The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is “Optimistic”… About Exploiting the Working Class

By Elic Weitzel, February 6, 2024

When the Chamber says they are optimistic about America’s economic future, they mean that they are optimistic that their corporate members will continue to thrive as working class people continue to suffer.

Over the last several years, the U.S. economy has suffered from inflation, high prices, rising poverty, and increased economic inequality. Given all of these difficulties, it is perhaps unsurprising that fewer than half of Americans feel confident investing in the stock market, taking out a loan, buying a new home, buying a new car, starting a new job, or continuing their education.

Yet despite the harsh economic reality confronting most Americans, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says they are “optimistic” about the American economy.

On January 11, 2024, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce held their annual State of American Business event to advocate for free enterprise in our nation’s economy. The president and CEO of the Chamber, Suzanne Clark, gave a speech at this event lauding the benefits of the free market and firmly asserting that despite any perceived economic downsides, we should be overall optimistic.

But what Clark failed to mention is that the optimism of the Chamber of Commerce is predicated upon the exploitation of American workers.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is a powerful and influential trade association, and the largest lobbying organization in the United States. They advocate for the political interests of their many member corporations and refuse to disclose their membership lists or funding details, making them effectively the largest political dark money operation in existence.

As such, when the Chamber says they are optimistic about America’s economic future, they mean that they are optimistic that their corporate members will continue to thrive as working class people continue to suffer. Corporate profits are sky-high with an all-time peak in 2022 at $3.3 trillion. CEO pay is up an astonishing 1,460% since 1978 while the average employee’s salary has increased only 18.1% in that same time. Recent analysis has also shown that a full 53% of the recent inflation plaguing American consumers was driven by corporate profiteering as companies continued to charge exorbitant prices while enjoying falling costs themselves.

As such, the major shareholders and executives of large corporations are certainly justified in their optimism: they’re doing better than ever. But this optimism is at odds with the economic reality facing the average American. The Chamber of Commerce works tirelessly on behalf of capital owners—not working people—and lobbies politicians to ensure that profits grow no matter the cost to employees and consumers. Thus, when they say they are optimistic, they mean they are optimistic they can continue to pay employees less than they deserve, to charge consumers more than they need to, and to buy political influence to ensure favorable economic policy is enacted. That is the vision of “free enterprise” lauded and supported by the Chamber.

While the Chamber of Commerce is optimistic that wealthy business owners can profit from the exploitation of working Americans, there is hope that the lives of regular people can improve. Union membership grew by 200,000 people in 2022, though overall union membership remains low and corporations continue to obstruct unionization efforts at every turn. Positive attitudes towards unions should be a source of hope for working people, as should the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act which is creating union jobs in clean energy, revising the tax code to better target corporations and the wealthy, and lowering healthcare costs.

While the Chamber of Commerce is optimistic for all the wrong reasons, there is hope that we can resist the coercive power of corporate interests and secure a better future for working class Americans.

To help fight back against the Chamber of Commerce’s harmful lobbying, sign up for the Change the Chamber newsletter here and donate here.

Change The Chamber is a bipartisan coalition of over 100 student groups, including undergraduates, graduate students and recent graduates.