Private Equity firms are acquiring hospital emergency room contracts. They see pain and suffering as a profit center. A video report by More Perfect Union.
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Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee just voted to join the UAW, the first American workers to unionize a non-union car company in decades. This is a big victory for the autoworkers union’s Southern organizing campaign, and the first for a foreign-owned US factory. The win came despite the usual anti-union efforts by management. A More Perfect Union video.
Fun fact: Volkswagen workers in VW’s hometown of Wolfsburg, Germany belong to IG Metall, Europe’s largest industrial union, are represented on the factory’s works council, and negotiate well-paid apprentiship positions at the plant.
More:
“UAW wins big in historic union vote at Volkswagen Tennessee factory,” Nora Eckert, Associated Press
“VW Workers in Tennessee Vote for Union, a Labor Milestone,” Neal E. Boudette, New York Times
“UAW presses deeper into the South with victory at Volkswagen,” Nathan Bomey, Axios
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“People bought 43 million vinyl records last year, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). That’s 6 million more than the number of CDs sold in 2023, marking the second time since 1987 that’s happened and reflecting the steady 17-year-running growth of vinyl sales.”
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“If you’re curious, nearly half a million cassettes sold last year, too, according to Billboard.”
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“That doesn’t come close to touching streaming, of course — paid subscriptions, digital radio services like SiriusXM or TuneIn, and ad-supported services accounted for 84 percent of music revenue for the year, or about $14.4 billion. The RIAA says that’s a record.”
— “Vinyl records outsell CDs for the second year running,” Wes Davis, The Verge
Related:
“Wax and Wane: The Tough Realities Behind Vinyl’s Comeback,” Joel Oliphint, Pitchfork
“The music industry’s newfangled growth business: vinyl records,” John McDuling, Quartz
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A New York court ordered The Trump Organization to pay $454 million in a business fraud case last month, and lawyers for ex-president and reality TV pretend billionaire Donald Trump now say he can’t get a bank to lend him money to post a bond for that. This is after Trump bragged about his cash fluidity in yet another recent civil court case.
Donald Trump has a lengthy history of defaulting on bank loans, including on his Altlantic City casinos, an airline, the historic Plaza Hotel, and a Chicago tower. The real question isn’t why Trump can’t get a loan now, but why any bank ever gave him loans in the past.
That $454 million payment is due next Monday, March 25th. What happens if the Trump Organization can’t find a bank foolish enough to lend him the money? The state attorney general has the right to seize and sell off his New York properties, including his Trump Tower holdings, a landmark Wall Street office building, and his upstate golf courses.
More:
“Trump Spurned by 30 Companies as He Seeks Bond in $454 Million Judgment,” Ben Protess, Maggie Haberman, and Kate Christobek, New York Times
“Trump’s lawyers say it is impossible for him to post bond covering $454 million civil fraud judgment, Michael R. Sisak, Associated Press
“What will happen if Trump can’t post $454M bond in his civil fraud case by Monday’s deadline?” Priscilla DeGregory, New York Post
“Trump says he’d have to hold ‘fire sale’ of properties to meet $464M bond,” Sarah Fortinsky, The Hill
“Why Won’t Rich Republicans Loan Money to Upstanding Businessman Donald Trump?” Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine
“Trump can’t find anyone to spot him $464 million. Would you?” Catherine Rampell, Washington Post
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The Wall Street Journal’s Jaewon Kang explains why Trader Joe’s small selection of private label brands and trendy products keeps shoppers coming back for more.
Note: Jaewon Kang is now with Bloomberg
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Kellogg’s CEO Gary Pilnick has advice for the country’s cash-strapped consumers: eat cold cereal for dinner. The tone-deaf multimillionaire mimicked Marie Antoinette, and it did not go over well.
“The cereal category has always been quite affordable, and it tends to be a great destination when consumers are under pressure,” Mr. Pilnick told CNBC. “If you think about the cost of cereal for a family versus what they might otherwise do, that’s going to be much more affordable.”
In fact, the price of cold breakfast cereal increased about 14.2 percent in the last year, 28 percent in the past four years. Many manufacturers have disguised the price jump through “shrinkflation,” selling smaller boxes at the same price.
