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<title>29 September, 2023</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Latino Question at the Second Republican Debate</strong> - At an event featuring Univision’s Ilia Calderón, the candidates showed little interest in speaking to Latino concerns. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-latino-question-at-the-second-republican-debate">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>“Thank You for Speaking While I’m Interrupting”: The Crosstalk Chaos of the Second Republican Debate</strong> - The event, which was billed as a chance for Donald Trump’s rivals to change their fortunes, only reinforced the confusion and aimlessness of their candidacies. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/thank-you-for-speaking-while-im-interrupting-the-crosstalk-chaos-of-the-second-republican-debate">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Peter Daou’s Theory of Election Interference—by Democrats</strong> - The former Clinton aide, now running the third-party Presidential campaign of Cornel West, on his recent political awakening. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/peter-daous-theory-of-election-interference-by-democrats">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Violent End of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Fight for Independence</strong> - In less than a day, indiscriminate shelling in the region killed hundreds, displaced tens of thousands, and wiped out a thirty-five-year battle for political autonomy. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-violent-end-of-nagorno-karabakhs-fight-for-independence">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Joe Biden’s Visit to a U.A.W. Picket Line Was a Powerful Political Gesture</strong> - By joining striking workers in Michigan, the President sent a message that can’t be delivered from a White House lectern. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/joe-bidens-visit-to-a-uaw-picket-line-was-a-powerful-political-gesture">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>The prices hospitals post online can be wildly different than what they tell patients over the phone</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ipEq0sdm8t1L6p4SyHF2vMa9Nys=/254x0:4275x3016/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72701115/GettyImages_1479032990.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Getty Images/iStockphoto
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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University of Texas researchers, with help from Mark Cuban, find price transparency still has a long way to go.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uSn5f7">
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When Dr. Peter Cram, the University of Texas Medical Branch’s chair of internal medicine, heard billionaire Mark Cuban bemoaning how difficult it is to figure out the cost of routine medical services, he thought he had good news to share.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="usMoHI">
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Cram was listening to <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jon-talks-to-mark-cuban-billionaires-basketball-and/id1583132133?i=1000547744894">Cuban’s interview on Jon Stewart’s podcast</a>, explaining his difficulty in pinning down a price for his own colonoscopy. So Cram reached out to let Cuban know about the <a href="https://www.cms.gov/priorities/key-initiatives/hospital-price-transparency#:~:text=Starting%20January%201%2C%202021%2C%20each,with%20all%20items%20and%20services.">new federal price transparency rules</a> for hospitals. According to those rules, hospitals must post online prices for many or all of their services. But Cuban said he was skeptical that hospitals would give the same price when a patient called to check the price.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cjXBiE">
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At that moment, Cram said, “a lightbulb went off in my head.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qOj66Y">
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We already know that shopping, ahead of time, for <a href="https://www.vox.com/health-care">health care</a> is <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/10/19/9567991/health-care-shopping-mri">harder than it should be</a>. But despite the recent federal efforts to force more transparency for hospital prices, a new study to which both Cram and Cuban contributed reveals that it’s as difficult as ever to get a clear answer to what seems like it should be an easy question: How much is my MRI going to cost?
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</p>
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<h3 id="fAANTk">
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A simple study asked hospitals how much their services cost. The answer: chaos.
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vaE3SH">
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<a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2809589">The new study</a>, led by University of Texas medical student Merina Thomas and Cram and published in <em>JAMA</em>, compared the prices hospitals posted online (as required under new federal regulations) with the prices obtained in phone calls conducted by the team posing as potential patients.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CjD6w3">
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They contacted 60 hospitals across the country, a mix of top-ranked facilities, hospitals that primarily serve low-income people, and the other hospitals in between. They asked about two procedures for which comparison shopping is more common: vaginal childbirth and a brain MRI.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oUIQNl">
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The researchers went into their study optimistic, as Cram had been when he contacted Cuban, that things had changed since the price transparency rules took effect.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZaZut3">
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“I had hoped that perhaps things were improving with the new requirements around price transparency,” Cram told me over email. But: “Our results seem to show that we still have a long way to go.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hrvlK6">
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It was rare for the advertised price on the web to be the same as the price quoted over the phone. Less than 20 percent of hospitals provided the same price through an online price estimator as they did when someone spoke to a member of the billing department. In many cases, the disparity was significant, with more than a 50 percent price difference depending on whether you checked on a website or called for a quote.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f3Lifp">
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And in a handful of cases, the price more than doubled depending on how you asked. At two hospitals, MRIs were listed online at $2,000, but “patients” were given a price of more than $5,000 when they called. Five hospitals offered a price of $10,000 for vaginal childbirth over the phone, but the price posted online were twice that much.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LcyiyE">
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There didn’t seem to be a clear pattern of which quotes were higher. Sometimes they were higher over the phone, sometimes higher on the website.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ys6SNV">
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The researchers said they took pains to make sure they were getting apples-to-apples comparisons, going so far as to give specific billing codes during their scripted calls with hospital staff. It didn’t matter.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5oNOB4">
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They could not identify why exactly they found such a significant disparity. The authors theorized that, because a single “service” may involve multiple different billing codes, it was still difficult even under the transparency rules to communicate to the billing staff exactly what they were inquiring about. They also speculated hospitals are not adequately training their staff, though the authors noted a lack of research on that question.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lltOs4">
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The findings add to the evidence that US hospitals may not have “a cogent pricing strategy,” as the researchers put it, meaning hospitals set prices in a somewhat arbitrary manner.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qswCiQ">
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Research <a href="https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/price-transparency-and-variation-in-u-s-health-services/">had already found</a> prices for the same services vary wildly at different hospitals. The top-line findings of this new study reveal that it can be difficult to even determine what the price for a given service is at a given hospital. That is a problem both for the 10 percent of the US population that is uninsured as well as people enrolled in high-deductible health plans, which are becoming more common.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LR4AEi">
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On top of that, the researchers made one other note in their study: They found poor correlation between brain MRI and vaginal childbirth prices within an individual hospital. In other words, some facilities would have high MRI prices compared to others but low prices for delivering babies — with no discernible economic reason for that disparity. It’s chaos.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OBbTJc">
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“This lack of correlation raises further questions about whether hospitals have a cogent pricing strategy akin to other businesses … or whether this lack of correlation simply reflects a chaotic and disorganized pricing structure,” the researchers wrote.
