension problems.
"The corporations leading this campaign are contributing to Americans' retirement insecurity by funneling enormous sums into their CEO retirement accounts while underfunding their employee pension funds," the report said. - December 13, 2012
The Miami Herald features report “A Pension Deficit Disorder: The Massive CEO Retirement Funds and Underfunded Worker Pensions at Firms Pushing Social Security Cuts”
Visit the publisher's website • See the reportThe Campaign to Fix the Debt has come under fire from a liberal group, Institute for Policy Studies, which produced a study showing that many of the campaign’s businessmen calling for entitlement reforms have huge nest eggs but lead companies that have retirement-fund pension problems.
“The corporations leading this campaign are contributing to Americans’ retirement insecurity by funneling enormous sums into their CEO retirement accounts while underfunding their employee pension funds,” the report said. - December 12, 2012
The Huffington Post features report “The CEO Campaign to ‘Fix’ the Debt: A Trojan Horse for Massive Corporate Tax Breaks”
Visit the publisher's website • See the reportCaterpillar is just one of many Fix the Debt companies publicly preaching a need to raise additional tax revenues while also lobbying to preserve -- or in this case, expand -- favored tax perks. One study, by the progressive Institute for Policy Studies, found that 63 companies advocating for a debt deal would stand to save $134 billion in tax payments if Congress approves a switch to the new system.
The report describes the plan as "a Trojan Horse for massive tax breaks."
- December 12, 2012
The Huffington Post features report “The CEO Campaign to ‘Fix’ the Debt: A Trojan Horse for Massive Corporate Tax Breaks”
Visit the publisher's website • See the reportOne study, by the left-leaning Institute for Policy Studies, found that 63 companies advocating for a debt deal would stand to save $134 billion in tax payments if Congress approves a switch to the new system.
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Associate Fellows
Scott KlingerExecutive Excess 2011: The Massive CEO Rewards for Tax Dodging
Corporations don't dodge taxes. The people who run corporations do. And these people — America's CEOs — are reaping awesomely lavish rewards for the tax dodging they have their corporations do.
In fact, corporate tax dodging has gone so out of control that 25 major U.S. corporations last year paid their chief executives more than they paid Uncle Sam in federal income taxes.
This year's Institute for Policy Studies Executive Excess report, our 18th annual, explores the intersection between CEO pay and aggressive corporate tax dodging.
Read the report and take action.
Report
Executive Excess 2010: CEO Pay and the Great Recession
September 1 - The 17th annual executive compensation survey looks at how CEOs laid off thousands while raking in millions.
Report
Executive Excess 2009: America's Bailout Barons
September 2 - The 16th annual Institute for Policy Studies' "Executive Excess" report exposes this year’s windfalls for top financial bailout recipients.
Report
Executive Excess 2008: How Average Taxpayers Subsidize Runaway Pay
August 25 - This 15th annual report calculates the annual cost of tax loopholes that encourage excessive executive pay.
Report
Executive Excess 2007
August 29 - IPS' 14th annual CEO compensation survey on the staggering social cost of U.S. business leadership.
Report
Executive Excess 2006
August 30 - Defense and oil executives cash in on conflict.
Report
Executive Excess 2005
August 30 - Defense contractors get more bucks for the bang.
In many countries around the world, there is growing momentum behind proposals to place a very small tax on transactions of stock, currency, derivatives, and other financial assets. Such financial speculation taxes are one of the few available options that could generate the enormous financial resources required to pay for the continuing costs of the global financial and economic crisis, including reducing the high rate of job loss, and to achieve key development, health, education and climate change objectives in developing countries. Even at very low rates, such taxes could also discourage the type of short-term financial speculation that has little social value but poses high risks to the economy.
Learn More:
Blog
Conservative Candidate Supports Wall Street Speculation Tax
April 5, 2012 - The right-wing in France seeks popular support by getting behind a transactions tax on securities trades. By Sarah Anderson
Magazine Article
Nurses Fight for a Dose of Tax Justice
February 23, 2012 - Before there was Occupy, thousands of nurses were already taking on Wall Street to demand a financial transaction tax. By Sarah Anderson
Interview
[VIDEO] Why a Financial Transaction Tax?
