3187 - McCarthy Gone, WGA Wins, Amazon Obscures w/ Greg Iwinski, Moe Tkacik

It's Hump Day! Sam and Emma speak with Greg Iwinski member of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) negotiating committee, to discuss the agreement struck between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to end their strike. Then, they're joined by Moe Tkacik, investigations editor at the The American Prospect, to discuss her recent piece on the complaint levied against Amazon by the Federal Trade Commission. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on labor action among healthcare workers and the UAW, Federal challenges to monopoly, Trump’s gag order, and Septembers record heat numbers, before parsing through the ousting of Kevin McCarthy, and his total shock in reaping what he sowed during his confirmation. Greg Iwinski then joins, first reflecting on the massive progress made by the WGA since his last MR appearance, and the ongoing process of ratifying their deal with studios – before briefly stepping back to analyze the role of the growing national labor movement and mass contraction of the streaming model in creating this moment. After briefly touching on the future of the industry model, Iwinski walks Sam and Emma through the big wins from the WGA deal, including various pay protections, job protections, and a peek behind the curtain of streaming data. Next, Moe Tkacik tackles the FTC’s ongoing anti-trust suit against Amazon, exploring the elements of monopoly that this case is targeting, and Amazon’s massive ability to leverage third-party sellers and shippers into horrendous deals – with severe algorithmic consequences if they don’t agree. After parsing through the details of the allegations (and what remains foggy), Tkacik, Sam, and Emma look to the growing anti-trust movement in both law and politics, and why anti-trust messaging is so necessary to combat the media manipulation of massive monopolies. They wrap up the interview with an analysis of the future of the anti-trust movement, and what it will take to fight against generations of brainwashing by the Chicago School of economics.

And in the Fun Half: Sam and Emma dive into the beautiful culmination of the absolute sh*t show hosted by the House GOP, tackling responses from both the Gaetz and McCarthy coalitions, and exploring where the Right-Wing media falls along these lines. Hannity floats a Trump-Speakership and is shut down by hopeful Jim Jordan, and Grant Stinchfield shifts to another off-brand Fox station to rant about Dianne Feinstein’s passing, plus, your IMs!

Find out more about the WGA deal here: https://www.wga.org/

Check out Moe's piece here: https://prospect.org/power/2023-09-27-redacted-case-against-amazon/

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