With big health insurance hikes coming, another health care crisis is here. Where's all the money going? And what comes now? Plus Argentina votes for the Trump bailout, Warner is for sale and more...| www.thebignewsletter.com
The outage of Amazon Web Services caused hundreds of billions of damage, yet Amazon's stock went up. How do we account for all of that cost?| www.thebignewsletter.com
On the weekend of "No Kings," it's worth asking if the Democrats have anything to say about political economy. Also, airlines impose fees for reclining in seats, and California sells its own insulin.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is now taking emergency action to address Chinese monopoly power. He won't admit it, but Lina Khan and the anti-monopoly movement were right.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Tech monopolies have created an AI bubble that could take down the economy. China just threatened to pop it. What happens now? Plus, the Pope dons his anti-monopoly hat, and more.| www.thebignewsletter.com
'Value-based care' from the ACA, combined with Trump's poor merger policy, is creating economic termites in all sorts of places. PE giant Silver Lake is engineering a monopoly in hospital surveys.| www.thebignewsletter.com
We've had some real victories. The FTC is looking into fire truck monopolization, California passed a law against coercion machines, and lobbyists took a big loss last month. America is waking up.| www.thebignewsletter.com
China refuses to buy U.S. soybeans, causing all sorts of problems. But why can't U.S. farmers grow something other than soybeans? Plus, gamers offer a big apology to Lina Khan, and more..| www.thebignewsletter.com
The Antitrust Division and FTC have suspended merger challenges, but not merger approvals. It's weird how 'government shutdowns' don't close the parts of government Wall Street wants.| www.thebignewsletter.com
The White House, facing angry farmers over a bailout of their competitors in Argentina, is trying to offer favors. Like cracking down on agri-business. Plus cringe shutdown politics, and more.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Two months ago, Pam Bondi's chief of staff, Chad Mizelle, got caught screwing around with antitrust cases, and the pressure has been on ever since. Yesterday, he resigned. Is the dam breaking?| www.thebignewsletter.com
Fights over power are bitter because the right has an ancient vision of liberty, and the left has not joined the debate. Plus a new Google trial, a bailout of Argentina and a big change in H-1b visas.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Herb Hovenkamp is the "Dean of the Antitrust Bar," cited over a thousand times by the judiciary. And he hates the FTC's new rule banning non-compete agreements. But is he intellectually honest?| www.thebignewsletter.com
In 1996, Bill Clinton set the stage for what Donald Trump is doing now by creating a censorship machine of consolidated media, broadband, and tech firms. It's time to break it apart.| www.thebignewsletter.com
With a proposed Paramount acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery by a Trump ally, the media and the movies are quickly consolidating into the hands of GOP oligarchs. Will there be pushback?| www.thebignewsletter.com
Facebook is directly responsible for violence globally and in American society. Mark Zuckerberg, or Facebook, needs to be held liable.| www.thebignewsletter.com
The political violence we are seeing today is a result of a torn social contract. And that didn't start on partisan terms, it started in corporate America.| www.thebignewsletter.com
At a Goldman Sachs conference in December, Equifax CEO Mark Begor told investors that his company has a monopoly in an obscure but important area - selling data about your salary to third parties.| www.thebignewsletter.com
A billionaire owner NBA scandal hits the heart of the Democrats, plus fallout from the Google monopolization case, the end of the FTC campaign on noncompetes, and heat on Trump's antitrust corruption.| www.thebignewsletter.com
American households are in a much more financially fragile state than we were in the 1980s. It's a Chinese finger trap economy, dependent on the stock market and more inequality to keep going.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Judge Amit Mehta had a chance to restore some semblance of the rule of law when he handed down a remedy decision in the Google case. He didn't. Google won this round. And Wall Street is rejoicing.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Crypto used endless spending to get rid of all political opposition. Now Mark Zuckerberg will do the same against those who want to regulate AI. Plus, a ruling on tariffs and a dentist revolt.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Economists predicted doom if the Federal Reserve were controlled by the President. Trump has moved in that direction, but Wall Street doesn't care. Is 'independence' not what we think?| www.thebignewsletter.com
Utility holding company middlemen have convinced timid regulators to give them guaranteed excessive returns. But why? If we cut out the middleman, we'd make money and cut our electricity bills.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Judge Amit Mehta is going to hand down the Google decision this month. Donald Trump probably can't keep himself away from the case. Plus, anger at big business is showing up in jury selection.| www.thebignewsletter.com
