Lindsay Owens Profile Banner
Lindsay Owens Profile
Lindsay Owens

@owenslindsay1

19,178
Followers
2,016
Following
79
Media
4,536
Statuses

Executive Director @Groundwork . We are the economy. Formerly @SenWarren / @Keithellison / @RepJayapal / @FlyingWithSara . Nashville's home.

Washington, D.C.
Joined September 2014
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
Pinned Tweet
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
3 years
As you read today's inflation report, pay close attention to what the CEOs who set prices are saying. We got our hands on the latest batch of earnings reports, and it's a doozy. They're literally bragging about hiking prices while hiding behind "inflation." The receipts...(1/7)
1K
30K
75K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
3 years
If you want to understand the role of corporate greed in price hikes & inflation in America today, you don't have to take the word of watchdogs or critics of corporations. CEO's are admitting it themselves in plain daylight. And they're betting they can get away with it. (END)
396
5K
21K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
3 years
CEOs often speak more candidly on earnings calls (held when a new report comes out), in an effort to impress investors, by bragging about their ruthless profit-rigging schemes. It apparently doesn't occur to them that the public might find out about them! For instance... (2/7)
29
2K
13K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
3 years
I have steam coming out of my ears over this one. Constellation's (Modelo, Corona) Q4 earnings call: CFO "We want to make sure that we're not leaving any pricing on the table. We want to take as much as we can...we'll take as much pricing as we think the consumer can absorb."
625
4K
13K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
3 years
The company 3M, which produces N95 masks (and other things) crowed on its earnings call that “the team has done a marvelous job in driving price. Price has gone up from 0.1% to 1.4% to 2.6%." The CFO told investors, "We see that to be a tailwind." (3/7)
57
3K
13K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
3 years
Tyson, one of the big 4 meat monopolies Biden is targeting for price-fixing saw profits nearly DOUBLE after price hikes of 32% on beef and 20% on chicken which the CEO attributed to the "continued resilience of our multi-protein portfolio." (4/7)
220
3K
12K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
3 years
In its 4th quarter report, Johnson & Johnson revealed it raised prices…despite raking in billions from COVID vaccine sales. Its CEO told investors that the need for medical care & to “address suffering and death” is part of J&J's “optimism” & “opportunity” for its future. (5/7)
70
3K
12K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
3 years
Kimberly Clark is a mega-corporation manufacturing everything from paper towels to diapers. On its recent earnings call, CEO Mike Hsu crowed to investors about “multiple rounds” of “significant pricing actions” & admitted he plans to continue doing it throughout the year. (6/7)
39
3K
11K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
🧵Want to know why rents have been skyrocketing? This jaw dropping @propublica investigation has one answer--collusion. @RealPage 's YieldStar proprietary software is helping the nation's biggest landlords and property managers jack up prices together. 1/10
206
5K
10K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
3 years
Congress should make sure they aren't leaving any TAXES on the table.
30
406
5K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
1 year
Drop everything you’re doing and watch this clip of @jonstewart taking Larry Summers to the cleaners on his cruel inflation cure: obliterating a labor market that is finally starting to work for workers. Three thoughts on what Larry gets so wrong. 1/4
@TheProblem
The Problem With Jon Stewart
1 year
Danger! Workers are doing too well! Call the Fed to shut that down! A conversation with former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. Watch the full interview in our latest episode, now streaming on @appletvplus .
1K
5K
27K
116
1K
4K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
This morning @politico dropped a piece giving Larry Summers credit for the major tax legislation in the Inflation Reduction Act. One problem—Larry didn’t propose them, Elizabeth Warren did. A thread with the fact check. 1/5
48
1K
4K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
4 months
Since inflation started picking up in 2021 it’s been crystal clear that companies were using it as a screen to hide profiteering, gouging, and even collusion. CEOs like Pioneer Oil’s told us about their plans on TV & on investor calls. Now we have their text messages too. 1/3
@matthewstoller
Matt Stoller
4 months
As it turns out, this one single oil price fixing conspiracy uncovered by the FTC is responsible for over a quarter of the boost in inflation in 2021.
