OMG - $43 million in personal payola for merging! Not for producing anything, not for contributing to society in any useful way, not for solving any problems we face on this fragile globe....in fact, $43 mill for doing harm. Makes a mockery of all of us who have actually worked for an ordinary living.
A sick game played by egomaniacal sadists to see who can create nothing for no one for no reason but to play the game regardless of the harm done to others ! How sick !what a demented waste of existence and the squandering of talent time and resources for the playing of a game with no winners ! So Fucking Sad 😔!
It's been a long LONG slide downhill for the GOP beginning in 1973 when the Koch Brothers introduced their A.L.E.C.. agenda, designed to achieve what we witness today. Their agenda shenanigans began with the lowest level pols that could impact local political outcomes a la A.L.E.C. That A.L.E.C. was successful is a moot point when its accomplishments include SCOTUS and the Maralago Moron's occupancy of the White House. A.L.E.C.'s greatest achievement was to ensure that the general population knew/knows little if anything about the nefarious A.L.E.C. agenda!
Thank you for the update, Jim. This latest marriage is obscene. Wedding bells for the plutocrats, funeral marches for the rest of us. What happened to our anti-monopoly laws?!?
All I know is that since the pandemic began my grocery bill has almost doubled while my income and caloric intake have both remained essentially flat. I am a capitalist and I have nothing against making a buck, but this is ridiculous. Hunter Thompson would call the people orchestrating these mergers GREEDHEADS.
I have solved my grocery purchasing by using Aldi's when I can. They do not have everything but
what they have is reasonably priced. I don't like that Aldi's is foreign owned, but with the increasing contraction of the grocery market, it has to do.
Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota has been trying to do something about combinations that limit
competition (anti-trust) but it has been slow. Perhaps with a new administration......?
The State of Washington has a standing lawsuit against this merger, filed by the current Attorney General, now running for governor. Whether the lawsuit will survive is an open question. I hope it will, but given the right-learning (meaning Republican) judges in many courts), I and others can only wait. Thanks for writing about this, Jim.
Rat bastards! Enough is NEVER enough!!! Meanwhile people blame the Biden administration for high grocery prices. This information should be screamed all over mainstream media so that everyone knows the truth. Leah Popp
The truth went up on the bidding floor long ago ! It didn’t cover the reserve of a three dollar bill but was sold anyway ! The new owners twisted and disfigured it beyond all recognition and created our present age of amorality and hate ! Just because they could ! WTF ?
Given that grocery prices are now on nearly everyone's radar as problematically HIGH, it is stunning that more of us are not up in arms about this Kroger & Albertsons merger. What will it take for us to recognize that too-high prices for groceries represent the difference between the cost of food production and the cost of corporate greed?
Here in the 2nd largest city in Indiana, we had 3 excellent local/regional grocery chains plus some small stores. Then Walmart arrived. Then Kroger. Kroger is the worst. The bigger it gets, the less the choice of goods offered.
There is nothing democratic, or even decent in that Fat Cat CEO getting paid like that, unless taxed at the 99percent level! We’ll all pay. Now and forever! This is the time to besiege our congressional representatives, demanding they stand up for us, not them boogeymen! Get in their ears, constantly!
The current corporate structure is a paperwork shuffle for the sale of our life supporting habitat, putting a price on the pricelss the government gains power by selling the gas and oil to the city empires of the world, coal to China primarily with the military industrial war spirit taking the most money to defend what? Astronomical numbers of dollars? How about a change of spirit and direction and laws to a more fun and creative goal than more money.
OMG - $43 million in personal payola for merging! Not for producing anything, not for contributing to society in any useful way, not for solving any problems we face on this fragile globe....in fact, $43 mill for doing harm. Makes a mockery of all of us who have actually worked for an ordinary living.
A sick game played by egomaniacal sadists to see who can create nothing for no one for no reason but to play the game regardless of the harm done to others ! How sick !what a demented waste of existence and the squandering of talent time and resources for the playing of a game with no winners ! So Fucking Sad 😔!