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</p>
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<h3 id="8TAqFZ">
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Mark Cuban continues his quest for more transparent medical costs
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xNamqr">
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These conclusions are familiar for another one of the study’s other coauthors: Cuban, entrepreneur, NBA owner, and founder of the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs Company. Here, he continues to buff his bona fides as a health care provocateur by helping to conceive of the new study, and provide technical and material assistance to make it happen.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3b3Cct">
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Cuban has been fixated on market failures in the health care industry for the better part of a decade, particularly for prescription drug prices.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Crc2kE">
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Though he <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2016/07/13/mark-cuban-drug-prices-interview/">told me in 2016</a> that he did not have an interest in entering the market himself, he did start a drug company six years later, offering generic drugs directly to patients at a flat 15 percent markup. The company’s aim is to reduce the costs faced by uninsured people and people with higher out-of-pocket obligations under their insurance plan (a problem that can be exacerbated by the industry’s notorious middlemen, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/5/10/23709448/what-are-pbms-pharmacy-benefit-managers-bernie-sanders">pharmacy benefits managers</a>). Experts have <a href="https://priceschool.usc.edu/news/mark-cuban-amazon-pharmacy-drug-costs/">compared it</a> to a Costco business model.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zFMNYg">
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The company has gotten a toehold in the market since its launch last year, selling <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuacohen/2023/01/01/mark-cubans-cost-plus-drug-company-continues-to-revolutionize-generic-drug-pricing/?sh=678609247919">350 drugs to a customer base of about 1.5 million people</a>. It is planning to begin manufacturing some generic drugs itself, similar to plans by the hospital nonprofit Civica Rx and states like <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23574178/insulin-cost-california-biden-medicare-coverage">California</a>. It’s <a href="https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/pharmacy/8-recent-moves-from-mark-cuban-cost-plus-drugs.html">added</a> pharmacy services, including mail orders. Researchers <a href="https://news.vumc.org/2023/06/08/study-finds-mark-cubans-cost-plus-drug-company-could-save-taxpayers-millions-on-medicare-generic-oncology-drugs/">think</a> it could save Medicare up to $1 billion a year if people start getting certain cancer drugs through Cuban’s company. It was named <a href="https://time.com/collection/time100-companies-2023/6285143/cost-plus-drugs/">one of Time’s most influential companies of 2023</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3hHgX4">
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Selling generic drugs at minimal markup is not a silver bullet for fixing America’s high drug costs, as <a href="https://www.pharmacytimes.com/view/expert-mark-cuban-s-pharmacy-has-shown-there-s-no-silver-bullet-to-disrupt-the-pharmacy-value-chain">experts</a> are <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/28/mark-cuban-pharmacy-cost-plus-drugs-struggling-with-brand-name-drugs.html">happy</a> to point out. For one, that has no effect on new breakthrough medicines that are expensive but protected by patents. Still, most credit the company for offering genuine low-price options that particularly help people who face exorbitant costs otherwise.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yNIhya">
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Now with this hospital study, Cuban has lent support to exposing absurdities in another sector of the health care industry. Since he first started speaking out on drug prices during <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/12/17/10436618/martin-shkreli-arrest-explained">the scandals of the mid-2010s</a>, as costs and public anger grew, <a href="https://www.vox.com/congress">Congress</a> has finally started taking <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/8/30/23850979/medicare-drug-price-negotiations-10-prescription-list">serious action to address the cost of medicine</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8yBfa8">
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Hospital prices are another frontier for reform. Many experts see price transparency — a work in progress as Cram put it — as only the beginning. As the <em>JAMA</em> study’s authors observed in their paper, “absent improvements in customer service, public frustration with hospitals is likely to grow.”
