|
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.
 |
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.
When talking about the economy, if you’re just being against the Trump tariffs or just talking about the price of eggs, you’re missing the point!
https://youtube.com/shorts/x-mxXXyjndU?feature=share
We need to talk about taking on economic structures. Like capping insulin at $35 is good policy, but it doesn’t address the overall structure of healthcare and why things are so expensive.
So when it comes to talking about the price of eggs, politicians need to be careful because most likely the price will come down before the midterm elections in November of 2026.
Instead, talk about how the bird flu exacerbates the problem because eggs and the agriculture sector are so heavily concentrated. It’s just like the baby formula shortage a couple of years ago.
When it comes to the Trump tariffs, the two main things are that working class people bear the brunt of those costs and America becomes an unreliable supplier (just look at how we lost the soybean market to Brazil since the first Trump trade war).
Currently, 60% of vegetables consumed in the U.S. are imported and 40% of fruits. And because our labeling systems are so weak, beef imported into the U.S. can be repackaged in an America processing plant can technically have a “Product of the USA” label on it.
So when Trump posts “Farmers, Have Fun” fun for what? It will take years to create the infrastructure needed to enact that because we have spent decades creating “efficiency” in Agriculture.
Bottom line is this: income inequality is as bad as, if not worse than, the Gilded Age, 57% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck and America has a monopoly problem. This moment isn’t the time for quick fixes or playing whack-a-mole. America’s economy needs structural change and we need leaders to match the moment!
YOU’RE PROBABLY (ALSO) GETTING SCREWED BY:
Shell Companies
 |
Layoffs and Stock Surgences
This story in the American Prospect is wild!!!
More than a dozen hospitals employing tens of thousands have either shut this year or are on the brink, while two shadowy figures prop up their owners’ stock.
Trump Tax Cuts
New analysis shows that extending the 2017 tax cuts would leave people in the bottom 40 percent of incomes worse off when paired with Medicaid and SNAP cuts, because their tax cuts are so paltry and they would bear the brunt of the spending cuts.
 |
Families in the bottom 20 percent — whose incomes are below roughly $14,000 — would on net lose an average $1,125 annually, or 5 percent of their income. The second-lowest income group (who earn up to about $38,000) would lose $430, or 1.4 percent. (See chart.)
High-income families, on the other hand, would receive enormous net tax cuts. People in the top 1 percent of incomes (above about $650,000) would gain $43,500 annually, or 2.9 percent, on average.
The Trump Administration
One of Trump's Executive Order from last week puts rural community banks at risk.
An executive order President Donald Trump signed on Friday, calling for the federal Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund and other agencies to be "eliminated," targets the economic lifeblood of America's rural communities.
Privatizing Amtrak and the Postal Service
Elon Musk says Post Office, Amtrak should be privatized. Even Forbes magazine thinks this is a bad idea and gives 7 reasons why that’s the case.
Elon Musk
Starlink is cheap to deploy, but could leave rural Americans "stranded" with slower speeds and higher costs.
Good News
Book Club is Back!!!
March's book is “Democracy in Power” by Sandeep Vaneesan, the legal director at the Open Markets Institute.
 |
You can purchase “Democracy in Power” here. And be sure to send in your questions for Sandeep by commenting below.
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
| ||||||||||
