The Raging 2020s

by Alec Ross

  the integrators began: Dave Layfield, interview.

  Then in 2019: Dave Layfield, interview.

  In the 1950s, for every dollar: Rhonda Skaggs, The Future of Agriculture: Frequently Asked Questions (Las Cruces: New Mexico State University, 2001), https://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/research/economics/TR37/welcome.html; “Farmer’s Share of the Food Dollar Falls to All-Time Low,” National Farmers Union, press release, April 25, 2019, https://nfu.org/2019/04/25/farmers-share-of-the-food-dollar-falls-to-all-time-low/.

  Rural populations are shrinking: Eduardo Porter, “The Hard Truths of Trying to ‘Save’ the Rural Economy,” New York Times, December 14, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/12/14/opinion/rural-america-trump-decline.html; Brakkton Booker, “Report: Rural Poverty in America Is ‘an Emergency,’” NPR, May 31, 2018, https://www.npr.org/2018/05/31/615578001/report-rural-poverty-in-america-is-an-emergency; “Americans in Rural Areas More Likely to Die by Suicide,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, press release, October 5, 2017, https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2017/p1005-rural-suicide-rates.html.

  Senior executives saw their pay: Brian Cheffins, “Stop Blaming Milton Friedman!,” Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, April 16, 2020, https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2020/04/16/stop-blaming-milton-friedman/.

  between 1997 and 2014: Gustavo Grullon, Yelena Larkin, and Roni Michaely, “Are US Industries Becoming More Concentrated?,” Review of Finance 23, no. 4 (July 2019): 697–743, https://doi.org/10.1093/rof/rfz007.

  There were 66,847 corporate mergers: “M&A in the United States,” Thomson Financial, Institute for Mergers, Acquisitions and Alliances (IMAA) analysis, accessed July 2020, https://imaa-institute.org/m-and-a-us-united-states/#m-and-a-waves.

  In nearly every industry: Jay Shambaugh, Ryan Nunn, Audrey Breitwieser, and Patrick Liu, “The State of Competition and Dynamism: Facts about Concentration, Start-ups, and Related Policies,” Brookings Institution, June 13, 2018, https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-state-of-competition-and-dynamism-facts-about-concentration-start-ups-and-related-policies/.

  The companies on the original Fortune 500: “Full List 1955,” Fortune, accessed July 3, 2020, https://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500_archive/full/1955/; “CPI Inflation Calculator,” US Bureau of Labor Statistics, accessed July 3, 2020, https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=8265.7&year1=195512&year2=201912.

  $1.2 trillion in the black: Shawn Tully, “Here’s How Far Corporate Profits Could Tumble in 2020,” Fortune, May 17, 2020, https://fortune.com/longform/corporate-profits-earnings-2020-outlook-fortune-500-companies-guidance/.

  In the United States, the top 1 percent: “Compare Wealth Components across Groups,” Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, accessed December 18, 2020, https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/dfa/compare/chart/#quarter:124;series:Assets;demographic:networth;population:all;units:levels.

  Such price manipulation is legal: Lenore Palladino, “The $1 Trillion Question: New Approaches to Regulating Stock Buybacks,” Yale Journal on Regulation, November 8, 2019, https://www.yalejreg.com/bulletin/the-1-trillion-question-new-approaches-to-regulating-stock-buybacks-2/.

  $4.3 trillion on stock buybacks: William Lazonick, Mustafa Erdem Sakinç, and Matt Hopkins, “Why Stock Buybacks Are Dangerous for the Economy,” Harvard Business Review, January 7, 2020, https://hbr.org/2020/01/why-stock-buybacks-are-dangerous-for-the-economy.

  more than $49 billion in free cash flow: van Doorn, “Opinion: Airlines and Boeing Want a Bailout,” https://www.marketwatch.com/story/airlines-and-boeing-want-a-bailout-but-look-how-much-theyve-spent-on-stock-buybacks-2020-03-18.

  To put it bluntly: Richard Feloni, “The Economist Joseph Stiglitz Explains Why He Thinks the Late Milton Friedman’s Ideas Have Contributed to Rising Inequality in the US,” Business Insider, March 13, 2018, https://www.businessinsider.com/joseph-stiglitz-milton-friedman-capitalism-theories-2018-3.

  In an interview with the New York Times: “Greed Is Good. Except When It’s Bad,” New York Times, September 13, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/13/business/dealbook/milton-friedman-essay-anniversary.html.

  181 members of the Business Roundtable: “Business Roundtable Redefines the Purpose of a Corporation to Promote ‘An Economy That Serves All Americans,’” Business Roundtable, August 19, 2019, https://www.businessroundtable.org/business-roundtable-redefines-the-purpose-of-a-corporation-to-promote-an-economy-that-serves-all-americans.