47
1K
2K
34
1K
4K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
If you noticed that corporations' costs are down & they are *still* jacking up their prices for consumers... it's not just you. We've got the receipts. And their secret plans may enrage you. Read my new op-ed ⬇. And here's a 🧵 1/12
79
2K
3K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
6 months
Shrinkflation, greedflation, and now algorithmic price discrimination signal the end of a fair price in America. It’s increasingly clear that prices are untethered from market fundamentals and instead largely reflect a company’s market and pricing power.
@MorePerfectUS
More Perfect Union
6 months
Wendy’s will start experimenting with surge pricing in 2025, along the lines of Uber and Lyft. Wendy’s will test “dynamic pricing” on burgers, Frosties, and other menu items, which will cost more during times of increased demand.
2K
995
3K
60
719
2K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
A little free advice for all the economists on here that seem to be cracking. Put down your phones, grab your friends, go the bar, and reminisce about the good old days of policies like HAMP that were so well-targeted, equitable, and disinflationary they helped precisely no one.
29
229
2K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
I’m still wrapping my brain around how a student loan pause and some $1400 checks could cause all of this.
@ScottGottliebMD
Scott Gottlieb, MD
2 years
With Shanghai in a near total lockdown, this is a map of the commercial ships currently waiting offshore to be loaded and offloaded of goods; exacerbating global supply chain woes
Tweet media one
615
8K
18K
11
292
2K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
Full employment is when a Harvard Econ professor’s maid asks for a raise. Price gouging is when his favorite Swiss ski chalet is just out of reach. Quick. Someone alert the FTC.
@LHSummers
Lawrence H. Summers
2 years
This piece by @adam_tooze was very interesting. I’ve been skeptical about some antitrust areas but this seems ripe for attention.  Chartbook #180 : Do you ski? The political economy of snow, slopes and skiing by
13
25
103
11
201
1K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
🧵Today's numbers don't come close to reflecting the full geopolitical impact of oil & food prices. But if we listen to recent remarks from CEOs, we can get a good sense of what to expect in the weeks ahead & who the big winners will be: oil companies and their shareholders. 1/8
46
397
1K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
6 months
But guys I thought prices mostly reflected marginal cost?
@MorePerfectUS
More Perfect Union
6 months
Wendy’s will start experimenting with surge pricing in 2025, along the lines of Uber and Lyft. Wendy’s will test “dynamic pricing” on burgers, Frosties, and other menu items, which will cost more during times of increased demand.
2K
995
3K
12
169
1K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
5 months
Last week we found out that after-tax corporate profits hit an all-time record high in Q4 of 2023. Not a post-pandemic high. An all-time high. There are many reasons for this but let’s talk about three. 1. Inflation has been very good for business. Why? 1/3
10
391
1K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 months
I’m still wrapping my head around the fact that the FBI is raiding corporate landlords price fixing in Atlanta. After watching corporations lie, cheat, and steal with impunity my entire life it’s just incredible to see law enforcement cracking down on the gougers.
28
266
1K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
6 months
Biden is planning to go hard on taxing corporations and the rich in SOTU tonight. He absolutely should. 4 reasons why. 1. Draw a contrast with Trump/Republicans. They say they are going to do a lot of things if they get elected. They always do one. Giant tax cuts. 1/4
24
208
1K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
The one where Larry steals a moment from his tropical vacation to tell the Fed to hammer the unemployed harder.
@BloombergTV
Bloomberg TV
2 years
“They explicitly recognize that there's going to need to be increases in unemployment to contain inflation,” says @LHSummers when discussing the Federal Reserve and the US labor market. Tune into “Wall Street Week,” airing Friday's at 6 pm ET
381
57
191
27
220
1K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
One of their big innovations? Push low-price tenants out & sit on empty units instead of dropping prices. “The net effect of driving revenue and pushing people out was $10 million in income. I think that shows keeping the heads in the beds is not always the best strategy.”5/10
14
350
1K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
Be wary of folks selling unemployment as the fix for inflation.
