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Biden could do more

Posted

To the Editor: 

Joseph Cannisi's June 3rd letter, "Cartels wrecking havoc," tells part of the story. The February 22nd "Hightower Lowdown" goes into more detail. The four monopolistic meat companies squeeze cattle ranchers by underpaying to buy their meat. This increases their profits and has forced many ranchers out of business. Then they charge more for the meat, further increasing their profits and squeezing the budgets of working people.

But Jim Hightower also deals with actions President Joe Biden could take but hasn't. Besides the public relations moves his presidential bully pulpit allows him, he could also have the Justice Department file actions to break up anti-competitive combines. It's not that antitrust laws are ineffective. It's that they are not being used.

Also, criminal charges can be filed against price-fixing executives. 

Cannisi has written many fine letters over the years. But his one glaring weakness is his refusal to criticize Democrats. So here's a suggestion to Cannisi. Keep writing the great stuff exposing Republicans' wrongdoing. But stop letting Democrats off the hook. Our imperialistic foreign policy, bloated defense budget, lack of national health insurance and support of policies that cater to corporate greed and squeeze workers has been either bi-partisan or has included Democratic collaborators.

Richard Warren

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