Prospect Weekend Reads Week of June 10th Stories from the week you don’t want to miss!
ILLUSTRATION BY JAN BUCHCZIK
Taming the Pricing Beast: Throughout our June special issue on pricing, we've described how
corporations use underhanded tactics to squeeze more from their customers. Fortunately, there is hope. Bilal Baydounoutlines what policymakers can do to fight price gouging and protect consumers. How the Republicans Became the Party of Precarious Manhood: By remaking the Republican Party in his image, Donald Trump has also come to amplify his base's discontent. Read Harold Meyerson on Trump’s genius at exploiting working-class male displacement and anxiety.
War In the Aisles: Every aspect of the grocery store, from product placement to coupons to advertising, is the result of pricing strategies
designed to boost profits at the expense of the consumer. Jarod Facundo has the story for our June print issue.
A Continuing Struggle to Reform Payday Lending: While several states have capped interest rates recently, in Rhode Island, removing debt traps has been a 15-year odyssey with no end in sight. Janie Ekere reports on how reformers in the Ocean State are fighting to crack down on predatory lending.
What We Owe: For our June print issue on pricing, Kalena Thomhave details how credit card companies inflict "double greedflation" on their customers, first on goods and services, then again on the credit used to buy them.
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