11
182
1K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
1 year
Rare to see good accountability journalism. Nice to see @EricLevitz taking on this important topic. He’s right—Larry Summers was wrong about the need to drive millions out of work to bring down inflation. Progressives were right. We never had to choose.
32
340
1K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
1 year
2. Jon hones in on the ultimate double standard that economists like Larry employ: corporations should charge whatever the market will bear for their goods, driving up prices, but when workers do the same for their labor, economists want central banks to step in & quash them. 3/4
7
185
1K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
The team @propublica (shoutout @hvogell ) has done their job reporting on this important source of collusion in rent prices masterfully. Now it is time for Congress ( @SenateBanking & Senate Judiciary @JudiciaryDems ) and the Administration ( @FTC ) to do theirs. Shut this down. End.
16
196
1K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
"Experts say RealPage...invites scrutiny from antitrust enforcers bc of their use of private data on what competitors charge in rent and creation of work groups that meet privately and include landlords who are otherwise rivals, a red flag of potential collusion." 2/10
3
183
1K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
. @AOC asks Chair Powell today if Larry Summers' push for 10% unemployment would translate into the possibility of 20% unemployment for Black workers. Powell confirms that Black unemployment moves at "twice the speed." Maybe let's pass on the Summers proposal.
@JStein_WaPo
Jeff Stein
2 years
Larry Summers -- who the president said he spoke with today -- publicly saying a 5% unemployment rate is necessary to combat inflation. To state the obvious, a 5% unemployment rate would mean devastating joblessness for millions of poor American workers
Tweet media one
875
2K
9K
69
297
1K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
1 year
3. Finally, Larry's team clearly did a little research on Apple trying to put Jon in a box on whether he thinks it is ok for Apple to price gouge. It fell flat as a pancake b/c unlike Larry, Jon doesn't form his opinions based on who signs his paycheck & didn't take the bait. 4/4
17
68
1K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
Looks like removing crushing debt burdens for families is a political winner after all. This is a remarkable 22 point swing with young voters in just one month. The centrist economists turned political pundits got this one wrong.
30
198
1K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
Some think algorithms can't collude. But a former FTC official says sub "a guy named bob" for the algorithm. “Is it OK for a guy named Bob to collect confidential price strategy information from all the participants in a market and then tell everybody how they should price?” 8/10
5
202
1K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
“If it isn’t OK for a guy named Bob to do it, then it probably isn’t OK for an algorithm to do it either.” What does the company have to say for itself? They just “capture a truer picture of price elasticity and affordability." Hiding behind economics jargon to price gouge. 9/10
1
134
1K
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
📢📢📢 Want to know why prices are so high? The @Groundwork team is on it & today I published some of our findings in this @nytopinion piece. Be warned--it's not pretty. But to stop companies from price gouging during crises--we must listen & learn. 🧵1/15
19
531
982
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
Executives also praised coordinated prices hikes. “A rising tide lifts all boats,” one said. "One of the greatest threats to a landlord’s profit, was other firms setting rents too low at nearby properties. “If you have idiots undervaluing, it costs the whole system.” 6/10
4
175
937
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
Turns out this isn't their first dalliance with collusion: One of YieldStar’s main architects, Jeffrey Roper was Alaska Airlines’ director of revenue management when it began developing price-setting software in the 1980s. He has personal experience w/ antitrust prosecution. 3/10
1
143
908
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
There’s a class of wonks that thinks the problem with our economy is that people have too much money (team “excess demand”). They misdiagnosed the problem so they’re proposing wrongheaded-solutions (e.g mass unemployment). Now they’re opposing student loan forgiveness too. 1/3
14
167
905
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
Must watch video from a big grocery whistleblower. Food prices are already up 12% year over year. Families can’t afford any more. The Kroger/Albertsons mega-merger must be stopped.
@MorePerfectUS
More Perfect Union
2 years
NEW: A former VP of Whole Foods lays out why the Kroger/Albertsons mega-merger is a travesty and could even be criminal. The massive new grocery chain will have near-monopoly control in major cities. Food prices will go up & workers’ wages will go down. The FTC must block it.