January 11, 2012 - A 0.25% tax on financial transactions could raise $150 billion a year in the United States alone. By Sarah Anderson
Commentary
VIDEO: Why a Financial Transaction Tax?
December 4, 2011 - In an interview on The Real News, Sarah Anderson discusses how a tax on financial transactions could raise $150 billion a year in the US alone. By Sarah Anderson.
Commentary
Europe Taking Lead on Speculations Tax
June 30, 2011 - Out of the ashes of the 2008 financial crisis, an idea that progressives have been kicking around for decades – a financial transactions tax (FTT) – took on new life. By Sarah Anderson.
Blog
U.S. Nurses Bring Global Call to Tax Speculators to Wall Street
June 22, 2011 · National Nurses United stands with activists across the globe to bring attention to the need for a financial speculation tax. By Sarah Anderson and Marlee Blasenheim.
Magazine Article
Cut Wall Street Down to Size With a Financial Speculation Tax
June 9, 2011 · A financial speculation tax might not have stopped those greed-crazed fools, but at least Uncle Sam would've taken in about $1.1 billion on the deals. By Sarah Anderson, originally published in The Nation.
Blog
Nurses Join Call to "Tax Wall Street"
June 7, 2011 - A swarm of around a thousand nurses in scarlet scrubs descended on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in downtown Washington to call for a new economic agenda.By Sarah Anderson.
Talking Points
Seven Innovative Mechanisms of Development Finance
April 18, 2011 - As governments look for new options for public revenue stream, this table by IPS Global Economy project director Sarah Anderson shows which options can be considered, their potential revenue, and their administrative and political feasibility.By Sarah Anderson.
Talking Points
Financial Transaction Taxes and the Global South
April 8, 2011 - This downloadable pdf fact sheet answers frequently asked questions about the implications for the developing world of taxing financial speculation. By Sarah Anderson.
Blog
Europe Takes the Lead in Drive to Tax Speculators
March 10, 2011 - There are still places in the world where folks from across the political spectrum can have a rational discussion about fair taxation. By Sarah Anderson.
Article / Declaration
U.S. Groups Join Global Call to Tax Speculators
February 16, 2011 - Over 30 national organizations signed a letter urging President Obama to take action at home and abroad to stop rampant financial speculation.
Article / Op-Ed
Taxing Financial Speculation, Raising Funds for Critical Needs
February 14, 2011 - Levying a tiny tax on financial transactions could help build a healthier and more stable future. By Paul R. Epstein and Janet Redman, published in The Huffington Post.
Report / Report
Taxing the Wall Street Casino
June 17, 2010 - In the United States and many countries around the world, there is growing momentum behind proposals to place a very small tax on trades of stock, currency, derivatives, and other financial assets. By Sarah Anderson, Chuck Collins, Scott Klinger, Janet Redman, Kevin Shih.
Media / Quote
The Growing Push to Impose a Transaction Tax - NYTimes.com
Jun 17, 2010 - The Institute for Policy Studies, a left-leaning think tank, issued a report on Thursday promoting the benefits of such a tax.
