What A Day - Antitrust Me

Episode Date: September 25, 2020

While Trump is casually threatening to be an all out dictator, the economic crisis he continues not to solve continues. New unemployment data show the recovery is slowing down. We look at whether Congress is any closer to another relief package. Next week Congress is expected to call in big tech CEOs for another big hearing, this time on Section 230 and the moderation of social media platforms. We explain.And in headlines: Breonna Taylor protests continue, Eric Trump ordered to testify, and protecting Joshua trees.

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I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick, and this is What The Day, where it being the end of the week and blankets being big and soft can't solve all the problems in the world, but it is a start. Yeah, it's a small start, but, you know, if I order a burrito, that's two things. That's right. Burritos are also kind of big and soft in a way, so, you know, we're circling the same ballpark. On today's show, a check in on the COVID economy and what's going on with big tech and Section 230.

But first, the latest. No matter how rich or powerful you may be, no matter how arrogant and narcissistic you may be, no matter how much you think you can get anything you want, let me make this clear to Donald Trump. Too many people have fought and died to defend American democracy, and you are not going to destroy it. The American people will not allow that to happen. That was Senator Bernie Sanders talking about Donald Trump casually threatening to be an all-out dictator and refuse to cede power in the likely event that he loses the election. If I could go back in time to 2016,

I'd tell myself it's even worse than we imagined. It is so much worse. Yes, I would like to be in a coma. Well, the good news here is that the Senate unanimously passed a resolution from Joe Manchin calling for the peaceful transfer of power from the president. So I'm sure president break all the rules and instigate disorder will absolutely follow it. Surely the fact that they had to pass a resolution at all isn't cause for concern. Nope. And meanwhile, the economic crisis we are in continues. So meanwhile, the economic crisis we are in continues. So yesterday we got more evidence of that as if we needed to see it from the Labor

Department. Akilah, do you want to catch us up on that? Sure. So we've been tracking weekly unemployment applications as a signal of how the job market is doing. And the answer is still not great. Last week, more than 800,000 new people filed, which is a lot fewer than the height of things in March and April when five or six million people were losing their jobs every week. But it's been at this same elevated level for the last several weeks, meaning the so-called recovery has slowed down. And when it comes to the recovery, if you drill down further into the data, we can already see how uneven it is. Employment for people making over $60,000 a year is almost back at the same level it was before the pandemic, whereas employment for lower

wage workers is still down 16%, according to data from Harvard economist Raj Chetty. The way he puts it, the recession has nearly ended for higher earners, but it's still going for everyone else. Like other economists, he says that the key to digging out is getting the virus under control and in the meantime, providing assistance to people who need it most. Right. So let's talk about assistance. We're still waiting on that next relief package after the last one expired at the end of July. And now Democrats are making a new effort after a long time of stalled negotiations. Yeah. So there's reporting that House Dems are working on a new scaled back relief bill that would total about $2.5 trillion instead of

$3.5 trillion in their last bill. But there's also already reporting that Republicans in Congress still think that that's too much money. And in a recent interview, Trump's economic advisor Larry Kudlow said he doesn't think the recovery needs another relief package. This is despite what economists are saying, what Trump's own Federal Reserve chairman is saying, and even what big businesses are saying. So that's where things stand as of now. And another wrench is that the Supreme Court confirmation process could get in the way. Trump is expected to name a nominee over the weekend, and then Republicans are going to move on it, potentially instead of hashing out a relief bill. Well, I mean, they're very clear and consistent on priorities. Yeah. So let's move on to another topic, big tech companies. Over the summer,

we talked about the tech hearing in D.C. that included CEOs from Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. It was about their overall market power and how they use various ways to dominate competitors. Apple was targeted specifically for its control of the app market along with Google. There's been some corporate warfare since the hearing, and now a bunch of mom-and-pop companies like Spotify are getting together to push back on the bigger companies. Let's talk about an update on that from yesterday. Right. So these mom-and-pop companies have formed a group funnily named the Coalition for App Fairness. It includes, among others, Spotify, Epic Games and Match Group, which owns Tinder

and Hinge. The coalition, according to The New York Times, put out 10 principles seeking to get Apple and Google to implement fairer app policies. And one of the big ones has to do with payments. A big issue that these companies have with the dominant Apples and Googles of the world is that they take a 30% fee for goods sold through an app. Some argue that hurts competition and is especially unfair when competing with the apps owned by Google and Apple. So for example, Spotify app competing with the iTunes app. And before this coalition, a lot of companies in it had taken their own individual actions. Spotify filed an antitrust suit in the European Union against Apple. And there's a high profile case of Epic, which is the maker of Fortnite. And Fortnite got removed from the App Store after Epic began to

offer a way for users to pay them directly. And then Epic went on to sue Apple and that litigation is ongoing. So this is definitely the culmination of a lot of anger building and an effort to push the issue further with regulators and legislators. Yeah. And on that note, Congress held that antitrust hearing in the summer. There were some big moments like Zuckerberg getting grilled about emails that showed he acquired Instagram to quote, neutralize a competitor. But what are lawmakers actually trying to do next here? Well, a couple of things are going on at once. So first, the Justice Department is set to file a lawsuit against Google and reportedly has been conferring with attorneys general across the country about doing it. According to The New York Times, it's likely to focus on how Google uses its search engine in a way that harms competitors and the people who use it.

