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.

The big debate out in DC is over the House budget. Republicans want to give new tax breaks to the super wealthy and huge corporations funded by cutting things people depend on, like Medicaid.

This bill is a lot but when it comes to Medicaid it is:

1. the largest cut to Medicaid in history;

2. This plan means 13.7 million people lose their health care;

and

3. Cutting Medicaid means taking away health care from seniors in nursing homes, kids, and low income families.

And according to the Kaiser Foundation, Medicaid covers 41% of all births in the United States, 5 in 8 nursing home residents, among much more.

And according to the National Rural Health Association (NRHA), reductions in Medicaid funding will force rural facilities to shut their doors and rural residents to lose access to necessary care.

Again, for what? So billionaires and huge corporations can have a bigger tax break…

So what can you do? Call your Member of Congress, especially if you live in one of these districts, and tell them to not cut Medicaid!

YOU’RE PROBABLY (ALSO) GETTING SCREWED BY:

The Big Beautiful Bill

The massive budget reconciliation bill that Republicans in Congress are racing to pass would represent a massive transfer of wealth upward from everyday people to the wealthiest Americans. The Penn Wharton Budget Model finds that people who make less than $51,000 will see their after-tax income decrease while the top 0.1% will see their income increase by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Did we mention the Big Beautiful Bill?

Walmart

In case you thought the Big Beautiful Bill couldn’t get any more maddening, More Perfect Union breaks down how the Walton family stands to get benefit from extending the Trump Tax Cuts while taxpayers subsidize Walmart’s low pay to the tune of $6.2 billion.

perfectunion

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Elon Musk

He’s still a jerk but as we’ve written about before, he is also a monopolist. A new piece in The American Prospect has a deep dive on the monopolization of space by SpaceX.

Governor of Colorado

The Centennial State has long forced labor unions to jump through some unusual hoops to organize. After workers have voted to approve formation of a union they must hold a second election requiring 75 percent of workers’ votes in order to collect union dues. No other state requires this kind of second vote and in some ways is a de facto right to work provision. Colorado legislators finally passed a bill this year to eliminate the requirement, but Democrat Governor Jared Polis vetoed it this week.

The FCC

In exchange for ending its DEI programs the Federal Communications Commission has cleared Verizon to acquire Frontier in a $20 billion mega merger. Several years ago Frontier bought a huge chunk of Verizon’s network and made all the promises you typically hear about, but the transition was a mess resulting in bankruptcy, layoffs, network failures and terrible service. But I’m sure this time, giving Verizon 2.2 million subscribers across 25 states will go just great! What could be at play here is Verizon angling for Frontier’s share of federal broadband subsidies.

SOME GOOD NEWS

How to Fight Monopolies

Senior Researcher at the Institute for Local Self Reliance, Ron Knox, is out with a zine titled Resist Monopolies! that documents the battles and triumphs of the growing antimonopoly movement. It also has some of the coolest cover art around!

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