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>A program that saved child care for millions is expiring. What now?</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Seen from above, three children in yellow shirts play with brightly colored puzzle pieces on a tiled floor. " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/LXu0Vf-lEKHwFa7XGDH7ECIWLzc=/870x157:7834x5380/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72700912/GettyImages_1232619181.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Young children play at Little Flowers Early Childhood and Development Center in Baltimore in 2021. | The Washington Post via Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The “child care cliff” marks the end of one of the last pandemic-era safety nets.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RFnrAQ">
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This weekend, parents and <a href="https://www.vox.com/child-care">child care</a> providers across the nation are bracing for the end of an instrumental federal program that has stabilized child care programs and reduced costs for families over the past three years.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BTNFDP">
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Some $24 billion worth of child care funding — one of the last remaining Covid-19 emergency relief programs still in effect — is set to expire Saturday. Issued as part of the $1.9 trillion <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/3/10/22320350/biden-sign-stimulus-bill-covid-19">American Rescue Plan</a>, the program marked the largest investment in child care in US history and allowed fragile businesses to cover rent and maintenance and raise wages for their notoriously <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/higher-wages-for-child-care-and-home-health-care-workers/">underpaid staff</a>. The <a href="https://www.vox.com/joe-biden">Biden administration</a> has reported that the grants helped <a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/occ/map/arp-act-stabilization-funding-state-territory-fact-sheets#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20States%3A,with%20a%20persistent%20poverty%20rate.">80 percent of US licensed child care centers</a> stay afloat.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="InhIVl">
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Frequently referred to as the “child care cliff,” the expiration of the grants is expected to renew strain on the child care sector, which already runs on tight margins, struggles to recruit and retain staff from higher-paying industries, and charges most parents far more than they can comfortably afford.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wxmws9">
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Many news organizations, including <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/21/upshot/child-care-daycare-disruptions.html">the New York Times</a>, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/27/child-care-funding-crisis/">Washington Post</a>, <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/20/child-care-cliff">Axios</a>, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-06/child-care-funding-expiration-risks-disrupting-women-s-work-force-gains?embedded-checkout=true&sref=qYiz2hd0">Bloomberg</a>, the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/as-pandemic-funds-expire-child-care-centers-struggle-to-survive-6cefdf5b">Wall Street Journal</a>, and <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/biden-child-care-cliff-us-economy-rcna103631">MSNBC</a>, have cited an estimate from the liberal think tank the Century Foundation stating that 70,000 child care programs will likely close, resulting in 3.2 million children losing access to care.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2xP8iU">
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That figure was derived from an <a href="https://www.naeyc.org/state-survey-briefs">October 2022 survey</a> of 12,000 early childhood educators that found 34 percent of child care programs reported that they would have closed during the pandemic if not for the emergency grants. The grants covered 220,000 programs and 9.6 million kids, so the Century Foundation multiplied those figures by 0.34 to arrive at its estimate.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4erAXZ">
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Experts in child care policy told Vox, however, that the “cliff” may prove far less of a tumble for providers and families than that popular statistic suggests — partly due to <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/4/17/23667770/child-care-crisis-prek-family-immigration">poor data</a> on industry supply and demand and partly because <a href="https://earlysuccess.org/2022-progress-and-landscape">most states have made</a> <a href="https://info.childcareaware.org/blog/state-session-round-up-summer-2023">unprecedented investments</a> in their child care systems over the last two years.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S3frfV">
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The federal grants were authorized to help child care programs during the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic, after lawmakers deemed the child care sector <a href="https://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/the_need_for_ongoing_support_for_the_nations_child_care_sector_report.pdf">“uniquely vulnerable”</a> to the crisis, and less able to access relief loans through methods available to other small businesses. In a US Senate HELP Committee <a href="https://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/the_need_for_ongoing_support_for_the_nations_child_care_sector_report.pdf">report</a> issued this past spring, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Patty Murray (D-WA) noted that emergency relief was needed because child care providers began “hemorrhaging money during pandemic shutdowns” as fewer children attended and they faced unexpected costs to comply with reduced group sizes, cleaning materials, and personal protective equipment.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bvjpP8">
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Today, programs are no longer struggling to enroll students nor needing to cover the costs of pandemic safety regulations. “Saying you would have closed during Covid if not for the grants is not the same thing, that you will close after Covid if the grants don’t continue,” said Matt Bruenig, founder of another left-wing think tank, the <a href="https://www.peoplespolicyproject.org/">People’s Policy Project</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LOqCtv">
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One leading child care expert declined to comment on the widely cited Century Foundation estimate (“We didn’t do the number and I don’t want to speak directly to that,” Sarah Rittling, of the <a href="https://www.ffyf.org/">First Five Years Fund</a>, told Vox), while another said that they knew no one who expected the loss of programs to reach anywhere near 70,000, but did not want to say so on the record for fear of alienating other leaders in their child care advocacy coalition.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4ZS0Rz">
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“Will there be some adjustments [when the funds expire]? Yes, obviously, that’s fairly true, but you see estimates that a quarter of American kids will lose their child care spots and I will gladly take any bet that anyone at the Century Foundation wants to place,” said Patrick T. Brown, a child care policy analyst at the <a href="https://eppc.org/">Ethics and Public Policy Center</a>, a conservative think tank. “I do not think 25 percent of kids are going to lose their child care. People have a vested interest in using strong frames and narratives to say we have a broken market.”