48
904
2K
8
295
856
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
RealPage also bought its biggest competitor. Roper said: “I was surprised the DOJ let that go through.” Their biggest client? Wall Street. A growing share of multifamily buildings are owned by firms backed by Wall Street investors, the most eager adopters of pricing software.7/10
1
156
840
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
"Federal agents removed a computer & documents from Roper’s office at the airline. He said he wasn't aware of the antitrust implications. “We all got called up before the DOJ bc we were colluding,” he said. “We had no idea.” Well this time he certainly knew better. 4/10
2
117
831
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
4 months
Many experts vehemently denied that profiteering was exacerbating inflation. But as evidence mounted, they conceded it was happening but insisted it was a trivial piece of overall inflation. Turns out they were wrong about that too. A quarter of inflation is hardly trivial! 2/3
3
113
778
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
4 years
Cutting UI is political suicide, yet Republicans are trying to do just that. As a sociologist who studied attitudes toward the safety net (and former Hill staffer who fought to expand it), we can offer a simple explanation: Republicans believe the safety net should punish. 1/7
Tweet media one
21
264
743
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
4 months
It’s time for folks who are serious about bringing down inflation to close their textbooks & open their eyes. Policymakers must study how companies actually set prices, starting by believing the CEOs narrating their plans in broad daylight on earnings calls & Squawk box. 3/3
11
128
754
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
8 months
2023 was the year we learned you can bring down prices without sacrificing workers. What a wonderful lesson to take into 2024.
14
136
742
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
Seems like a good day to call into question the wisdom of those who insisted that manufacturing mass unemployment was the only path to lower prices.
8
125
719
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
1 year
1. Larry says he's happy to see workers finally have power to command higher wages & walk away from poorly paying jobs. But Jon does a TERRIFIC job of explaining why Larry's preferred inflation fighting strategy, interest rate hikes, works in direct opposition to that goal. 2/4
5
54
723
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
The only thing more lucrative than inflation profiteering is war profiteering.
@W7VOA
Steve Herman
2 years
"American oil and gas companies should not exploit this moment" to raise fuel prices, warns @POTUS .
Tweet media one
16
74
306
26
159
702
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
I gather Larry made one of many calls Manchin received alleviating inflation fears re: IRA—fears Larry amplified! Frankly I’d like to hear from Manchin on how influential that call was. But letting Larry rehab his image on Warren’s back is sexist & journalistic malpractice. 5/5
2
104
676
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
3 years
Diaper prices are up right now--way up. Guess what else is up? CEO pay, stock buybacks, and dividend checks at the two major diaper manufacturers--Kimberly Clark (Huggies, Pull-Ups) and Procter and Gamble (Pampers, Luvs, All Good). Let's crack down on monopolies, not parents.
7
204
663
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
29 days
Today the @linakhanFTC & @FTC launched an inquiry into personalized pricing, the latest frontier in price gouging. A personalized price might sound nice, but it is actually a 3-part corporate strategy to spy on you, isolate you, & overcharge you. A 🧵1/6
9
358
675
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
"Rationing" scarce goods by price gouging is still price gouging. It's ok to be fine with that, and to write snide op-ed's defending it. But know this: CEOs are not acting as efficient stewards of scarce resources. That's a fiction. A thread: 1/6
13
188
621
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
This is wrong. There should be a robust public debate about policy that influences the livelihoods of millions. I’m a hard pass on telling people to sit on their hands while Powell decides if they have a job tomorrow. This is a core problem w/ outsourcing econ policy to the fed.
@Noahpinion
Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼
2 years
So the more you shout at the Fed to stop tightening, the more adamant they will be about tightening. Because if they ease up in the face of popular backlash, it means they're not really independent. And central banks prize the appearance of independence very highly.
51
10
198
13
115
620
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
6 months
There are 1,000 billionaires in America.   You know what the average federal tax rate for these billionaires is? 8.2%!  That’s far less than the vast majority of Americans pay.   No billionaire should pay a lower federal tax rate than a teacher, a sanitation worker, a nurse!