The producer price index had bad higher-than-expected numbers today. But much of the increase was due to higher profit margins. And why wouldn't it show that? That's what Trump wants.| www.thebignewsletter.com
The U.S. needs Intel's high-end chipmaking production capacity. It's possible to save the flailing company, but it would require leadership to do it. Are policymakers or businessmen interested?| www.thebignewsletter.com
Parents feel financial stress as rage builds against inflation and dynamic pricing. Plus candidates embrace anti-monopoly themes, new rules for supersonic flight, and furniture industry consolidation.| www.thebignewsletter.com
How did a debate over housing become a call to end the anti-monopoly movement? Abundance co-author Derek Thompson used slimy tactics to protect wealth and power in America. It's worth examining how.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Epic Games will launch an app store on Android after an appeals court upheld Google's loss in a monopolization case. Plus, Silicon Valley's sore winner problem, and anger at the big railroad merger.| www.thebignewsletter.com
From cheerleading to video games, business leaders are saying "Enough!"| www.thebignewsletter.com
Like the rest of the government under Trump, the Antitrust Division just got turned into a pay-to-play operation. Four Senators are trying to expose what's happening to antitrust, and our society.| www.thebignewsletter.com
MAGA-linked operatives are trying to overthrow populists at the Antitrust Division over a corrupt $14 billion merger deal. The wrinkle is a liberal judge has the power to expose what's happening.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Wall Street is ignoring Trump antitrust enforcers. Plus, the rare earth crisis abated, the superrich really hate Zohran Mamdani, Trump caves on China, and the NFL players union is in crisis.| www.thebignewsletter.com
In the Booming Twenties, all decision-making is about protecting the value of financial assets held by older people. Therefore, the number must go up. And nothing else matters.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Jeff Epstein was a touchstone for MAGA to articulate anger at concentrated power. It also powered a business model for the podcasteratti. Trum threatened all of that. Plus, the merger spree starts.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Abraham Lincoln once said, “Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.” Are we coming to remember that once again?| www.thebignewsletter.com
Rocket, Zillow, and Compass are all trying to take the $100 billion that now goes to real estate agents. It's a war for the last monopolist standing. Plus, Trump enforcers pull back on antitrust.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Google has lost three separate antitrust cases, and more are on the way. Why does this company still exist in one piece? It shouldn't, but we're still dealing with the hangover of the 1990s.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Oregon passes SB 951, a bill that prohibits private equity and corporate decision-making in health care. UnitedHealth Group, Amazon, and private equity lobbied fiercely, but lost. Is it a trend?| www.thebignewsletter.com
The Antitrust Division proposed a comprehensive solution to Google's monopoly, including pushing Apple into search. Now comes a mini-trial where Judge Amit Mehta will decide what to do.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Harvard is under attack by the Trump administration. How are the best and the brightest responding? Plus, Apple takes another hit. And is a McDonald's ice cream machine fix coming?| www.thebignewsletter.com
A trade court said Trump's use of tariffs is unlawful. Plus, we start to see what the Google remedy might be, and a major bill in Oregon banning corporate ownership of doctor's practices passed.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Dallas was one of the last big cities in America where a working family could buy a house. No longer. And it's not because of zoning policy—it's because of corporate consolidation and private equity.| www.thebignewsletter.com
The House Republicans have put forward a proposal that says states cannot make laws that regulate artificial intelligence or 'automated decision-making.' Conservatives should be upset about it.| www.thebignewsletter.com
The record label industry nearly died a few years ago. But now it's back, and like every other sector of commerce, it's consolidated. Fortunately, European regulators look set to act.| www.thebignewsletter.com
In a little noticed interview, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg offers a host of exceptionally creepy comments. Plus, tariffs, the Cambrian explosion of apps, Medicare Advantage exposed, and more...| www.thebignewsletter.com
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers rebuked the phone giant, opened the app store, and made a criminal contempt referral to an Apple executive for lying under oath. Plus, a bad antitrust bill goes down.| www.thebignewsletter.com