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</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gJ1P5M">
|
||
Julie Kashen, director for women’s economic justice at The Century Foundation, defended her organization’s analysis but acknowledged that the estimate of program closures is unlikely to come to pass, telling Vox it’s more like a “worst-case scenario.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qanlgX">
|
||
“A number of states have put forward their own state funding and our analysis did not account for that,” she said. “We don’t have numbers yet of how much will be mitigated by state investments, but from Alaska to Maine to Illinois, they have put their own funding in, and that will make a decent difference in reducing the losses.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="mR6fhE">
|
||
Why Congress isn’t extending the Covid-19 child care grants
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hVtgjR">
|
||
The federal pandemic grants were objectively successful in helping to stabilize the child care sector over the last three years, leaving many people baffled that <a href="https://www.vox.com/congress">Congress</a> would choose not to renew the funding now. The Department of Labor recently reported that the price of child care rose 6 percent in July over the previous year, nearly double <a href="https://www.wsj.com/economy/child-care-prices-are-rising-at-nearly-twice-the-overall-inflation-rate-2c279c61?mod=article_inline">the rate of inflation</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mVqkbA">
|
||
From Republicans’ perspective, the child care grants, like other Covid-19 safety net programs, were passed as an emergency relief measure, and now that the emergency is over, the pandemic level of spending should not become the new federal baseline. A strong current among conservatives supports “going back to normal” and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/01/us/politics/debt-limit-senate.html">reining in spending</a> more broadly to address inflation and the deficit.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wIhctB">
|
||
Democrats and progressives argue that funding for child care was woefully low before the pandemic, and returning to the status quo now, amid a tighter labor market and fierce hiring competition from other industries, would be untenable. Reduced federal funding could mean pay cuts or hiring freezes, or hikes in costs that families can’t afford, leading to fewer children served and, ultimately, closure of some programs.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lXf7gN">
|
||
In response to the impending deadline, congressional Democrats earlier this month <a href="https://www.murray.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/The-Child-Care-Stabilization-Act-One-Pager.pdf">proposed a bill</a> to give $16 billion to child care providers each year for the next five years. It has no Republican co-sponsors and <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/31/biden-child-care-system-00113613">even its own authors concede</a> that it’s unlikely to go anywhere. The Biden administration has <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/31/biden-child-care-system-00113613">declined to lobby for</a> additional child care funding in the fraught ongoing budget negotiations, arguing that it needs to bargain with Republicans only over emergency priorities to stave off a government shutdown.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HIH7Zu">
|
||
One recurring challenge for Democrats is that because they have so many areas they want to see new big investments in, and because they work within broad advocacy coalitions, leaders <a href="https://www.slowboring.com/p/the-real-reason-bidens-child-poverty?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2">often struggle</a> to home in on a few specific priorities, instead championing lots of big social investments at once.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oymMYY">
|
||
This dynamic was on display during the failed Build Back Better negotiations and amid <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/8/8/23296951/inflation-reduction-act-biden-democrats-climate-change">Inflation Reduction Act</a> talks. Child care investments were in competition with new spending on preschool, affordable housing, paid medical and family leave, and the expanded child tax credit. In the end, virtually none won out.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="dDHt4w">
|
||
Child care programs face tougher staff recruitment. Parents face higher costs.
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="saKtsa">
|
||
Over the last two years <a href="https://info.childcareaware.org/blog/state-session-round-up-summer-2023">many states passed new legislation</a> to support child care access, affordability, and quality, including red states such as <a href="https://www.alabamaschoolreadiness.org/alabama-advocates-celebrate-historic-42-million-increase-in-state-early-childhood-education-investments/#:~:text=Home-,Alabama%20advocates%20celebrate%20historic%20%2442%20million%20increase%20in%20state%20early,for%20early%20care%20and%20education.">Alabama</a>, <a href="https://info.childcareaware.org/hubfs/Geaux%20Far%20LA%20Legislative%20Recap-2.pdf">Louisiana</a>, <a href="https://legiscan.com/MT/bill/HB648/2023">Montana</a> and <a href="https://ndkidscount.org/2023-legislative-session-childrens-well-being-bills">North Dakota</a>, as well as blue and purple states like <a href="https://info.childcareaware.org/hubfs/Final-2023-Legislative-Update-FINAL.pdf">Minnesota</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/10/18/23404090/new-mexico-election-result-child-care-early-childhood-prek">New Mexico</a>, <a href="https://new-futures.org/issues/child-care-working-families">New Hampshire</a>, <a href="https://www.startearly.org/post/our-response-to-the-approved-illinois-fiscal-year-2024-state-budget/#:~:text=Start%20Early%20is%20thrilled%20that,with%20disabilities%20and%20developmental%20delays.">Illinois</a>, <a href="https://sd09.senate.ca.gov/news/20230719-ca%E2%80%99s-largest-date-investment-child-care-increasing-provider-pay-and-lowering-fees#:~:text=California's%20investment%20in%20child%20care,Gavin%20Newsom.">California</a>, <a href="https://www.threadalaska.org/thread-blog/ccpo-broadcast-child-care-relief-funding-update-provider-town-hall-follow-up/">Alaska</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/5/22/23726703/childcare-investments-vermont-ece-economy-parents-kids">Vermont</a>. Most states were in strong fiscal positions and built on the political momentum for child care investments that coalesced during the pandemic.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7GlXsM">
|
||