10
129
572
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
Remember the claim that corps had to raise prices because their costs had gotten so high? We were curious to see if they'd drop prices now that costs on everything from energy to lumber have fallen. Listening in to their earnings calls I can tell you the answer: Not at all. 2/12
6
164
557
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
Here is @mattyglesias covering Warren’s Real Corporate Profits Tax in 2019. After she proposed it, she landed a spot on the Senate Finance Committee & recruited Wyden & moderate Angus King to the effort. Then she got Manchin & Sinema to support. 2/5
2
104
541
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 months
This @SenWarren speech at @equitablegrowth is fire! People will look back on this speech as the moment the Democrats finally got serious about not getting rolled by corporate America in a tax fight. She’s laying down a marker for 2025: there won’t be Dem votes for a bad deal. 1/
10
217
570
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
1 year
Reporting on the Fed often feels like an Alice in Wonderland situation where sometimes down is up and up is down (good jobs numbers=bad!). That's because when you actually spell out with the Fed is aiming to do-obliterate the labor market-it is indeed as bad as it sounds.
@kenklippenstein
Ken Klippenstein 📎
1 year
CNN openly lamenting jobs numbers being too high. The horror!
Tweet media one
124
1K
10K
6
124
547
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
It feels really good to finally see some acceptance of this position by folks like @paulkrugman and @ezraklein . If you study the evolution from Q2 to Q4 earnings calls you can actually see CEOs/firms grappling with this phenomenon in real time. They are studying it closely!
@ezraklein
Ezra Klein
2 years
I'll also say, to one of Krugman's points: I was skeptical that corporate greed is what drove inflation, but I've moved more towards the view that cultural permission to raise prices is helping to sustain it.
Tweet media one
33
121
507
21
152
540
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
. @RepKatiePorter 's Competitive Prices Act closes loopholes that price-gougers use to collude & jack up prices, and it empowers consumers to rein in corporate power through the justice system. Congress should also reinstate a tax on excess profits to discourage profiteering. 10/12
1
139
532
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
The CEO of PPG, a Fortune 500 paint corp, said that as the cost of raw materials subsides, “We’re not going to be giving this pricing back... we’re telling people, this is the new price and if you don’t like it, please don’t place purchase orders.” Points for honesty? 3/12
5
178
531
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
14 days
“The economy is a garden. You have to take care of it. It needs tending, it needs nurturing,” Walz said . “This idea that you’re somehow thrifty by not investing in education, by not investing in infrastructure, by not investing in health care and research? It makes no sense.”
13
115
545
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 months
Since @mattyglesias devoted his full column to attacking our new issue of @TheProspect , me, and my org @Groundwork , a few responses. 1) a lot of his column is a straw man. The issue is called “how pricing works” bc it is indeed about how * pricing * works, a micro phenomenon. 1/6
6
90
536
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
4 years
NEW in the NYT from @BharatRamamurti and me: unless Congress acts, millions will take a paycut as they return to work. Our Fair Wage Guarantee would parlay the $600 UI boost into a wage hike, increasing demand and helping low-wage workers most. 1/9
17
201
509
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
I have many, many thoughts about this missive from @Applebees but mostly I just want to say that you should be sitting down while you read this.
31
164
505
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
Giving Larry credit for the corporate tax is the biggest fib in the piece but she also deserves much of the credit for elevating tax enforcement as a big revenue raiser. Here @JHWeissmann covers her proposal & Larry’s *subsequent* paper in agreement. 4/5
2
90
484
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
PS it’s not too late to correct the piece.
4
41
481
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
1 year
If only he’d been in a position to do something exactly like this at an elite college.
