Being smeared as a sexist for expressing populist views brings me back. Makes me feel young again.

Paramount's general counsel Makan Delrahim says opposition to the Paramount-Warner merger is driven by anti-semitism. He really believes that. These people are total lunatics.

A very weird manufacturing indicator, the sector is growing and the growth is accelerating, but manufacturing employment is contracting. And the comments from executives are deeply pessimistic. www.ismworld.org/supply-manag...

Electricity bills are soaring, and Americans are fed up. The political backlash against utilities is finally here, driven by the broader revolt against the affordability crisis, says @matthewstoller.bsky.social. “Everybody is mad at utilities." #Velshi

I wrote up two events last week that will shake up the stock market, which are the very scammy SpaceX IPO and the repricing of AI tools. The bill for data centers is coming due, and corporate America has to pay for it. www.thebignewsletter.com/p/monopoly-r...

1. Trump has repeatedly promoted an online casino, Stake, on social media after its founder and owner, Bijan Tehrani donated $1 million to Trump's Super PAC, MAGA Inc. According to multiple state regulators, Stake is an illegal operation.

My dumb read on Iran is that you can tell it’s a real deal when Trump starts effusively praising Iran’s leadership in a cringe and slightly homoerotic manner.

The Falcon Heavy is a great rocket; the boosters first landed in 2018. It gives SpaceX a dominant lead in the most minor market in which SpaceX competes. A good chunk of that market is Starlink. Starship is a disaster that will be less economical than the Falcon Heavy and should be cancelled.

Where’s all your money going when you pay your electric bill? It’s not going to where they say it is. It’s not building a better grid, but to a legal form of theft. open.substack.com/pub/mattstol...

Proposed Paramount-Warner merger may seem abstract outside Hollywood bubble. It's not. Great piece by @markruffalo.bsky.social and @matthewstoller.bsky.social calling out corporate culture of fear - and its impact on freedoms both creative + journalistic. Hold hope. The merger isn't a done deal.

The monopoly round-up is out. I profiled a nasty private equity rolling up of bowling alleys called Bowlero, and the Lina Khan generation of antitrust lawyers trying to stop them in their tracks. As goes bowling, so goes America. www.thebignewsletter.com/p/monopoly-r...

“Can I afford the tax? Yes. Will it deter me? No. But I think it’s shameful,” he said. “I provide a lot of money to people who are blue-collar workers who work for me, servers in restaurants." Never change, Epstein class. You're perfect the way you are. www.ft.com/content/3283...

Here’s a Trump related merger that’s could screw 1.5 million small businesses. You don’t know these companies, Cintas and Unifirst, but their products are everywhere. Make America Scammy Again. open.substack.com/pub/mattstol...

You will want to read this fascinating story about market power in the uniform rental contract space. It may not sound relevant to you, but I guarantee it is. www.thebignewsletter.com/p/fine-print...

Obama has been doing paid speaking gigs at corporate events, with no one tracking it. Here he talks to an audience of CEOs for the lobbying/pr firm Consello. He's the former President and this is how he chooses to spend his time? He doesn't need the money. Just sad.

Excellent piece by @markruffalo.bsky.social and @matthewstoller.bsky.social These mega mergers concentrate power in fewer hands, squeeze out competition, and leave us with less choice. When fewer companies control what we watch, read, and hear, the public loses. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/o...

@markruffalo.bsky.social and @matthewstoller.bsky.social are exactly right. This fight isn't over. We need to block this merger and break up monopolies everywhere.

Must read via @markruffalo.bsky.social & @matthewstoller.bsky.social: There are many reasons to block this...but we now believe the most fundamental one is what we encountered when asking artists to use their voices: fear. A deep, ugly & pervasive fear of speaking out www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/o...

Mark Ruffalo and I wrote an oped for the NYT on Trump allies buying up the media via acquiring Warner Brothers and CNN, but it's really about how fear of oligarchs is overtaking America. And there's a lesson in how solidarity helps us fight back. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/o...

Somehow guessing THIS ad boycott won't draw an FTC investigation.

No, Biden did not kill Spirit Airlines. Trump did. There are other villains too. www.thebignewsletter.com/p/who-killed...

Ken Paxton: "BREAKING: I just secured victory against Live Nation in court to end its illegal monopolization and make live events more affordable."

BOOM! When Trump tried to sabotage the Ticketmaster antitrust case, the state attorneys general kept it going. And won. The antitrust revolution goes onward.

