ilsr.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Is today's news tempting you to cancel your Washington Post subscription? I fear an exodus of liberal readers will only hasten its shift rightward. May I suggest the better move is to break up with Amazon? We have a guide for you:

submitted 11 days ago • 12 comments

Mark your calendars for our upcoming event on March 20! If you’re involved in climate, clean energy, or economic advocacy in your community — whether as part of a nonprofit, small business, labor union, residents’ association, or local government — this webinar is for you. Learn more & register ⬇️

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

Thanks to @ronmknox.bsky.social for chatting about the importance of small businesses with me. Full interview is at screwed.substack.com/p/youre-prob....

submitted 15 days ago • 1 comment

“Amid an ongoing narrative that municipal broadband was too risky, too costly, and ultimately unsustainable, success stories across the country have countered that idea.” Recap of our webinar with @ilsr.bsky.social ⬇️ broadbandbreakfast.com/vermont-ohio...

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

Excellent summary by @ilsr.bsky.social #ThinkSustainably ilsr.org/articles/202...

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

Is managing contamination a challenge for your local composting site? You’re not alone! Join us next Tuesday for a webinar featuring practical strategies and advice from expert food scrap composters.

submitted 17 days ago • 1 comment

Our 2025 Community Power Scorecard is out! It grades all 50 states on their support of local clean energy action and pushback on utility monopoly power. Use this resource to start moving your state toward lower energy bills and more control over how your energy is produced. https://vist.ly/3mvgk52

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

THIS is what it looks like to govern for the people: lowering the costs of everyday necessities and making our communities cleaner, safer, and healthier. We need more of this.

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

“By filing suit against PepsiCo, the FTC is sending a clear message: it is illegal for a large supplier to collaborate with a big retail chain to drive smaller retailers out of business and dominate the market.” Read @stacyfmitchell.bsky.social’s full statement: ilsr.org/articles/sta...

submitted 51 days ago • 0 comments

1. The FTC today sued Pepsi, the food and drink giant, for conspiring with one big box retailer to rig the price of its sodas and chips while ripping off small stores and grocers. Yes, this is about fairness, about bullying that creates food deserts. It's also about the end of the age of Walmart.

submitted 51 days ago • 1 comment

At an event by @ilsr.bsky.social, Minnesota AG Keith Ellison says the state is committed to carry on with antitrust suits in which it joined the federal govt- e.g. Amazon - in case the latter retreats enforcement. "We got into this for the long-run," he said. Other state AGs likely do the same.

submitted 53 days ago • 0 comments

1. This is a beautiful piece about the local grocers that have opened in struggling food-desert communities — only to find that they must pay suppliers much higher prices than the big boxes, making it difficult to stay open. The solution is simple: resume enforcing the Robinson-Patman Act.

submitted 54 days ago • 3 comments

Last chance to register for Wednesday’s virtual event! We’ll hear from policymakers and advocates who have... ➡️ Blocked a supermarket megamerger ➡️ Challenged healthcare monopolies ➡️ Taken action against corporate landlords accused of colluding to raise rents ...and much more! Register here ⬇️

submitted 54 days ago • 0 comments

Don’t forget to register for our upcoming virtual event! ⬇️

submitted 58 days ago • 0 comments

Join ILSR and @stateinnovation.bsky.social next week for a lively discussion about how states can advance the antitrust movement. The program includes a fireside chat between Attorneys General @agellison.bsky.social and @krismayes.bsky.social, moderated by ILSR’s @stacyfmitchell.bsky.social. 1/2

submitted 60 days ago • 1 comment

1. Hello. States are on the front lines in the fight against corporate power. State leadership in antitrust has been crucial - and continues to be so. Next week, @ilsr.bsky.social and @stateinnovation.bsky.social are hosting a discussion on how states can carry the antimonopoly movement forward.