@LHSummers
Lawrence H. Summers
1 year
The important test for elite colleges in this era is their overall contribution to opportunity in America. No more legacy admissions. No more special admissions for people who've been coached extensively to be good at aristocratic sports. Expand their class sizes so that
255
362
2K
11
76
487
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
3 years
Does anyone else feel like they went to sleep 1 night last week in a 2-party system & woke up the next morning in a coalition government? This is the 1st time I’ve seen @USProgressives work like this & I know it took work (& didn’t happen overnight) to get here. #HoldTheLine
9
55
472
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
1 year
The CEOs have been admitting precisely this in earnings calls since 2021. Not sure why their investors would answer a survey any differently but nice to have it all in one place courtesy of Bloomberg. Maybe it’s time for policymakers and economics gatekeepers to believe them.
@VMRConstancio
Vitor Constâncio
1 year
The Bloomberg survey of professional investors shows that 90% think that “companies on both sides of the Atlantic have been raising prices in excess of their costs since the pandemic began in 2020. “ Almost four out of five said that tight monetary policy is the answer 1/
Tweet media one
5
96
303
13
188
460
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
. @ewarren introduced a bill to combat price gouging by making it illegal to sell essential goods at excessive prices during an economic crisis. Some 38 states, red & blue, already have price gouging laws on the books so this type of intervention is hardly radical. 11/12
4
93
442
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
Here’s the fact sheet on the Real Corporate Profits Tax from her presidential primary campaign. As you can see—it’s pretty darn close to the version set to become law in the IRA. 3/5
2
77
426
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
When customers must buy a product, and/or there are very few alternative options in the marketplace, huge corporations can price gouge. The proof? They're now seeing the highest profit margins since 1950, thanks largely to massive price markups. 8/12
3
136
434
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
6 months
It’s a very bad day for corporate profiteers & a good one for consumers. Biden is curbing excessive junk fees like credit card late fees, making the agricultural sector more competitive to being down grocery prices, & deploying a Strike Force on Illegal and Unfair Pricing. Boom.
8
113
434
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
Love seeing consumer issues highlighted tonight from airline fees to concert ticket prices to resort feee. This is stuff the admin can do to improve lives and show that government works and is on your side.
11
75
427
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
3 years
I'm pretty concerned about the gaslighting by some folks on our side on inflation. We're better than that. It's tone deaf, elitist, and just not a good look when 9/10 Americans are reporting concern and prices are indeed, up. Many things can be true at once! For example:
12
32
420
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
The need for urgent action on corporate profiteering is undeniable & you don't have to take the word of watchdogs. Corporations are admitting it in broad daylight. And one thing is clear: they won't stop until someone makes them. 12/12 All Receipts:
8
138
421
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
Why do they get away with it? Well, big corps with huge market power don’t have to think twice about extracting more profit. In some cases, consumers have nowhere else to go due to lack of competition. And some products are essential (eg, diapers) so consumers need them. 7/12
5
99
418
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
3 years
This week I got to join @jonstewart on @TheProblem to talk about why pricing looks a lot less like they told you it would in Econ 101 and a lot more like an episode of the Sopranos. It was an incredibly fun conversation. I hope you enjoy!
@TheProblem
The Problem With Jon Stewart
3 years
Jon and @owenslindsay1 talk about how corporate greed is driving the inflation crisis, and about the dirty, dirty deeds that go down in earnings calls.
48
229
701
9
93
416
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
3 years
You can listen to my full conversation with @jonstewart on @theproblem podcast here: We talked about the bald-faced profiteering that's accelerating price hikes & why the economy looks more like an episode of the Sopranos than an Econ 101 textbook.
16
129
414
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 months
Republicans in disarray stories are cropping up everywhere. There is a simple reason for this. The 2017 tax cuts for wealthy and corporations are deeply, deeply unpopular. Dems must press their advantage. Now is the time to turn up the volume.
6
166
415
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
The truth is some center-left wonks don’t like forgiveness but don’t want to say so. Instead they clutch their pearls & talk inflation & deficits. Don’t overcomplicate it. The choice is up or down. Does Biden forgive the debt & help some folks out or not. I hope he does. 3/3
8
47
395
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
3 years
Honored and excited to become @Groundwork 's next executive director! Our work is more important than ever as we emerge from a massive economic crisis & fight for vital investments to support the workers, families, and communities who drive our economy.