House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan released a bill to move all antitrust work from the Federal Trade Commission to the Department of Justice, deleting a key antitrust law. PBMs and Amazon could benefit.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Donald Trump's tariff choices have already had significant impacts on small businesses, who can't deal with shocks. Economic termites could feast, and price gouging and fixing could accelerate.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled against the search giant for its control over the software underpinning online ad buying. Now it's on to the remedy.| www.thebignewsletter.com
The stock market slides as Trump's tariffs roil markets. Wall Street is terrified and mergers slow. Plus Capital One-Discover gets the green light, and Zuck lobbies Trump directly on antitrust.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Donald Trump's problematic tariff plan will engender a 'capital strike' from big business and the rest of the world. Wall Street is planning revenge. Small business is panicking. What comes next?| www.thebignewsletter.com
America has a 'number go up' strategy for Wall Street, and that means we can't build. Plus, Planet Fitness lobbyists try to kill the Click to Cancel rule. And is our Democrats learning?| www.thebignewsletter.com
The American Medical Association has a government-granted monopoly over medical billing codes. Is that why the AMA was silent when Robert Kennedy Jr. was sent to run American health care?| www.thebignewsletter.com
The Democratic establishment brain was at the giant law firm Paul Weiss. They just bent the knee to Trump. Plus, tennis players revolt, and Google accidentally confesses to monopolization.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Donald Trump picked a fight over firing officials at the Federal Trade Commission. If he wins, Federal Reserve independence is next. And an Amazon lobbying firm, Ballard Partners, may be involved.| www.thebignewsletter.com
In part two of "Hatching a Conspiracy," BIG delves into the obscure world of chicken genetics. Two secretive firms control the global supply of layer hens. And yes, private equity is involved.| www.thebignewsletter.com
This week was Donald Trump's first State of the Union. Wall Street is abuzz with rumors Trump is seeking to re-architect the global financial system. Plus his enforcers go hard-core on Google.| www.thebignewsletter.com
'More hens, less income!' So said the United Egg Producers' economist Donald Bell in 1994. The industry has gotten more consolidated ever since. And avian flu is just the latest excuse to hike prices.| www.thebignewsletter.com
This week the American consumer got spooked, and the Atlanta Fed said the economy is shrinking. Plus, Trump antitrust officials move through Congress. And Jim Cramer asks, "Where are all the mergers?"| www.thebignewsletter.com
Massive turnout at town halls and at Bernie Sanders' Tour Against Oligarchy suggest that something new is happening. In 2017, the resistance was corporate. Today, corporate America is the villain.| www.thebignewsletter.com
New Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson and acting Antitrust Division chief Omeed Assefi endorsed the 2023 merger guidelines. There's a new bipartisan consensus.| www.thebignewsletter.com
In the bargain after the financial crisis, banks got a bailout in return for some mild oversight. They, along with big tech, have now broken that deal. And the consequences will be significant.| www.thebignewsletter.com
A new paper shows how a small group of experts have inverted the electric utility model, destroying what was once a reliable set of public service corporations.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Donald Trump signed an executive order levying tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico. He also hit a key loophole used by Amazon, SHEIN, and Temu. Wall Street is mad.| www.thebignewsletter.com
In its first action, the Trump DOJ files suit to block Hewlett Packard's $14 billion attempted acquisition of Juniper Networks. Is Wall Street wrong about Trump?| www.thebignewsletter.com
During the LA fires, dozens of fire trucks sat in the boneyard, waiting for repairs the city couldn't afford. Why? A private equity roll-up made replacing and repairing those trucks much pricier.| www.thebignewsletter.com
At least for a few more days, laws are not suggestions. In the end days of strong enforcement, a flurry of litigation is met with a direct lawsuit by billionaires against Biden's Antitrust chief.| www.thebignewsletter.com
How important is artificial intelligence? It's not clear. But there's a reason we keep hearing about it. If AI doesn't live up to its promise, a lot of people are going to lose a lot of money.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Have laws become suggestions again for the powerful? Disney's CEO Bob Iger has just bought up Fubo, a streaming rival, to monopolize sports content, collaborating with Fox and Warner Bros to do it.| www.thebignewsletter.com
The Make America Healthy Again agenda from the Trump administration will see a major test in the upcoming Farm Bill. What will it look like? Plus monopolization continues with mergers aplenty...| www.thebignewsletter.com
In 2024, we saw some fruits of the anti-monopoly revolution. Jonathan Kanter and Lina Khan revived antitrust law across the board. But is it now over? What's coming next?| www.thebignewsletter.com