submitted 61 days ago • 2 comments

Event next week! States are passing new antitrust laws and going after monopolies like Amazon & Real Page. Join us on Jan. 15 to learn more. Featuring attorneys general @azagmayes.bsky.social, @keithellison.bsky.social & state advocates. Hosted by @ilsr.bsky.social + @stateinnovation.bsky.social

submitted 60 days ago • 1 comment

Despite the uncertainty surrounding a new federal administration, states are continuing to lead the fight against monopoly power. Join ILSR and the State Innovation Exchange (SiX) on January 15 to hear policymakers and advocates share strategies for building more equitable economies nationwide.

submitted 82 days ago • 1 comment

The failed Kroger-Albertsons merger—blocked by two courts this week—offers the clearest proof yet that the antitrust movement is breaking through. This win might be the last hurrah of Lina Khan’s FTC tenure, but it won't be the last victory for the movement she leads. My latest for The Atlantic:

submitted 87 days ago • 0 comments

"In the long term, the door to revived competition enforcement has been decisively cracked open—and it won’t be so easy to shut.” Lina Khan's tenure may be ending, but the antitrust movement she helped revive is here to stay, explains @ilsr.bsky.social 's Stacy Mitchell.

submitted 86 days ago • 1 comment

Yes, the FTC’s price discrimination suit against Southern Glazer’s is about liquor store competition. But it’s also about grocery prices. It’s about what stores can exist in your neighborhood. It’s about fairness as our economic guiding light, instead of bigness. www.ftc.gov/news-events/...

submitted 87 days ago • 0 comments

The FTC’s decision in the 1980s to abandon the Robinson-Patman Act was one of the most consequential policy decisions of the last 50 years. It decimated rural and urban communities. Here's our statement on the FTC's important move today to revive enforcement of the law: ilsr.org/articles/sta...

submitted 87 days ago • 0 comments

“Blocking this merger is a crucial step in restoring healthy competition to food retailing,” says ILSR’s Ron Knox. Read our full statement: ilsr.org/articles/ilsr-applauds-judges-decision-to-block-kroger-albertsons-merger/

submitted 89 days ago • 0 comments

Terrific news: The judge has sided with the FTC in its case seeking to block the Kroger-Albertsons merger. This is the first time in decades that the gov't has even tried to block a grocery merger. The ruling shows that the antitrust tide is truly shifting — even in the courts!

submitted 89 days ago • 0 comments

1. When Walmart opens a store, it drives down local wages more than it reduces prices. Some warned of this 20 years ago (me!), but most cities and towns welcomed Walmart anyway. Now, a robust new study shows Walmart’s damage is even worse than feared.

submitted 102 days ago • 41 comments

On the latest episode of Building Local Power, we had a great conversation with Mars Verrone, producer of an acclaimed new documentary about the Amazon Labor Union beginnings. You can watch Union online during a special digital screening from today through Giving Tuesday. Get the details ⬇️

submitted 100 days ago • 1 comment

1. Visa & Mastercard are strangling small businesses. This local bookstore paid $40,000 in swipe fees last year — for transactions that cost pennies to process. The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a big-deal hearing today on a bipartisan bill to tackle this.

submitted 110 days ago • 1 comment

The latest episode of Building Local Power is the first in a series exploring the intersection of monopoly power and systemic racism. Join us for a galvanizing conversation with two Amazon CAUSE organizers working to unionize their warehouse ⬇️

submitted 110 days ago • 0 comments

What do bookstores, the Rust Belt, and fighting monopolies have in common? On the latest episode of Building Local Power, noted bookseller, author, and anti-Amazon advocate Danny Caine joins us for a lively conversation about all that and more!

