Corporations Archives - Public Seminar

Body & Mind

The Fashion for Baiting, Brainwashing, and Bullying

How does Brandy Melville continue to tap into the most desperate impulses of being a teenage girl?

December 10, 2024 • by Hannah McIntyre

“From the beginning of the supply chain to the end, we’re all being exploited by the same system” says Chloe Asaam, who represents the Or Foundation. She’s speaking in Brandy Hellville & the Cult of Fast Fashion, an HBO documentary that explores the toxicity of the international brand Brandy Melville. The ...

The Fashion for Baiting, Brainwashing, and Bullying

Corporations

The Evolution of America’s (Un)protected Consumer

From government oversight to “financial literacy”

April 30, 2024 • by Basak Kus

Consumer protection started to be seen as a responsibility that individuals, deemed rational and capable, were expected to shoulder themselves, assuming they were provided adequate information about the terms of exchange. ...

The Evolution of America’s (Un)protected Consumer

Corporations

Right To Repair, Rising

The movement to let you fix your own stuff is winning

June 12, 2023 • by Pat Garofalo

At the end of the day, people just want to be able to fix their stuff....

Corporations

How Minnesota Took on Hospital Monopolies and Won

HF 402 creates a “public interest standard” for mergers

May 31, 2023 • by Pat Garofalo

Across the country, health care workers have seen both their pay and their working conditions head down a slope thanks to the increasing power of the large health systems that employ them....

How Minnesota Took on Hospital Monopolies and Won

Corporations

Taking on Ticketmaster

A California bill would eliminate a key tactic Ticketmaster uses to rip you off

May 8, 2023 • by Pat Garofalo

Pat Garofalo writes about a California bill that would eliminate a key tactic Ticketmaster uses to rip you off....

Corporations

The Public Wants to Ban Secret Deals

New polling shows voters think secret corporate subsidy deals are shady and corrupt

April 24, 2023 • by Pat Garofalo

NDAs were a key part of Amazon’s push for its subsidized HQ2, and have popped up in states all across the country....

Corporations

Throw Junk Fees in the Trash

States are following the Biden administration’s lead in going after unfair and deceptive fees

April 18, 2023 • by Pat Garofalo

If corporations have power, it’s a safe bet they’re using it to extract junk fees. ...

Corporations

Inside the Fight to Save Local Journalism

State and federal lawmakers are aiming at Big Tech’s ability to destroy local news

April 11, 2023 • by Pat Garofalo

The decline in local news coverage is bad for communities for a whole host of reasons. ...

Inside the Fight to Save Local Journalism

Corporations

The High Cost of Cheap Corporate Utilities

Discounted energy is a backdoor subsidy

March 30, 2023 • by Pat Garofalo

Make any utility discounts for “economic development” transparent and debatable before public bodies, if they have to be allowed at all...

Corporations

Job Creation by Merger Is for Suckers

JetBlue’s possible acquisition of Spirit may lead to job losses

March 27, 2023 • by Pat Garofalo

The history here...is clear: mergers kill jobs....

Corporations

Camden Got Answers—And They Revealed A Lot

So much money for big corporations, not many jobs for local residents

March 9, 2023 • by Pat Garofalo

disclosure can be a powerful tool for uncovering exactly how flawed particular subsidy deals really are. We never would have known how few local residents these heavily subsidized corporations were hiring without a committed group of activists using the available legal tools to implement a new disclosure regime....

Camden Got Answers—And They Revealed A Lot

Corporations

The Car Rental Sales Tax Swap Scam

Car rental corporate consolidation, funded by you

February 21, 2023 • by Pat Garofalo

Big car rental corporations did a very good job sweeping across the country collecting what is a massive backdoor tax subsidy on the purchase of their main business asset....