So this specific suit is reportedly going to focus on the agreements that Google has with companies like Apple, making it the default option for consumers on their devices. It is estimated that Google controls about 90% of global web searches, and the parent company owns YouTube as well, where those searches are coming from too. That is in addition to another investigation from state AGs that has to do with Google and online advertising. So there could likely be more antitrust prongs of all this coming from the states and the federal government as time goes on. Okay, so that's antitrust. But on top of that, there is the whole conversation happening in DC aroundC. around tech platforms and Section 230. And we could be in for another big tech hearing on that next week. Yeah, I hope Mark brought snacks.

But to refresh, Section 230 is part of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, and it's basically provided a lot of liability protections for online platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc., making it hard to hold them accountable for the content that's posted on their sites. We probably got into this a few months ago, but there is a bipartisan unhappiness with Section 230. For Democrats like Joe Biden, he has criticized it and wanted to revoke it largely because these companies aren't doing enough when it comes to policing things like misinformation. Republicans like President Trump don't like it because they falsely say that companies like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter act in a biased way that hurts conservative voices and content. Also, Trump was annoyed at Twitter, specifically fact checking some of his recent lies. But one way we know that bias against conservatives is not the case is looking at what the dominant posts on Facebook are day to day and week to week.

Kevin Roos of The New York Times has a Twitter account where he posts the top 10 Facebook links from each day. Yesterday, they were from 1, Dan Bongino, 2, Dan Bongino, 3, Breitbart, 4, Fox News, 5, Robert Reich, 6, NPR, 7, Ben Shapiro, 8, Dan Bongino, 9, Mark Levin, 10, Bernie Sanders. Wow. Well, I guess good for Robert Reich for getting in the top five. I know. He slid right in there. Bernie has got some work to do. Anyways, it's not clear we're going to get new legislation in the immediate future,

but a Senate panel is reportedly preparing a subpoena for the CEOs of Google, Twitter, and Facebook if they do not agree to testify at a planned hearing on Section 230, likely set for next week. We're going to be keeping track of all of that, of course, but that is the latest for now. It is Friday, WOD Squad, and for today's temp check, we're just going to take a moment to talk about how we are doing and how we're taking care of ourselves at the moment. So, Akilah, what is your temp? So I am pretty heated this week. I would say that this is one of the hardest weeks of the year, but this has been a year

with a lot of hard weeks. You know, obviously, the people listening know I didn't do the show yesterday. And it was because of that decision that came out of Louisville about Breonna Taylor's life mattering less than drywall. Like, I'm a black woman from Kentucky. I'm not that much older than Breonna Taylor. I wasn't, you know, a public servant. I, you know, so I think that there are lots of ways we can qualify why her life should have mattered regardless, you know, of what she did for a job and how she served her community. I think what's really hard is how isolating this time is with COVID and how isolating it feels, I think, to have to go through this over and over again in this country and still maintain some sense of hope. And so I do want to say that I've seen your really nice messages about, you know, supporting me, supporting our show, you know, understanding that this is not an easy job to do every day when the news is this bad. But what's also difficult

is I think, you know, I think that there's only so much a person who isn't Black can really understand or empathize. And so it's, I think it's been difficult because I know that you all are on the right side of history. I'm preaching to the choir. You're donating money. You're getting the word out. You're not letting this be something that, you know, Kentucky gets away with. and shared struggle, and the diaspora we live in, right? And I think that in this country in particular, white people traded in culture and community to be white. You know, the individualistic idea about the American dream that is, it's not about your community, it's about you getting what you want, is something that's so pervasive here. And a lot of people don't understand why black people speak to each other when they don't know each other on the street. Why, you know, you get a head nod from someone you don't know when an election is going bad and you're at the Javits Center.

There's, I think, so many just things that people might take for granted or not understand. You know, why are you so familiar? And it's because this isn't a new pain. It's an old pain. It's a wound that's never healed. And I think that, you know, it got the best of me this week, but I think it's also understandable that black people take a break and, um, yeah, I'm just trying to take breaks and focus. I think that's good. Yeah.