Linda Smith, who heads early childhood research at the <a href="https://bipartisanpolicy.org/">Bipartisan Policy Center</a>, told Vox that the impact of the expiring pandemic funds will vary by state, but she expects that broadly, retaining child care workers will become harder. In 2019, the median child care worker earned <a href="https://cscce.berkeley.edu/workforce-index-2020/the-early-educator-workforce/early-educator-pay-economic-insecurity-across-the-states/">$11.65 per hour</a>. Today their pay averages <a href="https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes399011.htm">$14.22</a>, but without public subsidy, programs may have to raise rates for families to continue paying workers those higher wages. The <a href="https://www.naeyc.org/state-survey-briefs">survey released last October</a> and cited by the Century Foundation found that 43 percent of child care centers and 37 percent of home-based providers expected that they’d have to raise rates when federal relief dollars dry up.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="opbQhc">
|
||
“In lower-income working families, passing those costs on to parents is not going to be an option,” said Smith. These increased costs will also overlap with the <a href="https://www.vox.com/even-better/23755273/prepare-return-student-loan-payments-servicer-budget">resumption of student loan payments</a> in October after a three-year pause, and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/interest-rates-investing-mortgage-banks-real-estate-debt-ca87c251">higher interest rates</a> on credit cards, mortgages, and car loans.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SX2zGr">
|
||
Some states are already starting to see the effects of diminished funding. In June, the Republican-controlled legislature in Wisconsin started <a href="https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2023/08/07/child-care-providers-are-reeling-as-they-await-for-state-to-try-again-for-financial-support/">reducing</a> its federal stabilization grants from $20 million a month to $10 million, and the remaining funds are expected to end completely in January. Ruth Schmidt, the executive director of the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/wisconsin-child-care-industry-on-verge-of-crisis-as-pandemic-era-subsidy-comes-to-end/">told CBS</a> that nearly 90 percent of day care centers are raising tuition in response. Some programs <a href="https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2023/07/10/child-care-advocates-will-try-again-for-state-money-to-support-providers/">have closed</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3G8Qee">
|
||
Whitney Evans, the California director for <a href="https://parentchildplus.org/">ParentChild+</a>, said she expects the decline in federal funding will affect low-income parents who are least able to work remotely. “For middle-income families, this is going to be a huge pain in the ass but they’ll figure out a way,” she told Vox. “But for children with the least access to resources, who won’t be able to pay more for slots if rates go up, there will be even less space available.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="WHHbWh">
|
||
Could this affect female workforce participation?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QOzjhK">
|
||
A big question looming over the expiring child care funds is whether a major disruption to the child care ecosystem would force parents — and mothers in particular — out of their <a href="https://www.vox.com/labor-jobs">jobs</a>. Child care advocates have been saying for years that a failure to invest more in the nation’s child care system will result in that outcome; this was a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/18/us/biden-stimulus-package-shecession.html">key argument</a> during the fight for the Build Back Better Act.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DbhHYc">
|
||
However, despite the failure of Congress to pass those new child care investments, workforce participation among moms, and even moms of very young children, has continued to rise. The <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/21/jobs-working-moms-remote-wfh-statistics">latest data</a> showed 66.6 percent of women who gave birth in the previous 12 months were working in 2022, up from 66.5 percent in 2021, and 61.6 percent in 2010. And more than <a href="https://www.hamiltonproject.org/publication/post/prime-age-women-are-going-above-and-beyond-in-the-labor-market-recovery/">70 percent of mothers</a> with kids under five were working this past summer — more than even before the pandemic. The expansion of <a href="https://www.vox.com/remote-work">remote work</a>, which makes it easier for parents to juggle their jobs and child care responsibilities, is likely one major contributing factor.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NglLdy">
|
||
Kashen, of the Century Foundation, credits the <a href="https://www.vox.com/22310269/third-stimulus-update-2021-package">American Rescue Plan</a> investments for staving off female workforce fallout, and said that the “reality is most parents have to work,” so even if moms are employed, it doesn’t mean they aren’t making hard trade-offs behind the scenes, including working later hours, facing declining mental and physical health, or spending less time with family.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="3Bg4tX">
|
||
Is there any chance child care funding will return?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6cFdnn">
|
||
The politics are challenging right now. Congressional Republicans are currently engaged in a fierce battle over cutting federal spending and have expressed little appetite for new social investments.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gwwWQn">
|
||
Still, the news isn’t all bad. Among parents, the child care issue is far less polarized. A recent poll of Kentucky voters and parents found <a href="https://www.uwgc.org/sites/default/files/2023-08/2023_Poll_Report-KY_Child_Care_Crisis.pdf">strong support</a> for investing more taxpayer money into child care programs, and a <a href="https://www.ffyf.org/july23poll/">national poll</a> conducted for the First Five Years Fund this summer found that 74 percent of voters, including 61 percent of Republican voters, back increased federal spending for child care.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xDzD0k">
|
||
Moreover, during the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2024-elections/2023/9/27/23893654/republican-debate-second-winners-losers-vivek-ramaswamy-fox-news">second Republican presidential debate</a> earlier this week, the moderators pressed candidates on how they would expand access to care — <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4twMG75z8tk">even citing</a> the expiring pandemic-era funds. South Carolina Sen. <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/5/22/23731910/tim-scott-2024-presidential-candidate">Tim Scott</a> blasted the Biden administration for allowing day care costs to exceed $15,000 per child, and Doug Burgum, the GOP governor of North Dakota, stressed that “child care is workforce infrastructure.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Q12qNL">
