You're Probably Getting Screwed

Fox News Doesn't Think Much of Workers

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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It’s crazy how Fox News is constantly blaming fast food workers getting paid $20 an hour but fails to mention when consumers pay more for the companies profits…

What’s more out of touch and disingenuous than a multimillionaire complaining about the wages of fast food workers…

If there’s one thing consistent, it’s Fox News looking down on people economically. But… if you look up, you see a huge part of the problem: consolidation, where just 10 corporations own over 50 food chains.

And they won’t tell you about how private equity is buying up popular food brands.

On the flip side, if you want to hear the truth about our economy, Sean Fain, UAW President, is preaching!

YOU’RE PROBABLY (ALSO) GETTING SCREWED BY:

Monopolies

Check out this video from Robert Reich on the connection between monopolies and high prices or as it has been called, greedflation. 

 

CEOs of Monopolies 

Dave Calhoun, the outgoing CEO of Boeing, you know the company that makes planes that fall apart, lost out on a $3 million bonus last year. Oh no! But don’t worry, Calhoun still made $33 million last year, up from $22.6 million, and will get a $24 million payout when he departs!  

Amazon

The businesses that use Amazon are getting cheated out of an estimated $101 billion because of scam returns from consumers that Amazon is doing nothing to prevent. This is on top of the massive fees businesses have to pay to Amazon in order to get access to customers. 

Corporations (Particularly Wall Street)

A new report from Good Jobs First found that regulatory fines, criminal penalties and class-action settlements paid by corporations in the US since 2000 have now passed $1 trillion! Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase top the list of most penalized companies and price-fixing, which we’ve discussed in this newsletter, was among the most penalized conduct. 

Uber and Lyft

Speaking of penalized corporations, the rideshare duopoly has to pay $328 million following a wage theft lawsuit New York Attorney General Letitia James brought. The case highlights the ways Uber and Lyft extract benefits from their misclassification of workers. 

Bipartisanship

Democrats and Republicans on the US House Antitrust Subcommittee are working to undermine efforts by the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice to reign in mega-mergers, something tens of thousands of Americans asked them to do in public comments on revamped merger guidelines.  

Baseball’s Billionaires (The one in Oakland…again)

John Fisher, the trust-fund baby owner of the Oakland Athletics, continues to make a mess of his unnecessary effort to move the team to Las Vegas. Before that move the team will now spend three years in Sacramento at a minor league park, a plan that was a total surprise to employees. 

SOME GOOD NEWS

Legislators Take on Private Equity

While an effort in Oregon to reign in private equity in healthcare has stalled out, other states are taking up the fight. In Minnesota a bill that would put a moratorium on further private equity purchases of healthcare providers received a hearing on Monday. While the bill won’t move this year, it’s a first step and you can contact your state legislator and ask them to do the same! 

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