I mean, we obviously support any time that you are breaking, any time that you are sharing, any time that you're not, except when you remind us about the Javits Center. That will not be allowed again in the future. I know. We will not be living through that again. But yeah, I mean, you know, it's it's not easy. And so it's good to take stock and it's good to take stock of yourself. I think that's that's a valid and good thing to do. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I saw a really great Instagram post that

was like, you have to rest if you're going to fight. And so like, yeah, this week I'm resting. And I understand everyone who needs to take a step back and take care of themselves. So do you have any self-care tips, Giddy? Nothing that anybody else doesn't really have. I just think talking to people has been good for me. Listening to people has been good for me. Um, focusing on what you can do day to day has been good for me because like the enormity of it will indefinitely crush you. And so if you can break off tiny bits of silly happiness about stuff,

you should. And if you can pace yourself, you should. And if you can talk to people that love and support you, you should. I think all of those are, you know, ways to not feel like we're experiencing this just in our own rooms all the time over and over. Yeah, that's right. Well, just like that, we have checked our temps. We hope that yours are getting less hot as maybe ours will going into the weekend. But stay safe. We will be back with another temp check next week.

Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. another temp check next week. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Protests erupted across the country following the Kentucky grand jury's decision not to charge police for the killing of Breonna Taylor. Two protesters were injured in Buffalo, New York, and in Denver after separate hit and run instances targeting demonstrators. Both drivers have been detained. In Louisville, where two police officers were shot on Wednesday night, Mayor Greg Fischer instated a 9 p.m. curfew that will stay in place through the weekend. Fischer and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear both declined Trump's offer to send federal troops to the city. More and more people, including Governor Beshear, are calling for Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron to release evidence from Taylor's case to the public.

And Taylor's family members are expected to speak at a news conference this morning about the grand jury's decision. This will be the first time that we will hear extended public remarks from her family since the decision was made. If you haven't thought about GOP Senator Kelly Loeffler of Georgia lately, well, she's the one who got caught profiting off the stock market after being briefed privately on the pandemic in late February. But she's also the one who released a bizarrely problematic Attila the Hun political ad earlier this week, which if you haven't seen it, is kind of like a Geico commercial if a Geico commercial did yellow face and believed in QAnon. Well, don't worry, because Loeffler is as busy as ever causing the people she legislates a whole lot of needless

harm. Glad you're true to you, Kelly. So Senator Loeffler introduced a bill this week that would ban transgender girls from competing in school sports with their gender, threatening federal funding to schools that support transgender students. The bill, which, by the way, says nothing about transgender boys competing in boys' and men's sports, defines gender based solely on, quote, a person's reproductive biology and genetics at birth, which is disgusting for a thousand reasons. The bill also doesn't explain how schools would determine an athlete's gender, so if passed, young girls whose gender is challenged could legally be subjected to DNA tests and genital exams, similar to a bill that actually passed in Idaho earlier this year. For the record, Kelly Loeffler was appointed by Governor Brian Kemp, not popularly elected in the slightest, and is up for election this November. A good reminder that we need to continue to show up for our trans brothers and sisters and continue to tell Kelly that she is not even close to the right person for the job.

Ain't that the truth. Adult fail son Eric Trump was ordered to testify under oath in a fraud investigation related to his family real estate business. Last week, his lawyer said that he refused to testify before the upcoming presidential election because it was inconvenient and he didn't want his deposition to be used for political reasons. Well, a New York state judge decided on Wednesday that neither of those were good enough reasons to delay a lawful subpoena. This all has to do with an investigation led by New York Attorney General Letitia James into whether or not President Trump and his organization committed fraud to get generous loans and tax breaks. One totally normal large transaction in the investigation involved the Trump Organization reporting $100 million in loan forgiveness to tax authorities related to the Trump Hotel in Chicago.

Nope, nothing is suspicious about that at all. Don't forget to respect your elders, WOD Squad. The 2.5 million-year-old plant species the Joshua Tree could possibly become the first plant to be given protection under the California Endangered Species Act because of a primarily climate crisis-related threat. Research has shown that if Joshua trees, which, fun fact, aren't trees but succulents, were subject to unmitigated climate change, only 0.02% of the tree's current habitat in Joshua Tree National Park would remain viable. For now, in the state of California, the plant is a, quote, candidate species, which means for the next year, while they determine the severity of the threat, the Joshua trees will be protected by law

from being damaged, removed, or cut down without special permissions. So help protect our Joshua trees, everyone. Bono is counting on you. And those are the headlines. Quick heads up before we go with Friends Like These is back with a new season about good intentions where Ana Marie Cox will dig into

what makes us want to do good and what doing good does to our brains. The first episode is out today. Subscribe to With Friends Like These wherever you get your podcasts. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe. We review Kiss a Joshua Tree on the lips and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just Eric Trump depositions like me, What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Akilah Hughes.

I'm Gideon Resnick. And we love you Louisville. Sorry that this is the world. What a Day is a Crooked Media production. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tun is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milstein, and our senior producer is Katie Long. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kshaka.