The Google antitrust remedies are actually going to lead to advertisers getting cash back. If you spent more than $10k on Google ads, you can file for damages here. The lawyer is Ashley Keller, he's a super creative antitrust litigator. adsrefund.com

Oh look David Ellison's Paramount is already retaliating against people for opposing his takeover of Warner. www.thewrap.com/media-platfo...

🔥🔥🔥A thousand writers, directors, and actors signed a letter opposing the Paramount-Warner merger. That's a HUGE deal, since there was massive fear in the industry. It was organized by @markruffalo.bsky.social who I will now call the mayor of Hollywood. www.thewrap.com/media-platfo...

Today I released an investigative piece on something most people don't think about until they really need it - ambulances. The price of ambulances has skyrocketed since 2012. Why? It's likely... private equity. www.thebignewsletter.com/p/code-red-w...

@josephpolitano.bsky.social thinks 'antitrust = good' because he doesn't get law. Paxton is aggressive on antitrust. That's not a recommendation - antitrust can be used for bad ends too. Paxton is a better and more creative lawyer than Pam Bondi, but I don't want Trump with better lawyering.

I've finished "The Infernal Triangle: How America Got this Way." Farewell to the 5-book project that consumed some 30 years, over half my life! For the nonce, writing deadline-free on this Substack. First 50 subs get signed books or personal Zoom greetings. PAY ME!!! rickperlstein.substack.com

Yes, health insurer and Silicon Valley owned AI companies are taping therapy sessions and using that data. It's a creepy situation driven by health insurers not wanting to pay for mental health care. www.thebignewsletter.com/p/yes-therap...

Actually banning buybacks for defense contractors is a good idea. Nearly all capital for the industry is provided by the government. An increase of buybacks and shareholder returns drove a weaker defense base. www.acq.osd.mil/asda/dpc/pcf...

Four-byline alert: 🚨 “.. A broker for Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, attempted to make a big investment in major defence companies in the weeks leading up to the US-Israeli attack on Iran, according to three people familiar with the matter.” www.ft.com/content/744e...

Boom. www.npr.org/2026/03/25/n...

The enemy doesn't need an intelligence operation any more, just a Polymarket account. $2 MILLION has just been bet on the same outcomes: - US forces enter Iran after March 31. - No ceasefire by March 31 Potential profit: $2.5 MILLION Insiders making millions from filling caskets with US soldiers

It's so funny how these venture capitalist industry leading smash hit app maker geniuses can't do basic shit regular people did for centuries, like run a gambling saloon with a wet bar.

Trump personally intervened to pardon Ticketmaster and preserve its monopoly. www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

Democrats are actually targeting the censorship machine, aka our corporate media. Eight state enforcers just filed a case to block the merger of the broadcaster giants who had Jimmy Kimmel thrown off the air. www.thebignewsletter.com/p/boom-state...

The industrial policy that helped spawn the world's biggest semiconductor manufacturer traces directly back to the New Deal's Tennessee Valley Authority asteriskmag.com/issues/13/th...

oh my 🥗

The price of fresh vegetables jumped 48.9% last month. wtf. www.bls.gov/news.release...

Trump just pardoned Ticketmaster. www.bigtechontrial.com/p/a-wild-day...

One of the lessons of the Iran war is that it was a huge mistake not to even try to put any of the Iraq war architects in prison. We shouldn’t make it again.

Sony appears to be testing dynamic pricing on PlayStation games

Populist rage is continuing to build. And Jeff Bezos just taught an entire slice of liberal elites how oligarchy really works. Turns out, they don’t like it. open.substack.com/pub/mattstol...

I don't mean to seem alarmed, but it appears Google's book search function is, just...gone. In a sane country it would be a huge deal, front page news, that a privately owned utility that millions researches, from journalists to scholars, rely on every day to advance knowledge can just disappear.

"Google may be seeking to become our central planner and price setter." www.levernews.com/googles-ai-k... via @matthewstoller.bsky.social & @thelever.bsky.social

Important moment as Congress passes a law going after UnitedHealth, CVS, and Cigna. The break up of big medicine is starting. open.substack.com/pub/mattstol...

Pure gold passed down from @matthewstoller.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=_khH...

Looks like Elon Musk got a little favor in a recent funding bill, a mandate the FAA block anyone trying to track any info about private jets upon a request of the owner.