Video / Interview
May 17, 2010 - IPS video on global day of action on financial speculation taxes:
Petition
Wealth for the Common Good petition for a financial speculation tax
Article / Column
Fighting Finance from Below
November 22, 2010 - Since the crash of 2008, writes guest columnist Sarah Anderson, global justice activists have begun to make progress in reining in the excesses of the financial industry. By Sarah Anderson
Article / Commentary
Unpopular Sarkozy Gets it Right on Financial Transactions Taxes in the G-20
November 4, 2010 - The French President is standing tough in his push to increase taxes on the financial sector. By Sarah Anderson
Article / Declaration
G-20: Take Action on Financial Transaction Taxes
October 27, 2010 - International civil society organizations urge G-20 leaders to make progress on taxing financial speculation at summit in Seoul. By Sarah Anderson, et al
Article / Op-Ed
It's Time We Taxed Financial Gambling
June 21, 2010 - A tiny tax would make purely speculative investment less profitable and encourage long-term, patient investment. By Sarah Anderson
Article / Op-Ed
Proving That Tea Partiers' Anti-Tax Extremism Isn't Even Loved by All Conservatives
June 18, 2010 - Taxing speculation could take us a long way toward reining in Wall Street. By Sarah Anderson
Article / Media Advisory
Taxing the Wall Street Casino
June 17, 2010 - Report looks at how speculation taxes might have changed the outcome of recent global financial fiascos By Sarah Anderson
Blog / Blog
Tax Wall Street to Pay for Jobs
June 17, 2010 - The Senate should be looking for ways to jumpstart the economy -- but not at the expense of those who suffered the most from the crisis. By Sarah Anderson and Kevin Shih
Article / Commentary
Reining in Wall Street: Round 1
May 27, 2010 - A May 17 rally in Washington, DC brought more than a thousand people into the streets, calling for a "financial speculation tax" as part of a broader financial reform agenda. By Sarah Anderson
Blog / Blog
Global Activists Coordinate Actions to Tax Speculators
May 20, 2010 - From Australia to Canada, activists are taking to the streets in cities around the world this week to hold the financial sector accountable for the costs of the global crisis. By Sarah Anderson
Article / Commentary
The Unfinished Business of Financial Reform
May 6, 2010 - Lawmakers will need to consider financial speculation taxes in the next round of the fight to rein in Wall Street. By Sarah Anderson
Trade Agreements and Financial Crisis
Many governments have used capital controls effectively to prevent or mitigate financial crises. However, U.S. trade and investment agreements still include sweeping restrictions on this policy tool. IPS has teamed up with the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University to coordinate an economist statement urging the Obama administration to change course and allow governments to use capital controls, as part of a broader menu of policy options to protect their people from financial volatility.
For more on the links between trade and finance:
- Economist Statement on Capital Controls and Trade
- Rebuttal to corporate response to the IPS economist statement
- Network for Justice in Global Investment (a project of IPS and the Democracy Center in Cochabamba, Bolivia)
Learn More
Blog
Getting Around Geithner
March 4, 2012 - Other countries need to take the lead in reforming U.S. trade policies to promote global financial stability. By Sarah Anderson
Blog
Crikey! Australia Shocks Corporate America on Trade
March 2, 2012 - U.S. corporate lobby groups bash Australia for refusing to give foreign investors powerful new rights in the Trans-Pacific trade deal. By Sarah Anderson, published in Common Dreams
Media Advisory
More than 100 Economists Call for Trans-Pacific Trade Deal to Allow Capital Controls to Prevent Crises
February 28, 2012 - In advance of Trans-Pacific trade talks, over 100 economists are sending a letter today urging negotiators to promote global financial stability by allowing the use of capital controls. By Sarah Anderson and Manuel Perez-Rocha
Open Letter
Open Letter: Urging Capital Controls in the Trans-Pacific Partnership
February 28, 2012 - IPS economists join 100 colleagues across the world in advocating for governments' right to use a proven tool against financial volatility. By Sarah Anderson
How Obama is to the Right of Reagan on Trade
September 8, 2011 - I hate to break it to the Tea Partiers, but their presidential idol was less of a free-market hardliner in trade negotiations than Barack Obama. By Sarah Anderson.
Capital Controls and the Trans-Pacific Partnership
September 1, 2011 - The first trade agreement to be negotiated by the Obama administration should allow governments to control volatile capital flows. By Sarah Anderson.
Investment Rules in Trade Agreements
August 9, 2010 - The Top 10 Changes to Build a Pro-Labor, Pro-Community and Pro-Environment Trans-Pacific Partnership. By Sarah Anderson.
Memo to U.S.: Only Fools Rush In
March 22, 2010 - If negotiators aren't careful, a U.S.-China investment treaty could prove as explosive as currency manipulation or climate change. By Sarah Anderson.
U.S.-China Bilateral Investment Treaty Negotiations
March 21, 2010 - Expedited talks with China may shine a brighter spotlight on these controversial agreements. By Sarah Anderson.
Report of the Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy Regarding the Model Bilateral Investment Treaty
October 1, 2009 - IPS participated in this Obama administration review process. By Sarah Anderson, et al
Comments on the U.S. Model Bilateral Investment Treaty
July 17, 2009 - A report presented to the United States Department of State and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. By Sarah Anderson
Policy Handcuffs in the Financial Crisis
February 9, 2009 - This report finds that bans on capital controls are outdated and a hindrance to developing nations. By Sarah Anderson