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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.
April Fools! Sort of. There is waste in Medicare, but it’s not because of welfare cheats or government employees, it’s because of the private healthcare monopolies that have grown their influence over the program.
If you want a deeper dive into how Medicare Advantage costs taxpayers, fails patients and helps drive consolidation in healthcare, read “Medicare Advantage and Vertical Consolidation in Health Care” from the American Economic Liberties Project.
The latest report of the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee (MedPAC) can be found here which finds Medicare Advantage is overpaid by at least $84 billion.
While not specific to Medicare Advantage, I highly recommend “We Found the $2 Trillion” from the American Prospect. The article details how monopolists like Elon Musk are the real ones ripping off taxpayers.
YOU’RE PROBABLY (ALSO) GETTING SCREWED BY:
Healthcare Monopolies Again
President Trump is attempting to fire the two Democrat members of the Federal Trade Commission despite their terms not ending until next year. Those two commissioners, Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, joined Fight Corporate Monopolies for a roundtable on healthcare consolidation.
DOJ Reorganization
The FTC is not the only attack by the Trump Administration on antitrust enforcement. It was reported last week that a major reorganization of the Department of Justice is being considered and it would have severe impacts on the Antitrust Division.
The proposal would move policy and economic experts out of the division and consolidate them elsewhere in DOJ. This would seem to undercut a proposal by Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Gail Slater to spend less on outside economic experts because they have in-house ones they should rely on. Details, details!
The proposal would also shutter two Antitrust Division field offices in Chicago and San Francisco. I guess to all the agribusinesses that want to screw farmers and big tech firms that want to screw workers and consumers, you can send your thank you notes to Elon Musk?
Trump Administration’s Illegal Attacks on Regulatory Agencies
Elizabeth Wilkins, the president and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute, has a great piece on how “Trump’s Illegal Attacks on Regulatory Agencies Are a Gift to Corporations.”
YOU’RE PROBABLY (ALSO) GETTING SCREWED BY (BASEBALL EDITION):
Opening Day
This newsletter believes it should be a National Holiday, but in the meantime Groundwork Collaborative released a new policy brief on a unique idea for addressing stadium subidies, “Shakedown at the Snack Counter: The Case for Street Pricing.”
“When families visit ballparks or travel through airports, they shouldn’t be held hostage by price gougers,” said Alex Jacquez, Chief of Policy and Advocacy at Groundwork Collaborative and a co-author of the report. “Taxpayer dollars finance these venues, many of which are owned by billionaires or wealthy investment groups. They shouldn’t be subjected to outrageous prices by corporate vendors benefitting from public subsidies.”
MLB Disparities
Major League Baseball has a disparity problem, well a spending disparity problem as Maury Brown at Forbes lays out.
“The average salary for the top third of the league came to $281,340,295 while the bottom third averaged $121,343,069, a difference of $159,997,227 or nearly that of the Royals with 20th highest final Luxury Tax payroll.”
Of course payrolls don’t equal revenue as the handy Scrooge Index helps highlight. Outlets like Forbes and the Wall Street Journal (sorry for the paywall) want you to believe a salary cap is the fix. Same with Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner who will also complain he can’t keep pace with other teams despite making $411 million in ticket sales alone last year, or the Ricketts who own the Cubs and constantly cry poor!
What this is all really designed to do is make fans blame anyone but the owners for a lengthy work stoppage next year when the league needs to adopt a new collective bargaining agreement. But don’t buy that nonsense from the Baseball Barons. Former pitcher and now staffer at the Major League Baseball Players Association, Andrew Miller, set the record straight.
MLB Blackouts
There’s no one who hates MLB Blackouts more than J.D.! He even mentioned the issue on the Iowa House Floor in a point of personal privilege.
On Opening Day everyone was facing blackouts because the league’s streaming service (MLB.tv) crashed. To fix it MLB sent out vouchers to use at the MLB shop, but you will still have to pay shipping. Someday they’ll figure it out… Someday.
Private Equity
Did you know that one private-equity backed firm, Diamond Baseball Holdings, now owns over a third of the 120 minor league teams affiliated with a big league club? Talk about a monopoly!
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Some Good News
Pennsylvania Congressman Chris Deluzio gave a speech on the House floor last week laying out a new vision for Democrats he called Economic Patriotism and is focused on attacking monopoly power. Deluzio’s speech is below, but you can find the full hour of speeches by the Economic Patriots here.
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.
Break Em Up,
Justin Stofferahn
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