It's been a long LONG slide downhill for the GOP beginning in 1973 when the Koch Brothers introduced their A.L.E.C.. agenda, designed to achieve what we witness today. Their agenda shenanigans began with the lowest level pols that could impact local political outcomes a la A.L.E.C. That A.L.E.C. was successful is a moot point when its accomplishments include SCOTUS and the Maralago Moron's occupancy of the White House. A.L.E.C.'s greatest achievement was to ensure that the general population knew/knows little if anything about the nefarious A.L.E.C. agenda!
Thank you for the update, Jim. This latest marriage is obscene. Wedding bells for the plutocrats, funeral marches for the rest of us. What happened to our anti-monopoly laws?!?
All I know is that since the pandemic began my grocery bill has almost doubled while my income and caloric intake have both remained essentially flat. I am a capitalist and I have nothing against making a buck, but this is ridiculous. Hunter Thompson would call the people orchestrating these mergers GREEDHEADS.
GREED ON STEROIDS
Absolutely obscene! I thought we had anti-monopoly laws------What happened to them? Will it ever stop?
Thank you once again for reminding me to shop local small businesses
If you can find any.
I have solved my grocery purchasing by using Aldi's when I can. They do not have everything but
what they have is reasonably priced. I don't like that Aldi's is foreign owned, but with the increasing contraction of the grocery market, it has to do.
Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota has been trying to do something about combinations that limit
competition (anti-trust) but it has been slow. Perhaps with a new administration......?
Good for you that you shop at Aldi. If it makes you feel better, the parent company is in Germany, but Aldi is fully invested in the U.S.A. !
The State of Washington has a standing lawsuit against this merger, filed by the current Attorney General, now running for governor. Whether the lawsuit will survive is an open question. I hope it will, but given the right-learning (meaning Republican) judges in many courts), I and others can only wait. Thanks for writing about this, Jim.
Rat bastards! Enough is NEVER enough!!! Meanwhile people blame the Biden administration for high grocery prices. This information should be screamed all over mainstream media so that everyone knows the truth. Leah Popp
The truth went up on the bidding floor long ago ! It didn’t cover the reserve of a three dollar bill but was sold anyway ! The new owners twisted and disfigured it beyond all recognition and created our present age of amorality and hate ! Just because they could ! WTF ?
Given that grocery prices are now on nearly everyone's radar as problematically HIGH, it is stunning that more of us are not up in arms about this Kroger & Albertsons merger. What will it take for us to recognize that too-high prices for groceries represent the difference between the cost of food production and the cost of corporate greed?
Yes, you deftly point out the huge greed tax we pay. And as Marcia asks below, what DID happen to anti-monopoly laws? Has SCOTUS scotched them too?
Yes, but given the increasing reluctance of US Attorneys General to prosecute under the Sherman Act, in modern times the public has largely been protected from corporate overreach (read "greed") by federal regulatory agencies. Recognizing this, the Roberts Court has begun the systematic dismantling of these regulatory protections. See for example: https://www.skadden.com/insights/publications/2024/09/insights-september-2024/supreme-court-decisions-curtail-regulatory-agencies-powers.
Here in the 2nd largest city in Indiana, we had 3 excellent local/regional grocery chains plus some small stores. Then Walmart arrived. Then Kroger. Kroger is the worst. The bigger it gets, the less the choice of goods offered.
Rat bastards all.
There is nothing democratic, or even decent in that Fat Cat CEO getting paid like that, unless taxed at the 99percent level! We’ll all pay. Now and forever! This is the time to besiege our congressional representatives, demanding they stand up for us, not them boogeymen! Get in their ears, constantly!
Just one word Gross
The current corporate structure is a paperwork shuffle for the sale of our life supporting habitat, putting a price on the pricelss the government gains power by selling the gas and oil to the city empires of the world, coal to China primarily with the military industrial war spirit taking the most money to defend what? Astronomical numbers of dollars? How about a change of spirit and direction and laws to a more fun and creative goal than more money.
Don't get discouraged.Press on to create the world you want starting with yours truly.