|
||
That bipartisan support for affordable child care is likely why Republicans, after rebuffing Democrats’ $400 billion child care proposal during the Build Back Better fight, agreed to a <a href="https://www.collins.senate.gov/newsroom/more-than-8-billion-secured-for-child-care-by-senator-collins-in-fy23-funding-law">30 percent increase</a> last year of the Child Care and Development Block Grant, a federal program aimed at reducing child care costs for low-income families. And this past summer, Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Nancy Mace (R-SC) announced the launch of a new <a href="https://khanna.house.gov/media/press-releases/icymi-khanna-and-mace-announce-new-bipartisan-childcare-caucus-congress">Bipartisan Affordable Childcare Caucus</a> in Congress, and Reps. Salud Carbajal (D-CA) and Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR) introduced a bipartisan bill to <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/4571?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22H.R.4571%22%5D%7D&s=3&r=1">improve federal child care tax credits</a>, legislation endorsed by <a href="https://www.ffyf.org/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-leverage-existing-tax-credits-to-support-working-parents-and-employers-in-accessing-child-care/">advocacy groups</a> and the <a href="https://carbajal.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1659">US Chamber of Commerce</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LooteW">
|
||
Some Republican lawmakers remain ideologically against government involvement in child-rearing and oppose efforts such as increased spending on non-religious day care centers. This is partly why some Republicans <a href="https://rollcall.com/2023/08/10/some-republicans-crack-open-door-to-child-tax-credit-compromise/">are more open to expanding</a> the federal child tax credit, which gives money directly to families to spend how they see fit. Expanding the tax credit is also a priority for Democrats, though it might be tough for lawmakers to secure new investments for child care and the child tax credit at the same time.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oBtnd5">
|
||
Progressives, for their part, are hopeful that they’ll have another opportunity to push new child care investments during the end-of-the-year omnibus tax package negotiations. Last year advocates secured new funding in this period for a maternal and child health home visiting program, <a href="https://www.finance.senate.gov/chairmans-news/wyden-cheers-significant-health-care-provisions-in-end-of-year-bill">doubling the amount</a> of federal spending and reauthorizing the program for five years.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZQuGQT">
|
||
“The pandemic gave us all a better sense of what it means to have more money in the child care system,” said Rittling, of the First Five Years Fund. “We know that money needs to be sustained beyond Covid, and we’ll be looking at every possible way we can to make that happen.”
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>9 questions about the government’s effort to break up Amazon</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="An Amazon delivery worker with packages coming out of an Amazon van." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/kncfMAy8UCvyc99Yb-mu7aF0xV0=/251x0:4256x3004/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72700814/GettyImages_1232149494.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
An Amazon driver delivers some Prime packages. Amazon’s shipping service is one of several things the FTC says Amazon uses to squeeze sellers and raise prices for customers. | Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Why the FTC is going after your Prime subscription (and a few other things).
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="275RWb">
|
||
The <a href="https://www.vox.com/big-tech">Big Tech</a> <a href="https://www.vox.com/antitrust">antitrust</a> reform movement has come for <a href="https://www.vox.com/amazon">Amazon</a>. On September 26, the Federal Trade Commission and 17 states <a href="https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/9/26/23835959/ftc-amazon-antitrust-lawsuit-prime-lina-khan">sued the Everything Store</a> for “<a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/09/ftc-sues-amazon-illegally-maintaining-monopoly-power">illegally maintaining monopoly power</a>.” This comes after <a href="https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/9/11/23864514/google-search-antitrust-trial">two</a> <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/21524710/google-antitrust-lawsuit-doj-search-trump-bill-barr">different</a> antitrust lawsuits against <a href="https://www.vox.com/google">Google</a> from the Department of Justice — one of which is <a href="https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/9/11/23864514/google-search-antitrust-trial">currently on trial</a> — and <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/8/19/22632826/facebook-ftc-lawsuit-antitrust-monopoly-lina-khan-instagram-whatsapp-path-circle">another one</a> against <a href="https://www.vox.com/meta">Meta</a> from the FTC.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QiDjVR">
|
||
Like the others, this lawsuit gets at the heart of some of the defendant’s business practices and how they work in concert to reinforce its dominance. In this case, Amazon is accused of using its monopoly on online shopping to make it impossible for other platforms to compete; force the many companies that sell products through Amazon to pay various fees and follow rules designed to enrich Amazon and disadvantage everyone else; and inflate prices on Amazon and beyond. Something called “Project Nessie” is thrown in there, too.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nT7bvZ">
|
||
It will be years before the case goes to trial and even longer before we get a final resolution, assuming it isn’t dropped or settled first, so we’re only at the beginning of a long process. If the FTC wins, Amazon may be forced to do business differently or even be broken up. That might mean some changes to how you shop, too. If you’re wondering what exactly Amazon is accused of doing wrong and how all of this could affect you, we have some answers.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="gEuRSX">
|
||
<ol type="1">
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Why is the FTC suing Amazon?