  In January 2020, BlackRock committed: Andrew Ross Sorkin, “Black- Rock C.E.O. Larry Fink: Climate Crisis Will Reshape Finance,” New York Times, January 14, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/14/business/dealbook/larry-fink-blackrock-climate-change.html; Amy Harder, “JPMorgan Chase to Pull Support for Some Fossil Fuels,” Axios, February 24, 2020, https://www.axios.com/jp-morgan-fossil-fuels-support-4b755a24 -d57c-4d8b-8424-a401e994ec89.html.

  Hedge fund billionaire Daniel Loeb: “Greed Is Good. Except When It’s Bad,” https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/13/business/dealbook/milton-friedman-essay-anniversary.html.

  in the midst of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic: Carmen Reinicke, “Amazon Sees $83 billion in Market Cap Erased after Quarterly Profits Shrink,” Business Insider, May 1, 2020, https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/amazon-stock-price-erasing-billions-market-value-post-earnings-coronavirus-2020-5-1029155310.

  CEOs are now speaking differently: Sean Cao, Wei Jiang, Baozhong Yang, and Alan L. Zhang, “How to Talk When a Machine Is Listening: Corporate Disclosure in the Age of AI” (Working Paper 27950, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA, 2020), https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w27950/w27950.pdf.

  companies that are more rooted: Hernando Cortina, JUST Business, Better Margins (New York: JUST Capital, June 2019), https://justcapital.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/JUSTCapital_JBBM_FullReport_06102019.pdf.

  If the US minimum wage: Joe Sanberg (@JosephNSanberg), “It’s Wednesday so you should know that if the minimum wage had increased at the rate of productivity since 1960, it would be $22.50. Instead, it’s $7.25,” Twitter, October 28, 2020, 8:26 a.m., https://twitter.com/JosephNSanberg/status/1321428054514626562.

  the global average temperature: WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2019 (Geneva: World Meteorological Organization, 2020), https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=10211.

  Absent “drastic action,” the United Nations: Brady Dennis, “In Bleak Report, U.N. Says Drastic Action Is Only Way to Avoid Worst Effects of Climate Change,” Washington Post, November 26, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/11/26/bleak-report-un-says-drastic-action-is-only-way-avoid-worst-impacts-climate-change/.

  seven hundred thousand square miles of land: Aristos Georgiou, “The Sea Is Rising at Such a Catastrophic Rate That We Could Lose 700,000 Square Miles of Land, Displacing 187 Million People,” Newsweek, May 21, 2019, https://www.newsweek.com/sea-rising-700000-land-187-million-people-displaced-1431411.

  fashion is responsible for 10 percent: “Putting the Brakes on Fast Fashion,” United Nations Environment Programme, November 12, 2018, https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/putting-brakes-fast-fashion.

  It was the first “B Corp”: “B Lab,” Patagonia, accessed June 3, 2020, https://www.patagonia.com/b-lab.html.

  eBay actually sued him: eBay Domestic Holdings, Inc. v. Newmark et al., Civil Action No. 3705-CC (Del. Ch. Sept. 9, 2010).

  Chouinard and his comrades: Cedar Wright, “The Wright Stuff: Dirtbagging Is Dead,” Climbing, July 30, 2014, updated June 29, 2017, https://www.climbing.com/news/the-wright-stuff-dirtbagging-is-dead/.

  Chouinard started fashioning: Nick Paumgarten, “Patagonia’s Philosopher-King,” New Yorker, September 12, 2016, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/19/patagonias-philosopher-king.

  He lived out of his car: Paumgarten, “Patagonia’s Philosopher-King,” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/19/patagonias-philosopher-king.

  advises
student entrepreneurs: “CBEY Fellows, Business Leaders: Vincent Stanley,” Yale Center for Business and the Environment, accessed June 3, 2020, https://cbey.yale.edu/our-community/vincent-stanley.

  In the early seventies: Vincent Stanley, interview with Jack Corrigan, June 2, 2020.

  Chouinard discontinued his trademark pitons: Paumgarten, “Patagonia’s Philosopher-King,” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/19/patagonias-philosopher-king.

  It was a risky move: Stanley, interview.

  the company was selling chocks: Matt Linderman, “On Writing: The 1972 Chouinard Catalog That Changed a Business—and Climbing—Forever,” Signalvnoise (blog), February 15, 2011, https://signalvnoise.com/posts/2776-on-writing-the-1972-chouinard-catalog-that-changed-a-business-and-climbing-forever.

  Patagonia had opened a store: Stanley, interview.

  require retooling Patagonia’s whole supply chain: Stanley, interview.

  In groups of forty: Stanley, interview.

  As of June 2020: Stanley, interview.

