Happy Anniversary... American Revolution
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.
Next week will be the 250th anniversary of the start of the American Revolution.
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The Boston Tea Party was a pivotal moment before the Revolution.
What led to the Boston Tea Party were these three things, let me know if these sound familiar:
A rejection of unpopular tariffs
A rejection of a monopoly, back then it was the East India Trading Company.
A rejection of an unpopular head of state.
It’s just something to think about…
YOU’RE PROBABLY (ALSO) GETTING SCREWED BY:
Tariffs
If you’ve peaked at your 401k recently, well you might want to avoid doing so. Matt Stoller has a couple of detailed pieces in BIG on the problems with President Trump’s tariff plan. Matt is no free trade neoliberal, but notes that it took decades to hollow out America’s ability to build things and will require a thoughtful and deliberate plan to fix. What is happening currently is chaotic and random and as Peter Bloom points out, might actually further entrench powerful elites.
DOGE
Late last week it was reported that Elon Musk and his cronies at DOGE had arrived at the Federal Trade Commission. This is just weeks after President Trump fired, likely illegally, the two Democrats on the FTC Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter. Maybe the only surprise here is that it took so long for Musk, who hated former FTC Chair Lina Khan, to get his unelected tentacles into the agency.
Sports Gambling
Former ESPN reporter Joon Lee has launched his own YouTube channel nearly two years after being fired by ESPN and then barred from working elsewhere in the industry. Joon’s video announcing his new channel is an interesting commentary on the ways in which sports gambling has rapidly transformed sports journalism and not for the better.
Optum
The pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) owned by UnitedHealth, the largest employer of doctors in the US, has been gobbling up medical practices in the Hudson Valley. It prompted Congressman Dan Ryan to launch a community inquiry into the impacts of consolidation on access and quality of care and over 1,800 people responded to the survey, which “illuminated a deeply troubling pattern surrounding Optum’s care quality, accessibility, and billing practices.”
Speaking of UnitedHealth
The Trump Administration is giving a big pay boost to Medicare Advantage, the privatized program that is eating Medicare alive. The $25 billion increase is “an unexpectedly big win for UnitedHealth Group, Humana, CVS Health and Elevance, among other big insurers.” So much for the tough talk of Dr. Oz, Elon Musk and the DOGE team.
Oligarchs
If you do not know of David Seligman or Towards Justice, the nonprofit law firm in Denver that David runs, you should. Towards Justice specializes in antitrust and labor law, taking on the corporate monopolies that are screwing the working class. David spoke at the Denver anti-oligarchy rally hosted by Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez about the ways corporate monopolies are screwing his clients.
Ag Monopolies
Sean Dengler is a former farmer in Iowa and wrote recently about how corporate monopolies pushed him off his family’s fifth-generation farm.
“Despite the farm's significance to me, at the end of 2024, I made the tough decision to call it quits. Corporate monopolies created barriers to our farm’s sustainability and eventually pushed me out of the business.”
Corporate Subsidies
Justin recently interviewed Arlene Martinez of Good Jobs First, but over at Boondoggle, Pat Garofalo digs into a new study that found corporations that received state subsidies are more likely to engage in misconduct. Making matters worse, regulators and legislators are less likely to hold those companies accountable for their wrongdoing.
Labor Market Consolidation
Justin wrote a piece in the Minnesota Reformer on how corporate monopolies are harming workers and what Minnesota legislators (and other states) can do to address the problem.
SOME GOOD NEWS
Family Dollar is out, Family-owned is in
As Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self Reliance put it, “A local retailer has taken over an abandoned dollar store in Kalamazoo and turned it into a much-needed local grocer.”
Antitrust in the States
With the Trump Administration dismantling the FTC and cutting the Antitrust Division, antimonopoly energy should shift to the states. Fortunately Fight Corporate Monopolies (FCM) and the Institute for Local Self Reliance (ILSR) have you covered.
FCM recently launched Freedom From Monopolies NY, a broad package of reforms New York legislators could pursue to reign in monopoly power. ILSR is out with a new map of state antitrust laws where you can find out what protections your state has and what is missing. Take a look and then call your legislator!
BOOK CLUB
We are excited to announce our book club selection for April. This month’s book is “99% Perspiration” by reporter Adam Chandler. Adam’s new book is a look at the myths we tell ourselves about hard work, with some fascinating profiles of how consolidation impacts working people.
You can purchase 99% Perspiration here but Adam said he also would encourage you to request it from your local library. And be sure to send in your questions for Adam 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