Big Business Lobby Opposes Ban on Non-Compete Agreements. So Much for the Free Market!
Also: supposed "cost-cutting" layoffs followed by orgy of stock buybacks
The same people constantly gassing on about the beatific wonders of the “free market” are now frantically lobbying to block the Biden administration’s proposed ban on non-compete agreements, as my colleagues and I just reported in The Intercept.
Studies show that ending non-competes would boost wages for countless American workers, one out of five of whom are currently bound by a non-compete. But business interests led by the Chamber of Commerce — the main business lobby group in the U.S. — are now carrying out a full court press against the ban proposed by FTC Chair Lina Khan.
How do these pro-business groups square their supposed love of markets with their refusal to allow workers to participate in them? By not even bothering.
“This is just another example where support for the ‘free market’ is effectively Calvinball for pro-business groups,” economist Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research told me. “They are perfectly happy to effectively redefine the free market when it suits their interests.”
After a public comment period, the FTC will decide whether to carry out the proposal.
You can let the FTC know what you think of its proposed ban on non-competes here.
FEEL LIKE THIS SHOULD BE A BIGGER STORY
Sam Bankman-Fried’s massive influence peddling operation. Lawyers for the disgraced owner of crypto exchange FTX filed a list of creditors in bankruptcy proceedings, which my colleagues and I reviewed. Some highlights: the former Speaker of the New York City Council, Shaq, Center for New American Security, Margaritaville, and League of Legends.
SBF contained multitudes.
Strategic ‘balloon gap’. In the latest installment of reality outpacing satire, the Wall Street Journal warned of a strategic “balloon gap” in our national security apparatus following the Chinese spy balloon’s jaunt across the continental U.S. Daniel Ellsberg did always say Dr. Strangelove was a documentary.
Can’t wait for the inevitable multi-billion dollar counter-balloon defense system!
Following Layoffs, Big Tech Firms Gain $800 billion in market caps. Big tech firms have been laying off employees at an astonishing clip lately, frequently citing economic conditions, as Facebook’s Meta did when it laid off 13% of its workforce recently. Yet somehow they’re still able to afford to gift investors with billions in stock buybacks. Just weeks after Meta’s layoffs, it issued an eye-watering $40 billion in stock buybacks, causing its stock to jump over 20% in a single day. (This despite the fact that Meta’s ad revenue continues to fall!)
How is this not market manipulation? How is it even legal? Turns out, it wasn’t — until the Reagan administration.
The Financial Times calculated that Amazon, Meta, Alphabet (Google’s parent company) and Microsoft have added over $800 billion to their market caps following their layoff announcements.
It’s pretty obvious who this economic system is for.