  During an interview around the launch: Eun Kyung Kim, “Patagonia Founder to Shoppers: Don’t Buy Clothes You Don’t Need (Even Mine),” Today, April 21, 2015, https://www.today.com/news/patagonia-founder-refuse-buy-his-products-if-you-dont-need-t16491.

  when it sued the federal government: Travis Andrews, “‘The President Stole Your Land’: Patagonia, REI Blast Trump on National Monument Rollbacks,” Washington Post, December 5, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/12/05/the-president-stole-your-land-patagonia-rei-blast-trump-on-national-monument-rollbacks/.

  In a LinkedIn post: Rose Mercurio, “Our Urgent Gift to the Planet,” LinkedIn, November 28, 2019, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/our-urgent-gift-planet-rose-marcario/.

  Chouinard criticized his wealthy: Paumgarten, “Patagonia’s Philosopher-King,” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/19/patagonias-philosopher-king.

  As of June 2020: “R2 Fleece Jacket,” Patagonia, accessed June 2020, https://www.patagonia.com/product/mens-r2-regulator-fleece-jacket/25139.html?dwvar_25139_color=RTSR&cgid=mens-fleece-technical.

  There is a reason that the company: Paumgarten, “Patagonia’s Philosopher-King,” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/19/patagonias-philosopher-king.

  China is the world’s largest: “Prospects for the Textile and Clothing Industry in China, 2019 Market Report—ResearchAndMarkets.com,” Business Wire, December 3, 2019, https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191203006080/en/Prospects-Textile-Clothing-Industry-China-2019-Market.

  A detailed investigation: “Dirty Laundry,” Greenpeace International, July 13, 2011, https://www.greenpeace.org/international/publication/7168/dirty-laundry/.

  six thousand environmental violations committed: Susan Egan Keane, “How Clean Are Your Clothes? Pollution from China’s Textile Industry,” Natural Resources Defense Council, April 11, 2012, https://www.nrdc.org/experts/susan-egan-keane/how-clean-are-your-clothes-pollution-chinas-textile-industry.

  Their slogan, “Made in Earth”: “Sustainable Fashion Inspired by Millennia of Chinese Cultural History,” Euro News, March 1, 2020, https://www.euronews.com/living/2020/03/01/sustainable-fashion-inspired-by-millenia-of-chinese-cultural-history.

  Icicle, along with its suppliers: “Suppliers,” Icicle, accessed June 2020, https://www.icicle.com.cn/en/suppliers/.

  That changed in 2019: Anaïs Lerévérend, “Icicle to Open in Paris Its First Flagship Outside China,” Fashion Network, April 19, 2019, https://ww.fashionnetwork.com/news/Icicle-to-open-in-paris-its-first-flagship-outside-china,1091104.html.

  According to a January 2020 report: Nathalie Remy, Eveline Speelman, and Steven Swartz, “Style That’s Sustainable: A New Fast-Fashion Formula,” McKinsey & Company, October 20, 2016, https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/sustainability/our-insights/style-thats-sustainable-a-new-fast-fashion-formula.

  A 2017 study on consumer trends: Ruonan Zheng, “How These Consumer Trends Will Affect Luxury Brands in China in 2018,” Jing Daily, November 1, 2017, https://jingdaily.com/consumer-trends-affect-luxury-brands-china-in-2018-mintel-report/.

  Walmart is the largest company: “Global 500,” Fortune, accessed June 30, 2020, https://fortune.com/global500/.

  With 2.1 million workers: Kaityn Stimage, “The World’s Largest Employers,” WorldAtlas, February 15, 2018, https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-world-s-largest-employers.html.

  more than forty square miles: “Walmart Inc. 2020 Annual Report,” Walmart Inc., accessed June 30, 2020, https://s2.q4cdn.com/056532643/files/doc_financials/2020/ar/Walmart_2020_Annual_Report.pdf.

  If it were a country: “Global 500,” https://fortune.com/global500/; “GDP (current US$),” World Bank, accessed June 30, 2020, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?most_recent_value_desc=true.

  As Cory Doctorow wrote: Cory Doctorow, “The People’s Republic of Walmart: How Late-Stage Capitalism Gives Way to Early-Stage Fully Automated Luxury Communism,” BoingBoing, March 5, 2019, https://boingboing.net/2019/03/05/walmart-without-capitalism.html.

  Walmart executives committed: Marc Gunther, “The Green Machine,” Fortune, July 31, 2006, https://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/08/07/8382593/index.htm.

  Under the Toxic Substances Control Act: Sheldon Krimsky, “The Unsteady State and Inertia of Chemical Regulation under the US Toxic Substances Control Act,” PLOS Biology 15, no. 12 (2017), https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2002404.