43
39
391
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
5 months
It’s normalized price hikes and let companies use inflation as a screen for even more price hikes than those justified by their rising costs alone (that’s why profits and profit margins are up). 2. Corporate taxes are pretty close to rock bottom. 2/3
2
45
403
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
The good news is there are tough actions that policymakers can take – through stricter laws and rigorous enforcement. President Biden has taken important steps to address anti-consumer behavior in industries like meatpacking and oil. We can do even more. 9/12
2
70
386
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
"Multiple employees at an Applebee's in Lawrence, Kansas, quit over the email, and the location was closed briefly Tuesday amid a walkout." Jake Holcomb, a manger who quit, distributed copies of the email to employees & posted it online. @businessinsider
10
90
380
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
5 months
There is zero incentive to stop gouging if you get to keep almost all of your winnings. 3. The labor share clearly has room to grow which means workers actually have a lot more room to run. Higher wages would be totally consistent with stable prices. Profits should come down.
1
51
392
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
1 year
Why isn't Congress delivering solutions that help families & workers? Because policymakers write bills to satisfy the scorekeepers, not their constituents. I close out this month's @TheProspect issue with a personal story & some solutions. A thread 1/11
7
154
365
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
HB Fuller, an industrial supply giant, said that even as costs decline, the company expects "sizable margin expansion" (read: bigger profits), because of "extremely sticky" prices. Price “stickiness” is when prices stay roughly the same even as the company's costs change. 4/12
1
82
365
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
6 months
2. This is a big piece of the unfinished business of Bidenomics. You can’t credibly claim a rebuke to Reaganomics until you unwind its centerpiece—the 40 year one-way ratchet on tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations that has spiked inequality and drained our revenue. 2/4
4
32
375
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
Summers on @ezraklein : "I think it’s, frankly, ridiculous to take businesses saying on an earnings call that they have pricing power as some kind of evidence of perfidy." The WHOLE point is that they are telling the truth. (also they can't misrepresent material information) 1
14
51
360
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
3 years
-We've overreacted to inflation in the past & shouldn't raise rates. -The right is weaponizing inflation to tank Biden. -There are bright spots in the economy. -Biden didn't cause supply chain problems. None of these require denying the existence or impact of inflation.
15
43
356
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
This strategy is especially widespread in the food industry, where grocery prices jumped 13.5% in August. Hormel, the Fortune 500 food giant, said, "The pricing that we’ve taken & that we’re in the midst of executing the additional price increase... will by & large stay.” 6/12
3
112
358
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
2 years
People often ask me how we do such great communications work w/o a big comms firm on retainer. This is my answer. The big public affairs firms simply aren't capable of running a successful campaign to take on corporate power. Why? Their highest-paying clients won't have it.
@MorePerfectUS
More Perfect Union
2 years
NEW: Amazon hired a top Democratic firm, Global Strategy Group, to help bust the union drive by @AmazonLabor . They failed. Today, GSG disavowed their work for Amazon: "We deeply regret being involved in any way" @GSG desperately wants this scandal to go away. But it's not. 🧵
36
1K
4K
1
83
354
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
6 months
4. It’s the right thing to do to strengthen our economy & democracy. The 40 year one-way ratchet is a big reason why the wealthiest Americans & corporations have way too much power in our economy and in Washington. They want the status quo. Biden should say he’ll disrupt it 4/4
5
27
363
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
7 months
“‘Greedflation’ is a problem for central banks now, with Richmond Fed’s Barkin worried that corporate price hikes are baked into the system.” I’m old enough to remember when greedflation was a conspiracy theory.
16
122
354
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
7 months
Wild times.
Tweet media one
6
62
351
@owenslindsay1
Lindsay Owens
26 days
Just chilling outside the Arc de Triomphe, dreaming of bringing back the oligarchy.
@SquawkCNBC
Squawk Box
26 days
. @andrewrsorkin asks IAC Chairman Barry Diller if he would lobby Vice President @KamalaHarris to drop @LinaKhanFTC : "Yeah, I would. I think she's a dope," said Diller.
95
50
179
13
77
351