Political Quotes

“Madam President, it has just come over the wire--the news just broke in the last couple of days--that corporate profits are at the highest they have been since 1950. In other words, corporations are making more money in the calendar year 2021 than any year since 1950. That is 70-plus years. Corporate profits are through the roof. We also know--and that came out today--the Wall Street Journal, a very pro-business, pro-corporate America newspaper, pointed out that CEO compensation has gone up stratospherically. We know, as the Presiding Officer from Illinois has pointed out in the past, too, that corporate profits have continued to go up, that CEO pay has been stratospheric, and that workers' wages have essentially been flat. We also know that corporations--especially oil companies, shipping companies, meatpacking companies, and drug companies--have raised their prices dramatically higher than inflation. So what we are seeing is that corporate profits are the highest in 70 years; CEO compensation is the highest ever--big raises last year; and prices have gone up, especially in those four industries, because they have essentially taken advantage of the pandemic, the opportunity during the pandemic for them to raise prices.…”