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Car Prices Are in the Stratosphere, U.S. Senator Warren Says Greed Is to Blame

Never at any point in motorcar history have average prices skyrocketed to the degree they have in the last 12 months. As a global supply chain nightmare strangleholds, the industry like a frightened animal caught in a bear trap, one Massachusetts senator believes the problem lies in shareholders and CEOs, not in the common autoworker.
Elizabeth Warren 11 photos
Photo: Benny Kirk
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Senator Elizabeth Warren penned a letter regarding this matter later obtained by CNN's news team. In this letter, Warren torched the global auto industry, in which just five companies control over 50% of the world's semiconductor production, leaving smaller independent companies at the mercy of multinational corporations.

"This market concentration has reduced competition, allowing giant corporations to deliver massive returns for shareholders," Warren explained in her passionate letter sent to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. "But it has harmed consumers by enabling these dominant companies to increase prices and underinvest in key capabilities, which has the effect of also reducing product innovation and product quality."

The Semiconductor Industry Association of America responded to this statement by agreeing with Senator Warren, urging for support of new chip manufacturing operations in domestic American spaces, which once were outsourced to other nations. Before the global health crisis brought upon the worst supply chain crisis in recent memory. Still, the group didn't agree wholeheartedly with Warren's claims. Offering a retort via John Neuffer, CEO of the trade group

"Some of the Senator's other assertions are simply wide of the mark," said Neuffer. "The semiconductor industry is one of the world's most fiercely competitive, innovative, and economically impactful sectors, revolutionizing entire segments of the economy and dramatically improving our way of life."

While politicians and business trade groups alike bicker over who is to blame for the current supply crisis, the issues carry on growing more severe each day. As the consuming public, we can only sit back and pray that the situation miraculously improves.
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