|
||
</li></ol></h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AMeLPy">
|
||
The FTC is accusing Amazon of abusing its monopoly, harming competition, businesses that sell products through Amazon’s platform, and consumers. (The FTC is one of two agencies that enforces antitrust laws in the US. The other is the Department of Justice, which has its own Big Tech antitrust cases to fight.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w9WiQs">
|
||
The FTC’s main argument targets Amazon Marketplace, where outside businesses, or third-party sellers, sell their products to Amazon customers. This platform has vastly increased the number of products Amazon can offer to consumers and accounts for the majority of Amazon’s sales. And Amazon, the FTC says, has implemented various rules and fees that sellers have no choice but to follow and pay. That has enriched Amazon at the expense of the sellers and consumers, who are paying inflated prices not just on Amazon but everywhere else, too. —<em>Sara Morrison</em>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="h4TdTd">
|
||
<ol start="2" type="1">
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">What? How could I be paying higher prices on Amazon, a company that famously offers the lowest prices?
|
||
</li></ol></h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wqI896">
|
||
The FTC’s case is that the low prices on Amazon are a mirage, and the company is using several interconnected business lines to create it. There are two parts to this.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mapJVy">
|
||
The first is that Amazon knows it has tremendous leverage over third-party businesses, whose survival depends on being allowed on the platform and having visibility to their customers. Over time, it has <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22810795/amazon-marketplace-prime-report">implemented rules and fees</a> that sellers feel compelled to follow and pay. Those include search ads, commissions on sales, and using Amazon’s warehouses and shipping services.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<aside id="1JRFFq">
|
||
<div>
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="diFrIY">
|
||
Amazon has put <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2022/11/10/23450349/amazon-advertising-everywhere-prime-sponsored-products">more and more ads</a> on search results pages, which means sellers feel compelled to buy ads if they want to get in front of customers. It has also <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/5/3/18511544/amazon-prime-oral-history-jeff-bezos-one-day-shipping">made Prime</a> an integral part of the shopping and selling experience. Lots of customers have Prime, so they look for products sold through Prime to save on shipping and get their subscription money’s worth. Amazon gives Prime products much more prominent placement on product pages, so sellers have to qualify for Prime if they want people to see and buy their products. But Amazon also makes sellers use its warehouse and shipping service, Fulfillment by Amazon, to qualify for Prime. This has resulted in sellers paying as much as 50 cents on every dollar in sales to Amazon, the suit says. To maintain their profit margin or make any profit at all, sellers have to pass those costs onto consumers.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dqVupj">
|
||
But here’s the second part of all this: Amazon’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22453561/amazon-antitrust-dc-attorney-general-lawsuit">“fair pricing” policies</a> say that sellers can’t really offer their products for less anywhere else. Sellers are afraid to run afoul of Amazon, which could mean their listings are suppressed or they’re kicked off the platform entirely. So even if a seller incurred fewer expenses and could price their products for less and maintain the same profit margin on another platform, they won’t.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GOk5hJ">
|
||
The lawsuit also alleges Amazon makes it difficult for first-party sellers, or retailers that sell products to Amazon that Amazon then sells to consumers, to offer lower prices elsewhere. But it’s less clear how Amazon is allegedly doing this, as those sections are heavily redacted.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt="An Amazon delivery person pulling a large amount of packages on a wheeled cart on New York City sidewalk." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Yrv10Wla6A0UViXb7SuTSD95NFc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24960589/GettyImages_1563112878.jpg"/> <cite>Kena Betancur/VIEWpress/Corbis via Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
The FTC says that Amazon pressures sellers to use its shipping service, leading to higher prices and hurting competition. Amazon says sellers can choose whether to use its shipping service and that its policies are in the customers’ best interests.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BsV8WL">
|
||
All these factors combined, the lawsuit says, mean that customers are paying more everywhere, sellers are being squeezed, other stores can’t compete with Amazon on prices, and Amazon doesn’t have to lower the various fees it charges sellers.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2xtq0i">
|
||
So while Amazon may have the lowest prices out there, those aren’t necessarily the lowest prices possible. <em>—SM </em>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="O9kAfR">
|
||
<ol start="3" type="1">
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">What does Amazon say about all this?
|
||
</li></ol></h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wYMYZL">
|
||
David Zapolsky, Amazon’s general counsel and senior vice president of global public policy, <a href="https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-ftc-antitrust-lawsuit-full-response">released a statement</a> in response to the FTC lawsuit, calling the suit “misguided” and arguing that, if successful, the lawsuit would increase prices, lead to slower deliveries, and hurt the small businesses that use Amazon Marketplace.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OUN5OA">
|
||
The statement responds to a couple of the FTC complaint’s arguments directly. One repeated theme throughout Amazon’s response is this: While Amazon might encourage sellers to, say, sign up for their Fulfillment by Amazon service or create listings that meet certain conditions in order to be prominently featured, they don’t actually require<em> </em>sellers to do any of those things in order to list there. And, they argue, giving merchants multiple ways to sell on Amazon increases competition and is good for businesses.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mKJIJm">
|
||
Amazon also argues that the FTC’s characterization of Amazon’s market share is too large because it doesn’t include physical retail stores as competition. —<em>A.W. Ohlheiser </em>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="i2UMR8">
|
||
<ol start="4" type="1">
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Who is Lina Khan and why does she matter?
