1. Ok why is Kamala Harris talking about price-fixing, gouging, mergers, and general pricing bullshit? Obviously it polls well. But why? Let's go over the *evidence* for why Americans are mad at big business over pricing. Let's start with rent. propublica.org/article/yields…
2. A company called RealPage works with the biggest corporate landlords to hold apartments empty so they can increase prices. That's illegal. How important is this conspiracy to increased rents? “I think it’s driving it, quite honestly,” said Andrew Bowen, a RealPage executive.
3. There are private antitrust cases against RealPage. The Biden-Harris administration is investigating and will probably bring an antitrust suit soon. The FBI already raided one of America's biggest corporate landlords. finance.yahoo.com/news/fbi-searc…
4. Then there's pervasive price-fixing in the turkey, poultry, and pork industries through the big meatpackers and a data firm called Agri-Stats which tells these companies what to charge. There's even price-fixing clipart! thebignewsletter.com/p/the-price-fi…
5. Agri Stats even puts out a statement on its website saying, in essence, 'we sell cartel pricing.'
6. Collusion on prices seems to be pervasive. The FTC is suing Amazon, for instance, for implementing an algorithm code named "Project Nessie" specifically organized to raise prices across markets. techcrunch.com/2023/11/02/unr…
7. There are many more examples, which I'll get to. But is this phenomenon systemic? Yes. And is it new? Yes. As Mike Konczal and Niko Lusiani showed, corporate markups have increased starting in the early 1980s, and skyrocketed during the pandemic. rooseveltinstitute.org/wp-content/upl…
9. A frozen french fry scheme? As the @Capitol_Forum reported, "the 4 firms who produce 70% of fries nation-wide - Lamb Weston Holdings, Simplot, McCain Foods, and Cavendish Farms - raised prices by virtually identical amounts within a week of each other.”
11. The problem goes far beyond just price-fixing, of course. For instance there are roll-ups and price hikes via private equity buy-outs in health care. A firm called U.S. Anesthesia Partners raised prices across Texas. thebignewsletter.com/p/cha-ching-li…
12. "85% of Americans “have experienced a hidden or unexpected fee for a service in the previous two years,” and 96% found them “highly annoying” and said they were paying more in hidden charges than they were five years ago."
13. Even the former head of the Consumer Bankers Association, one of the most powerful bank lobbies in D.C., got mad about junk fees.
14. 11. Remember when the CEO of Wendy's said the corporation would be using AI to set dynamic prices? That's the kind of bullshit Harris is talking about. Is that gouging? Who cares? We don't have a great word for it.
15. The FTC found evidence of price-fixing in oil markets, as domestic fracking firms worked with OPEC to lower production worldwide. Congress is now investigating. thebignewsletter.com/p/an-oil-price…
16. And I know liberals might feel squeamish about this one, but ammunition prices are skyrocketing because of consolidation. thebignewsletter.com/p/concentrated…
17. Honestly this kind of pricing bullshit is everywhere. Professional bass fishing? Yup.
19. There are monopolies and oligopolies where you don't notice, so-called 'economic termites.' Credit bureaus and FICO, Verisign, industrial gasses, architectural software, locks, entertainment data... thebignewsletter.com/p/economic-ter…
20. Basically, pricing in America today is deeply, immensely, hard-core messed up and unfair. There are tens of thousands of highly intelligent consultants and lawyers who make a lot of money finding out how to cheat you. And Americans have noticed. wsj.com/finance/invest…
21. Hotels, Airbnb, restaurants, landlords, and lenders are all tacking on hidden weird fees. And some of them have middlemen which tack fees onto their businesses. Behind every fee is another fee, middleman on top of middleman.
22. The bottom line is that pricing doesn't just happen, prices are structured by rules. And because we stopped enforcing laws to make sure we had disclosed pricing in competitive markets, pricing is now a game in which more of us lose every day. Harris is talking about THAT.
1. Since 2008, Google has systemically destroyed evidence relevant to antitrust investigations. And judges are beginning to hold Google accountable. Today I was a courtroom to watch Judge Leonie Brinkema, the latest judge, who is presiding over Google's third antitrust trial.
2. Why so many trials? Well Google has many lines of business! One trial was on its control of app stores. Another trial was about search. This one's on its power over online ad software that manages publishing sites and ad buying. All involve Google's document destruction.
3. In the app store trial, Judge Donato gave jury instructions known as 'adverse inference' meaning that the jury should consider Google operating in bad faith for destroying evidence. Google lost. In the search trial, Judge Mehta was scornful of Google, and ruled against them.
"Our tool ensures that [landlords] are driving every possible opportunity to increase price even in the most downward trending or unexpected conditions.”
BOOM. That's illegal, and antitrust enforcer Jonathan Kanter just dropped the hammer.
"In its pitch to prospective clients, RealPage describes AIRM’s and YieldStar’s access to competitors’ granular, transactional data as a meaningful tool that it claims enables landlords to outperform their properties’ competitors by 2–7%."
Interesting.
Price-fixing clip art!
(This is from a landlord's internal training presentation.)
Chuck Schumer probably experienced a bit of antisemitism as a kid. But seriously stop it. Jews are super-empowered in America in virtually every way, which he knows when he talks to the disproportionate number of Jewish Senators. We aren't defined by our grievances.
There are anti-semites in America, but that's just because we're a big country so of course there are jerks. Some of them are even violent because we're a violent country.
1. Here are some possible policy ideas for Harris to go at prices in food, rent, medicine, and general costs. Call it the "Break Up Ticketmaster Agenda" since everyone hates Ticketmaster and the Biden-Harris administration is suing that corporation.
2. First, sign onto Ron Wyden's bill to stop corporate landlords from colluding to jack up rent prices. Antitrust enforcer Jonathan Kanter is already going at RealPage software, the hub of the conspiracy. People will get it. wyden.senate.gov/news/press-rel… theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
3. Pledge to block the Kroger-Albertsons supermarket merger. Both Nevada and Arizona will be hit by this merger with higher food prices and lower wages, as Senator Jacky Rosen notes.
1. Where is Tim Walz on monopoly power? Well, his track record is excellent, with a few blemishes. Let's start with a law he signed to block hospital mergers, which killed the $14B Sanford/Fairview combination. Hospitals drive a third of health care costs. boondoggle.substack.com/p/how-minnesot…
2. In 2023, Minnesota passed the broadest law enabling the right-to-repair of devices, though it exempted "farm and construction equipment, video game consoles, specialized cybersecurity tools, motor vehicles and medical devices." Still very good. pirg.org/media-center/r…
3. Walz signed a law to ban junk fees. "Beginning next year, Minnesota businesses can no longer add service fees, health and wellness surcharges or other mandatory charges to customers’ bills at the end of a transaction."
"But Google also has a major, largely unseen advantage over its rivals: default distribution"
"After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly. It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act"