  In 2007, Walmart announced: “Wal-Mart to Sell Only Concentrated Products in Liquid Laundry Detergent Category by May 2008,” Walmart, September 26, 2007, https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/2007/09/26/wal-mart-to-sell-only-concentrated-products-in-liquid-laundry-detergent-category-by-may-2008.

  400 million gallons of water: “Wal-Mart Completes Goal to Sell Only Concentrated Liquid Laundry Detergent,” Walmart, May 29, 2008, https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/2008/05/29/wal-mart-completes-goal-to-sell-only-concentrated-liquid-laundry-detergent.

  Soon, the rest of the market: Kerry Capell, “Unilever’s Laundry Biz Is Greener, and Growing,” Bloomberg, December 24, 2008, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2008-12-24/unilevers-laundry-biz-is-greener-and-growingbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice.

  In 2013, Walmart announced: Randi Abrams-Caras,“Walmart: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back?,” Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, October 3, 2013, https://saferchemicals.org/2013/10/03/walmart-two-steps-forward-one-step-back/.

  In 2017, Walmart became: Mike Schade, “Walmart Becomes First Retailer in Nation to Evaluate Its Chemical Footprint,” Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, August 2, 2017, https://saferchemicals.org/2017/08/02/walmart-becomes-first-retailer-to-evaluate-its-chemical-footprint/.

  The nonprofit group Safer Chemicals: “New Report Reveals Top Retailers Making Major Chemical Safety Advances,” Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, November 19, 2019, https://saferchemicals.org/2019/11/19/new-report-reveals-top-retailers-making-major-chemical-safety-advances/.

  working with suppliers to reduce: 2018 Global Responsibility Report, Walmart, accessed June 30, 2020, https://corporate.walmart.com/media-library/document/2018-global-responsibility-report/_proxyDocument?id=00000170-ac54-d808-a9f1-ac7e9d160000.

  Walmart has also made notable strides: Ian Graber-Stiehl, “Behind the Hype of Walmart’s Sustainability Efforts,” Gizmodo, October 23, 2018, https://earther.gizmodo.com/behind-the-hype-of-walmart-s-sustainability-efforts-1829931295; Andrew Spicer and David Graham Hyatt, “Walmart Tried to Make Sustainability Affordable. Here’s What Happened,” Business Journals, August 18, 2018, https://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/news/2018/08/13/walmart-tried-to-make-sustainability-affordable.html.

  Journalist Matt Taibbi famously: Matt Taibbi, “The Great American Bubble Machine,” Rolling Stone, April 5, 2010, https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/the-great-american-bubble-machine-195229/.

  In 2018 and 2019, some sixty companies: Claire Zillman, “
The U.S. Doesn’t Mandate Diverse Boardrooms—but Now Goldman Sachs Does,” Fortune, January 23, 2020, https://fortune.com/2020/01/23/goldman-sachs-board-gender-quota-david-solomon/.

  Solomon fought to ensure: Jena McGregor, “Goldman Sachs Says It Wants Half of Its Entry-Level Recruits to Be Women,” Washington Post, March 18, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/03/18/goldman-sachs-says-it-wants-half-its-entry-level-recruits-be-women/.

  Certain energy companies: Gregg Lemkau, interview with Alec Ross, June 2, 2020. All interviews not otherwise cited were conducted by Alec Ross in 2020.

  Women fill just 20 percent: Subodh Mishra, “U.S. Board Diversity Trends in 2019,” Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, June 18, 2019, https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2019/06/18/u-s-board-diversity-trends-in-2019/.

  In 2020, Jeff Bezos: Karen Weise, “Jeff Bezos Commits $10 Billion to Address Climate Change,” New York Times, February 17, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/17/technology/jeff-bezos-climate-change-earth-fund.html.

  Bill Gates has committed his fortune: Matthew Brown, “Fact Check: Bill Gates Has Given Over $50 Billion to Charitable Causes over Career,” USA Today, June 11, 2020, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/06/11/fact-check-bill-gates-has-given-over-50-billion-charitable-causes/3169864001/.

  One of the criticisms: Steve Denning, “Why Stakeholder Capitalism Will Fail,” Forbes, January 5, 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2020/01/05/why-stakeholder-capitalism-will-fail/#36019f7b785a.

  Former Bank of England governor: Kalyeena Makortoff, “Mark Carney Says Banks Should Link Executive Pay to Paris Climate Goals,” Guardian, October 13, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/oct/13/mark-carney-says-banks-should-link-executive-pay-to-paris-climate-goals.

  2: THE GOVERNMENT: BILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE GOVERNED MORE BY COMPANIES THAN BY COUNTRIES

  With 150-mile-per-hour winds: Robinson Meyer, “What’s Happening with the Relief Effort in Puerto Rico?,” Atlantic, October 4, 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/10/what-happened-in-puerto-rico-a-timeline-of-hurricane-maria/541956/.