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.
Did you hear Senator John Tester on Pod Save America this week?
Amen! I firmly believe in the idea that America Needs Farmers, Farmers Need Antitrust!
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YOU’RE PROBABLY (ALSO) GETTING SCREWED BY:
John Deere
Fantastic video on how tech is being used by manufacturers to limit our choices, opportunities for entrepreneurship and the very idea of ownership.
PBMs
Big healthcare is fighting back. The giant companies that own the country’s three largest PBMs (UnitedHealth Group, Cigna and CVS) have sued the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) claiming the FTC’s lawsuit against them for driving up the cost of insulin is unconstitutional.
Visa & Mastercard
The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the impacts of Visa and Mastercard’s credit card duopoly. The two companies control 80% of the market and in 2023 charged merchants, including a lot of small businesses, more than $100 billion in credit card fees.
DOGE
Tech billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy who have been tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to co-chair the “Department of Government Efficiency” or DOGE, outlined a plan this week for mass government layoffs, major deregulation and argued the president should be able to make major spending decisions independent of Congress.
Carrot Monopolies
An E. coli outbreak impacting just one carrot supplier has lead to recalls across 18 states and multiple brands. Grimmway Farms is the country’s largest carrot supplier and is one of the two companies that control 60% of the market, a classic example of how monopoly creates brittle supply chains.
Tax Credits
A spot on meme about policymakers overreliance on minor tweaks to the tax code as a response to major structural issues.
Price Fixing Laws
A thought provoking piece Tara Pincock at the Open Markets Institute on how lax antitrust enforcement and an unwillingness to bring aggressive criminal charges undermines efforts to deter price fixing across the economy.
SOME GOOD NEWS:
Vigo County tells Dollar General to pound sand
The county commission of Vigo County in Indiana unanimously voted down a re-zoning request that would have allowed Dollar General to locate in Prairieton, a small town of just over 1,000 people. This is a great example of how every level of government has a role to play in fighting corporate power.
Senate Antimonopoly Champions Organize
The good people at Fight Corporate Monopolies held a press event last week with various Democrat Senators to highlight their continued commitment to fighting back against monopoly power.
Wall Street loses to Warren
Despite a strong lobbying effort by Wall Street titans to block her, Elizabeth Warren will become the ranking members (top Democrat) on the Senate Banking Committee in the next Congress.
Arizona Leading State-Level Antimonopoly Efforts
Attorney General Kris Mayes is one of the better attorneys general in the country when it comes to utilizing antitrust laws and unlike many state officials her use of Arizona’s antimonopoly laws means their groundbreaking cases, like one against RealPage for price-fixing rents, will continue regardless of what happens to antitrust enforcement under the Trump Administration.
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
