Pitchfork Economics Profile picture
A 🔥 #podcast about who gets what and why in the economy with zillionaire class traitor & #fightfor15 advocate, @NickHanauer. #thepitchforksarecoming
Feb 17 10 tweets 2 min read
We’ve been curious about Guaranteed Basic Income, but we've always had concerns. There’s always a chance that it could inadvertently subsidize bad employers who pay poverty wages while taxpayers foot the bill. Now, we have real-world results on the impact of these programs. A 🧵 Studies in Rochester, Stockton, Denver, and around the world have been pretty impressive. These real-world test cases have shown that giving people money to spend in their communities has a positive overall effect.

2/10buff.ly/3Bo0iGA
Jun 30, 2023 9 tweets 2 min read
Corporations once used profits to raise wages, increase investment, and grow the economy.

Now, profits are used to enrich a small number of shareholders at the expense of workers and the country.

Here’s how it happened. THREAD 🧵 Last year, companies spent $1.2 TRILLION to buy back their own stock, and they’re on track to exceed that in 2023.

Stock buybacks drain trillions of dollars out of the real economy and into a paper-asset bubble, inflating share prices while producing nothing of tangible value.
Jun 28, 2023 14 tweets 3 min read
You may have read that Instant Brands, the company behind the Instant Pot and Pyrex filed for bankruptcy.

How can a business that manufactures two of the most successful cooking brands in the world fail so badly that it winds up going bankrupt? (THREAD) The villain in this story is a familiar one: Private equity.
Oct 14, 2022 11 tweets 4 min read
We need urgent action from @POTUS to restore overtime protections for millions of workers.

Why did this action become so necessary? Let's take a walk down memory lane 🚶🧠 Some context:

The federal government sets the overtime standard. All salaried employees who make less than this amount are entitled to OT pay at 1.5x their standard rate. Presidents can raise the OT standard without Congress through the Department of Labor.
Sep 23, 2022 8 tweets 3 min read
Greedflation, price gouging,
profiteering — these are all similar terms that can
explain much of the inflation we are suffering from
lately. But what do they really mean?

A quick thread to break down the core cause of runaway price increases in clear and direct terms 🧵 What is greedflation? And w... Maybe you noticed this disturbing trend: while your wallet is being hit harder than ever when paying for basic needs, companies in industries from oil to agriculture to railroads are boasting about record-setting profits in 2022. Corporate greed isn't the o...