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Welcome to You’re Probably Getting Screwed, a weekly newsletter and video series from J.D. Scholten and Justin Stofferahn about the Second Gilded Age and the ways economic concentration is putting politics and profits over working people.
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Welcome to You’re Probably Getting Screwed, a weekly newsletter and video series from J.D. Scholten and Justin Stofferahn about the Second Gilded Age and the ways economic concentration is putting politics and profits over working people.
If you’re single, like I am, you should probably know that this guy, Jerome Powell, is having a major impact on a lot of single people’s dating life.
In the United States, 30 percent of adults, and over half of adults under 30, use dating apps.
However, there is an increasing trend that people, especially younger people, are getting off of dating apps and are either meeting people out in the real world or using social media like Instagram or TikTok.
Dating apps have changed from being free to a lot of them pushing a subscription based model.
Why is that?
Well, let’s go back to Jerome Powell. He’s the Chair of the Federal Reserve, and they determine interest rates. The general idea is that when interest rates are low investments, like venture capital money, goes up and when interest rates go up, investments go down.
For years, dating apps have lived on VC investments.
The subscription model isn’t really working, especially for young people. Bumble, the second most-downloaded dating app, has lost $40 billion in market share value since 2021.
A recent study says that “Dating apps claim the more personal data you share, the more likely you are to find love. We have no way of knowing if that’s true. What we do know is that most dating apps fail spectacularly at protecting that information.”
Most dating apps (80%) may share or sell your personal information for advertising.
And just like most of our economy, dating apps have a consolidation issue, with just 6 apps owning 85% of the market.
Lastly, to all of the single people out there, I wish you all the best, that your privacy and data are protected and that you find what you’re looking for.
YOU’RE PROBABLY (ALSO) GETTING SCREWED BY:
Tax Cheats
Want a tax cut? Warren Buffett has some ideas and it doesn’t involve privatizing Social Security or getting rid of Medicare. Check it out:
Big Oil Lying
Democrats in the US House, through the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, which was disbanded by Republicans in 2022, recently obtained documents that provide more proof that fossil fuel companies have engaged in increasingly sophisticated attempts to downplay the impacts of climate change.
Price-Fixing….by Big Oil
Speaking of Big Oil, price-fixing (an economy-wide scourge we’ve covered here) in the industry caused 27% of the increase in inflation in 2021 and cost the average family $3,000 last year! Matt Stoller has the full details at BIG.
Union-Busting
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Avian Flu
Video Game Mergers
Back in 2020 Microsoft, the maker of XBox, acquired Bethesda bringing its number of video game studios to 23 (vertical integration baby!). Now it is closing four of the studios it acquired, which follows massive layoffs announced after its merger with Blizzard.
SOME GOOD NEWS
Illinois considering greater oversight of PBMs
We discussed last week the way PBMs are destroying independent pharmacies and driving up drug costs and the Illinois Legislature is considering doing something about it. Legislators have held a series of hearings investigating the industry and the gaps in state regulatory oversight.
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Antitrust in Action
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BEFORE YOU GO
Before you go, I need two things from you: 1) if you like something, please share it on social media or the next time you have coffee with a friend. 2) Ideas, if you have any ideas for future newsletter content please comment below. Thank you.
Standing Tall for All,
J.D. Scholten
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