submitted 128 days ago • 0 comments

“Sweetheart electricity deals for Big Tech expose the underlying problem –– an entire system for delivering an essential public service monopolized by private, investor-owned corporations,” @johnffarrell.bsky.social writes. Keep reading ⬇️

submitted 136 days ago • 0 comments

Amazon’s latest Prime Day sale just ended, but the FTC’s monopolization lawsuit against the company is moving full steam ahead after a federal judge denied Amazon’s motion to dismiss. The ruling is “yet another victory for the FTC,” ILSR’s @ronmknox.bsky.social said. Full statement ⬇️

submitted 150 days ago • 0 comments

In order for independent grocery stores to succeed in overcoming food deserts, we need to level the playing field so that they can stay open, @stacyfmitchell.bsky.social said. “If we don’t have the enforcement of fair competition, these stores are going to be squeezed out.” Read the full article ⬇️

submitted 212 days ago • 0 comments

“The legacy of disingenuous outsiders taking advantage of Tribes does not seem to be consigned to history.” Our Community Broadband Networks team just published a new report examining the consequences of a federal broadband program’s failure to prioritize Tribal consent ⬇️

submitted 216 days ago • 0 comments

USDA is helping Amazon establish itself as the middleman between federal agencies that buy stuff and the small businesses they buy from. Amazon can then skim off all the profits (and more) through the fees it charges the businesses, plus scoop up data. Via the great @clairek.bsky.social

submitted 226 days ago • 0 comments

Black business districts once thrived across the US. In a powerful multimedia essay, ILSR's @ronmknox.bsky.social and Susan Holmberg look at the forces, from racist urban planning to monopoly power, that destroyed these vital centers — and what we need to do to rebuild them.

submitted 270 days ago • 0 comments

one of the organizations I now work for (The Institute For Local Self Reliance) got some love from the Associated Press for their efforts to help tribal communities build their own broadband networks

submitted 223 days ago • 4 comments

Combating monopoly power is crucial to achieving racial justice. And, targeting structural racism is essential to dismantling monopoly power. New research from @ilsr.bsky.social highlights how we can advance racial justice and tackle concerted corporate power 👇 ilsr.org/articles/pow...

submitted 257 days ago • 0 comments

NEW: Based on a new report from @ilsr.bsky.social, @johnffarrell.bsky.social argues that #monopoly granted to private, investor-owned electric #utilities by state governments is preventing the U.S. from accessing cheaper, cleaner, and more dependable electricity. www.promarket.org/2024/07/08/u...

submitted 244 days ago • 0 comments

For decades, real estate companies engaged in discriminatory practices that deprived generations of Black Americans of the wealth-building advantages of homeownership. Many digital equity advocates say a similar practice is now a defining feature of broadband service. 1/4

submitted 457 days ago • 1 comment

“It was a huge David and Goliath fight, but we won.” On this episode of Building Local Power, New Energy Economy’s Mariel Nanasi shares how she fought to stop a giant energy conglomerate from acquiring New Mexico’s largest electric utility. Listen to the episode and explore related resources ⬇️

submitted 507 days ago • 0 comments

On the latest episode of Building Local Power, ILSR’s Brenda Platt explains how the concentrated expansion of large-scale anaerobic digestion facilities ultimately harms communities, and BK ROT’s Dior St. Hillaire shares her vision for a decentralized future that empowers local economies. ⬇️

submitted 520 days ago • 0 comments

Amazon's cut of sellers' revenue has been trending upward for years & reached 45% in 2023. @ilsr.bsky.social 's new timely research highlights how the exorbitant fees Amazon extracts from businesses crush those sellers, raise consumer prices & fund its monopoly power. ilsr.org/amazonmonopo...

submitted 530 days ago • 0 comments

“Today’s action to break Amazon’s monopoly control over online commerce is great news for Americans... This is one of the most important antitrust cases in U.S. history.” Read ILSR Co-Director @stacyfmitchell.bsky.social’s full statement ⬇️

submitted 530 days ago • 0 comments

“Landfill and incinerator companies get paid by the ton… The bigness is the big problem.” Tune in to the latest episode of Building Local Power to hear Just Zero’s Kirstie Pecci explain how waste industry consolidation impacts the health of our communities and our planet.

submitted 534 days ago • 0 comments