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. Republicans in the U.S House plan to vote on a budget this week with $880 Billion in Medicaid cuts in it! Here’s what it means…  Cuts to federal Medicaid funding would have far-reaching consequences, with states being forced to either raise taxes or scale back program eligibility, limit covered benefits, or lower reimbursement rates to providers. Heck, Steve Bannon has even come out against this. Which is only the 2nd time I have agreed with him and the first we’ve cited Fortune magazine here… For example, there are 174,295 people on Medicaid where I live and the district would lose $2.18B. Here are just a few examples of what’s going to happen if these cuts pass, so they can make room to give more tax breaks to the super wealthy and corporations: First, nursing homes will close. 62% of all nursing home residents in the country rely on Medicaid. In Iowa, nursing homes are struggling to survive with an already low Medicaid reimbursement rate. This will close nursing homes, especially in rural communities. Second, more people will become homeless. In a place like Iowa, if you're a low-income Iowan aged 65 or older or a low-income disabled adult you may be eligible for a partial reimbursement of your rent. They are already making cuts to this program at the state level here, forcing a couple of residents in my hometown that have reached out to me to move, and hopefully not to become homeless. Third, overloading case workers causing more staffing shortages. This means people with disabilities having to rely on their family for care. In Sioux City, we have someone who is very active in the community, fulltime career and on the city council but there are days if it wasn’t for his mom he can’t get out of bed because of existing shortages. All of this, just so we can give more tax breaks to the super wealthy and corporations. If this passes the House, call your Representative and Senators immediately to say “NO” to this budget. YOU’RE PROBABLY (ALSO) GETTING SCREWED BY: Elon Musk 60 Minutes did a segment this past weekend on the shut down of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) which includes an interview with former CFPB director Rohit Chopra where he lays out the consequences of letting Wall Street run free. “They would want a situation where the agency is a lapdog rather than a watchdog," Chopra said.  Union Busting The so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been working to cancel leases including for the Buffalo field office of the National Labor Relations Board, which is just the latest way the Trump Administration is kneecapping the agency. President Trump fired a board member shortly after taking office, which left the NLRB with just two members, which means the board cannot meet quorum requirements and even meet. Inequality Consumers power the modern day economy, but the richest 10% of Americans are now responsible for half of all that spending. A concentration that is not only morally wrong but creates a precarious situation for the economy.
Price Discrimination A pair of California convenience stores are suing PepsiCo and Frito-Lay for allegedly favoring Walmart, Target and other chain grocery stores by charging them much lower prices than independent small businesses. Such behavior is a violation of the Robinson-Patman Act, which Ron Knox discussed with Justin last week. Pharmacy Benefit Managers Independent pharmacies across Alabama are staging a walkout today in protest of the practices pharmacy benefit managers (PBM), powerful middlemen in the drug supply chain, that are driving them out of business.  SOME GOOD NEWSMerger Guidelines remain in place FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson has announced that the agency will continue to use the recently revised merger guidelines as the basis for evaluating mergers. This sounds wonky, but is a big win for tougher antitrust enforcement. In 2023 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) approved updated merger guidelines. These guidelines serve as a blueprint for how the agencies will enforce the laws governing mergers and also provide guidance to judges and businesses. For example the judge that blocked the Kroger and Albertsons mega-merger cited the new guidelines when making their ruling. Another example of this importance is that one of the ways the Reagan Administration gutted antitrust enforcement without any approval from Congress was through the merger guidelines.
FTC to establish task force on workers In another positive development for antitrust enforcement under the Trump Administration, FTC Chair Ferguson said at a recent event that he will be establishing a task force at the FTC to investigate practices that harm workers. Anti-Oligarchy Tour Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders' anti-oligarchy events say something about the populist energy in this country. Below is a photo from Faiz Shakir of the massive crowd that gathered in Omaha to hear from the Senator railing against the economic elite.
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
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