T-Mobile Mergers and Dangers of Corporate Power

T-Mobile Mergers and Dangers of Corporate Power

Big companies such as T-Mobile know that increased market share means increased power.

The Republican coalition under Donald Trump has changed significantly. While we are still an organization that advocates lower taxes and more regulation, President Trump’s track record in these areas is undoubtedly the best. The party also emphasized issues that impact working-class families, such as expanding and improving the child credit and bringing back more jobs through fairer trade agreements. It also fought against the radical agenda of the woke left, which pits us all against one another, even our children.

A key lesson from Trump’s presidency was to recognize that threats to liberty don’t just come from the government. Modern GOP recognizes the need to rein in corrupt institutions and reduce corporate power. We see every day controversies that show the need to move away from conservative ideology. The big corporations have been flexing their muscle by trying to censor conservatives and threatening states with legislation that doesn’t suit their views. They also push racist, anti-American diversity and equity programs for workers, regardless of political affiliations. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, along with other Republican leaders in this area are continuing Trump’s footsteps. They balance the need for a strong economic climate and the recognition that Big Business may not always be our best interest.

Unfortunately, even the architect of this realignment sometimes gets it wrong. Mergers and acquisitions are major catalysts for the concentration of corporate power, and one in particular–the controversial merger between T-Mobile and Sprint that the Trump administration approved in 2020–shows how higher corporate profits are often earned on the backs of job destruction, lower wages, and less access to goods and services for working-class people.

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T-Mobile and Sprint’s $26-billion merger was designed to increase profits and shareholder returns by combining America’s third- and fourth-largest cell-phone companies into one behemoth. To get approval from regulators, the companies needed to convince a lot. There were fears about job loss and price rises, including from Ken Paxton Texas Attorney General . He joined multi-state litigation against the merger. They made lofty promises in order to close the deal. then-CEO at T-Mobile John Legere , stated that the merger was all about creating high-quality jobs and high-paying ones. However, both the FCC (now DOJ) and DOJ accepted the promises of the companies and accepted their lies to prevent job losses and increase costs for consumers. The deal was approved by them.

This rash decision proved to be an error quickly. T-Mobile, the new post-merger T-Mobile began closing down stores and cutting jobs almost instantly. To this point, according to numerous legal filings by a coalition of former dealership owners, more than 2,500 jobs and 382 stores have been eliminated, presumably to cut costs and drive higher profits for shareholders. T-Mobile, Sprint and the Trump DOJ and FCC were deliberately deceived about the effect of the merger.

Even if there is no family member employed by the company, it’s likely that you will feel the effects. Despite repeated pledges not to raise prices after gaining market share, T-Mobile raised home-internet prices by 20 percent, less than a year after the merger was approved. The pre-Trump GOP may have dismissed this as cost-cutting in order to achieve higher efficiency and therefore higher shareholder returns. It would have been considered free market capitalism at its best. However, times have changed. The coalition we have formed has also changed. We cannot overlook the negative consequences of corporate power consolidating at the expense workers and their families.

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And especially when they lie to small-business owners, employees and others in their network. In various litigation filings, former Sprint dealers have called out “anti-competitive, unfair, and deceptive behavior” on the part of T-Mobile, which “concealed material facts regarding its devastating intentions.”

T-Mobile’s pursuit of higher profits driven by increased market share is a universal goal among big, publicly traded companies. This is the reason we have become “too large to fail” social media companies and banks, as well as massive social media platforms. Increased market share means increased power. This was an area where Trump failed to address despite his ability to hold big, woke corporations responsible.

As we approach the midterm elections, Republicans need to wake up and stop multinational corporations exploiting the desire for economic growth. This will also punish the working classes. With respect to Sprint-T-Mobile’s merger, we were asleep at work and now pay the consequences with increased costs and the destruction of thousands of jobs. These types of untrue deals must be investigated and held accountable by corporate executives as Republicans seek to retake both the House and Senate.

Terry Schilling is the president at American Principles Project. Follow him on Twitter @Schilling1776.

This article was supported by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. This publication is solely under the author’s responsibility.

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