Regulators pass rules to stop hotels, banks, and Ticketmaster from hiding what they charge. It's just one part of the war on junk fees, which will continue despite the end of the Biden administration.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Steve Bannon says it's time for Donald Trump to join George Washington and Abraham Lincoln as one of the great American leaders. It's a 1932-style alignment, he says. But that, um, seems unlikely...| www.thebignewsletter.com
Big business has been going after plaintiff lawyers since the 1980s. Why? 90% of antitrust cases come from private attorneys, restructuring everything from real estate to college sports to big tech.| www.thebignewsletter.com
The history and politics of monopoly power. Click to read BIG by Matt Stoller, a Substack publication with hundreds of thousands of subscribers.| www.thebignewsletter.com
The Federal Trade Commission went after the middleman economy. Plus, Kid Rock may keep the Ticketmaster antitrust suit alive, and other news of the week.| www.thebignewsletter.com
UnitedHealth Group is not an insurer, it's a platform. And it's in the crosshairs as Elizabeth Warren and Josh Hawley propose breaking it apart, severing its pharmacy arm from the rest of the business| www.thebignewsletter.com
Chalk up another and perhaps final win for Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, as Judge Adrienne Nelson prevents the consolidation of the grocery industry.| www.thebignewsletter.com
The murder of UnitedHealth Care CEO Brian Thompson was brutal. The reactions were telling. Elite disdain for the rule of law is leading to a society that is spinning out of control.| www.thebignewsletter.com
There's a trade-off between re-industrializing the country, keeping prices low, and high corporate profits. Trump will have to pick.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Big business wants white glove treatment in Donald Trump's America. One example, economic termite Verisign, is illustrative of how Washington, D.C. is accommodating the new administration.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Anti-monopolists attached themselves to the Democratic Party. And we got blown out. Why? And are there larger lessons?| www.thebignewsletter.com
Airline lobbyists, CNBC anchors, bankers can't hide their excitement as media CEOs discuss their 'desperation' to consolidate. And a House GOP leader floats a consolidation-friendly proposal.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Albertsons uses land use restrictions in Mammoth, CA to stop competition so it can be the only store in town.| www.thebignewsletter.com
What happens to regulators and enforcers who apply the rule of law? We're about to find out. The rage from corporate America is flowing.| www.thebignewsletter.com
One of the easiest ways to expand our electric grid is to use data to make it more efficient. Who is standing in the way? Utility monopolies.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Jeff Bezos used his control over the Washington Post to avoid offending Trump. Bezos needs those defense contracts. Yet in doing so, he's taught Democrats a valuable lesson.| www.thebignewsletter.com
A win for the Federal Trade Commission's Lina Khan as Tapestry, the owner of Coach, Kate Spade, and Stuart Weitzman, is barred from buying Capri, which owns Michael Kors, Jimmy Choo, and Versace.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Too many big corporations in America cheat consumers through subscription scams. The FTC's Click to Cancel rule just made them mad. And in an obscure document dump, their lawyers showed why.| www.thebignewsletter.com
The DOJ put forward a proposal to take apart the search giant's market power. What happens when antitrust stops being polite, and starts getting real?| www.thebignewsletter.com
CFPB Director Rohit Chopra is single-handedly blocking a massive sell-out to Wall Street. Plus, where are Trump and Harris on monopolies?| www.thebignewsletter.com
The auto glass repair company runs third party administrator services for auto insurers. It's a 'glass benefits manager.'| www.thebignewsletter.com
The Antitrust Division sued Visa for levying a private sales tax on every merchant in America. It's about time. The DOJ is going to win, as this case looks a lot like the case against Google search.| www.thebignewsletter.com
The FTC sued the key middlemen of big pharma. Plus more on the Wall Street campaign to fire Lina Khan, and the ad world prepares for Google's break-up.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Algorithms are no longer a Get out of Jail free card. The Third Circuit ruled that TikTok must stand trial for manipulating children into harming themselves. The business model of big tech is over.| www.thebignewsletter.com
The Antitrust Division finally sued RealPage for orchestrating a conspiracy among corporate landlords and illegally hiking rents for millions in cities across the country.| www.thebignewsletter.com
During a merger investigation, Albertsons CEO Vivek Sankaran and three other execs deleted text messages the court had ordered preserved. The Federal Trade Commission asked the judge for penalties.| www.thebignewsletter.com
Kamala Harris proposed a slew of proposals arguing that pricing in America has gone haywire. Economists got mad. Trump called her a Communist. What does it all mean?| www.thebignewsletter.com
