#BreakUpAmazon, Failing Broadband Market, Konczal on C-SPAN, and More

1. #BreakUpAmazon

This morning Amazon announced its planned purchase of Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. This may sound like good news to American consumers, however, as Roosevelt’s Research Director and Fellow Marshall Steinbaum and Program Manager Eric Harris Bernstein argue, Amazon is a company built on flawed antitrust policy. Policymakers need to get serious about Amazon, and about antitrust in general, before it’s too late.

2. Better Broadbrand

Program Director Rakeen Mabud and Steinbaum joined the Community Broadband Networks’ podcast to talk about the failing broadband market, the future of competition in telecommunications, and how local governments can make sure low-income internet access projects stay funded in the long term. Listen here.

3. Dodd-Frank Overhaul

Roosevelt Fellow Mike Konczal talks with C-SPAN and NBC News about Republican efforts to overhaul the Dodd-Frank financial regulation law and the House’s recent approval of the Financial CHOICE Act. “It sets the tone for how the GOP views financial reform overall,” he said.

4. Our Plan and Trump’s Plan

Roosevelt Fellow Andrea Flynn spoke to This Is Hell! on how a class-only economics policy agenda fails to deliver full justice for women of color. And in our Roosevelt blog, Ms. Foundation for Women’s Alyson Silkowski joins Flynn to explain what you need to know about Trump’s plan to restrict birth control access.

5.Your (Federal) Reserves

The Fed announced on Wednesday that it would proceed with its planned rate hike, bringing the prime short-term interest rate up to a range of 1% to 1.25%. Roosevelt Fellow J.W. Mason talks to Mic about why the Fed raised rates and how it will affect your money.

What We’re Reading:

Writing for Vox, Connor Coyne, who lives in Flint with his wife and two daughters, writes how even with five officials being charged with involuntary manslaughter for the water crisis, he and his family feel no vindication. Coyne supports the charges, but explains why they are much too little much too late.

Event:

What is for-profit education and why does it account for 2.4 million college students today? We answer those questions and more in our webinar with Roosevelt network students and partners on Wednesday, June 21 at 8pm ET. RSVP here.