While Kellogg’s has been pushing “breakfast for dinner” since 2022, they suggested it as a fun thing to do, not as a cost-saving measure. For many, a cold cereal dinner is a sign of psychological depression, not an economic one.
More:
“Let them eat Flakes: Kellogg’s CEO says poor families should consider ‘cereal for dinner,’” Ramon Antonio Vargas, The Guardian
“Shoppers call out Kellogg CEO’s ‘cereal for dinner’ pitch for struggling families,” Emilee Coblentz, USA Today
“Kellogg CEO under fire for suggesting cereal as a money-saving dinner,” Emily Heil and Jaclyn Peiser, Washington Post
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Image ( “Breakfast in the Studio, after Manet”) by Mike Licht. Download a free copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com Yes, we know that Cheerios are not a Kellogg’s product.
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The Friday after Thanksgiving or ”Black Friday“ is reserved by global corporations for whipping Americans into a frenzy of over-consumption. Millions camp out and line up for hours hoping for bargains. Most end up buying things they don’t need at prices they can’t afford.
Save big today. Don’t buy a single thing. If you want to spend something, spend the day with friends and family. Spend time at the library; borrow a book and spend time reading it. Spend time making something. You’re not what you buy. You’re not a “consumer.” You’re a human being.
More:
“Buy Nothing Day,” AdBusters
“Buy Nothing Day,” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“The scientific explanation of why people kill each other over TVs on Black Friday,” Laurence Ashworth, Reuters
“5 Great Reasons to Celebrate International Buy Nothing Day Instead of Black Friday,” Amy Mendosa, TIME
“Anti-Black Friday Movements Gain Traction With Patagonia Clothing Swap,” Meagan Clark, International Business Times
“A Brief History of Black Friday,” Ethan Trex, Mental Floss
“Annual ‘Buy Nothing Day Winter Coat Exchange’ bucks consumerism,” Michelle R. Smith, AP via Providence Journal
“Great Ways to Spend Black Friday Not at the Mall,” Brad Tuttle,CNN Money
“Fight Black Friday by joining a Buy Nothing group,” Lisa Hyma,Grist
“Websites promote Buy Nothing Day,” Kevin O’Neil, Scranton Times-Tribune
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A Touch of Magic, a short musical film produced for the 1961 General Motors Motorama show, which toured New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Basel Switzerland like some kind of fantasy consumer circus. It also featured appliances by Frigidaire, then owned by GM. Directed by producer Victor D. Solow, written by Joseph March and Edward Eliscu, with music by Sol Kaplan. Featuring dancers Thelma “Tad” Tadlock (voiced by singer Anita Ellis) and James Mitchell (voiced by Ed Kenney). Choreography by Thomas Hansen.
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Design for Dreaming, a short musicical film produced for the 1956 General Motors Motorama show, which toured New York City, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Boston like some kind of futuristic consumer circus. It also featured appliances by Frigidaire, then owned by GM. Directed by producer Victor D. Solow (or possibly William Beaudine), written by Joseph March, with music by Sol Kaplan. Featuring dancers Thelma “Tad” Tadlock (voiced by singer Marjorie Gordon) and Marc Breaux (voiced by Joseph Lautner). Narrative by Thurl Ravenscroft. Filmed in Miami. Spoiler: our happy couple drive into the glorious future in a GM Firebird II concept car.
More:
“Motoramas in Pink Pajamas, And Other Illusions From When Life Was Mighty Swell,” Jesse Sublett, Austin Chronicle
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Last week Netflix mailed out the last red-and-white envelopes, ending its original DVD-by-mail service. The company shipped 5 billion discs to subscribers via USPS in the past 25 years. Perhaps Netflix will start a new service helping grandparents hook up that gosh-darned WiFi thingy so they can stream their favorite films. Of course, the streaming giant will need to restore those classic films to their catalog first.
More:
“Netflix’s DVD-by-mail service bows out as its red-and-white envelopes make their final trip,” Michael Liedtke, Associated Press
“The high tech behind Netflix’s old-school DVD service,” Janko Roettgers, The Verge
Update:
Seattle’s Scarecrow Video is starting a nationwide DVD by mail Service of a sort.
“America’s largest independent video store is taking its DVD-by-mail service nationwide,” Mariella Moon, Engadget
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