You're Probably Getting Screwed

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.

The election is just over a week away and there’s one poll that people aren’t talking enough about.

A new poll was released by one of the top pollsters in partnership with COSAL (Committee to Support the Antitrust Laws) and AAI (the American Antitrust Institute). 

This poll shows that strong antitrust enforcement is wildly popular and that voters strongly support the idea that huge corporations should be checked by government regulators.

Now keep in mind, the voters that were polled are in battleground states where huge amounts of money from the tech industry and Wall Street are trying to influence the election in record breaking amounts of spending.

Some of the key findings are:

That voters understand what’s at stake and want action on antitrust enforcement

and litigation to counter behavior by corporate monopolies and economically powerful

corporations.

That voters strongly believe that monopolies and economically powerful corporations hurt

small businesses, families, customers, and the economy with their actions.

Voters think wealthy and big corporations not paying their fair share in taxes, engaging in

price-gouging, hoarding wealth, and squashing competition are major factors in the economic

hardship facing many Americans today.

If that’s where the voters are at, let’s look at the U.S. Senate races where candidates lead with an economic populist message.

Incumbents, Senator Klobuchar (who wrote a book called “Antitrust”) along with two populists Senator Tester and Senator Sherrod Brown are out performing the top of the ticket by 5.5 points, 12 points and 10 points in their states respectively. 

And you look at challengers in Missouri, North Dakota and Nebraska who lead with economic populism who are polling above the top of the ticket as well. 

There’s no doubt that we need more Democrats leading with an inclusive, economic populist message. Just like what Sherrod Brown said on Pod Save America:

YOU’RE PROBABLY (ALSO) GETTING SCREWED BY:

PBMs

The headline says it all: “The Powerful Companies Driving Local Drugstores Out of Business.” The New York Times with another deep dive on the disastrous impacts of PBMs.

Hollywood

Consolidation has left an award-winning documentary about the successful unionization of an Amazon warehouse in New York without any studio or streaming deal so it will have to self-distribute instead. 

Trump Tax Cuts

Food Consolidation

One company is responsible for a massive recall impacting hundreds of varieties of frozen waffles and pancakes. TreeHouse Foods used a merger spree to transform into the nation’s largest manufacturer of private-label offerings. 

IV Monopolies

Wall Street Housing

The skyrocketing cost of housing is leaving voters in the Sun Belt feeling hopeless and Wall Street is partly to blame. The story explains how investors bought up thousands of homes during the Great Recession and are now renting those homes out at exorbitant rents. 

Some Good News

The FTC Won Again: Judge Blocks $8.5B Fashion House Merger

To read this great news, I suggest reading Matt Stoller’s piece in BIG.

FTC Probing John Deere 

The Federal Trade Commission is investigating John Deere, which controls over half of the tractor manufacturing industry, to see if its restrictive repair policies violate antitrust or consumer protection laws.

Populism Polls Well

(Also see above…) New polling of swing state voters commissioned by the American Antitrust Institute and the Committee On Supporting Antitrust Laws has a number of interesting results that confirm Americans are worried about the power of corporate monopolies. 

No To Stadium Subsidies 

Following the worst season in the history of Major League Baseball, the owner of the Chicago White Sox, Jerry Reisndorf, has been lobbying lawmakers for taxpayer money to build a new stadium. This week Illinois Governor JB Pritzker told him to go pound sand. 

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