|
||
</li></ol></h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LwZdh2">
|
||
Lina Khan is the current FTC chair, a position she’s held since 2021. As <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2022/6/9/23160578/lina-khan-ftc-interview">Vox has previously explained,</a> Khan was best known at the time of her appointment for her law school paper titled “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox,” and was a prominent advocate for antitrust reform who was known, specifically, for criticizing Amazon’s business practices.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NE9ssE">
|
||
If you’re wondering how Amazon feels about Khan’s tenure as FTC chair, well … after Khan’s appointment, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/30/22557456/amazon-lina-khan-recusal-petition-federal-trade-commission-antitrust">Amazon petitioned the FTC</a> with a complaint, arguing that Khan should recuse herself from participating in any actions that regulate Amazon as a company due to her past criticism. —<em>AO</em>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt="FTC chair Lina Khan." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zItHmjz1tJA1KN0n7jqhFOZibeo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24960552/GettyImages_1690670544.jpg"/> <cite>Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
FTC chair Lina Khan at a recent media appearance.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<h3 id="26etIO">
|
||
<ol start="5" type="1">
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">What is “Project Nessie?” I love cryptozoology, so how can something that sounds so cool be bad?
|
||
</li></ol></h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EULKfz">
|
||
Project Nessie is some kind of algorithm, and that’s about all we know. It appears several times in the complaint, only to vanish before we can really determine what it is, much like the <a href="https://www.visitinvernesslochness.com/the-lochness-monster">more famous Nessie</a>. That’s because Amazon was able to get most parts of the complaint surrounding Project Nessie redacted, leaving big black boxes over what is presumably the explanation of the project and why the FTC thinks it’s bad. All we know right now is that it’s an algorithm and that the FTC believes it somehow gives Amazon more money at the expense of consumers.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eTXjzZ">
|
||
It may not be redacted forever. Amazon will have to justify these redactions to a judge, who will ultimately decide what should be kept from the public. Nessie may surface after all. —<em>SM</em>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="J1VYTa">
|
||
<ol start="6" type="1">
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">What does “Fulfillment by Amazon” mean? And what the heck is a “buy box?”
|
||
</li></ol></h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TRpmvM">
|
||
As the lawsuit indicates, there are a couple of different ways products are sold on Amazon. There are things sold and shipped by Amazon — whether they are products produced under an Amazon brand or purchased wholesale by Amazon from another company — and there are products sold by third parties <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22810795/amazon-marketplace-prime-report">through Amazon Marketplace</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<aside id="eZQhiK">
|
||
<div>
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SjyAXk">
|
||
Third-party sellers are exactly what you might guess: people or businesses that are not directly affiliated with Amazon using the retail site’s enormous platform to sell their products. Generally, third-party sellers control their own listings. Some third-party merchants on Amazon ship their products directly to customers. Others tap into Amazon’s infrastructure a little more deeply.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b00FqE">
|
||
Enter the Fulfillment by Amazon service, where sellers can, for a fee, send their inventory directly to an Amazon warehouse and let Amazon process and ship the order. These products are generally eligible for Prime shipping. (It’s exceedingly difficult to get Prime shipping without using Fulfillment by Amazon.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1fNzjl">
|
||
Being a third-party seller on Amazon doesn’t necessarily mean that your products will be visible to a wide audience of Amazon shoppers. Amazon encourages sellers to list their products in specific ways in order to maximize visibility. For instance: Third-party sellers who list the same item for purchase in Amazon Marketplace are competing with each other to show up in the “buy box” (also called the “featured offer”). The buy box is the box on an Amazon listing that contains the “add to cart” and “buy now” buttons, a.k.a. where you are generally going to click as a consumer if you want to buy the product.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mlSWtA">
|
||
In Amazon’s <a href="https://sell.amazon.com/blog/buy-box-featured-offer">guide</a> to getting a product featured in the buy box, it encourages sellers to price “competitively” or “at or below the lowest priced alternatives,” and to offer “fast and free shipping,” either through their own merchant shipping process or by signing up for the Fulfilled by Amazon service. A product is also more likely to show up in the buy box if it’s eligible for Prime shipping. —<em>AO</em>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="fumDL7">
|
||
<ol start="7" type="1">
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Why should I care what Amazon does to third-party sellers?
|
||
</li></ol></h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RVU6vs">
|
||
It’s important to remember that Marketplace sales <a href="https://s2.q4cdn.com/299287126/files/doc_financials/2021/ar/Amazon-2020-Shareholder-Letter-and-1997-Shareholder-Letter.pdf">account for</a> the majority of sales on Amazon and that these third-party sellers are paying fees to Amazon in order to sell there. Signing up for Fulfillment by Amazon comes with additional costs to the merchant. When Amazon raises those fees, consumers will generally have to pay more for that item going forward.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AdFZiO">
|
||
Amazon’s policies can also raise the prices of items on other sites. Because the company’s fair pricing policy <a href="https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/9/26/23835959/ftc-amazon-antitrust-lawsuit-prime-lina-khan">gives them leeway to punish merchants</a> who list a product on Amazon at a higher price than they might elsewhere — say, on a platform that does not charge the same fees Amazon does — sellers are incentivized to raise their prices everywhere in order to account for Amazon’s fees. —<em>AO</em>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt="Interior of an Amazon warehouse." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/31rVt61JKuPjaWq4LvHdQLs8HjY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24960597/GettyImages_459987396.jpg"/> <cite>Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
One of the many warehouses Amazon has all over the world.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<h3 id="VnJgqP">
|
||
<ol start="8" type="1">
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">What will happen to Amazon if it loses the FTC lawsuit? How will it affect <em>me</em>?
|
||
</li></ol></h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="euA8if">
|
||
In interviews with the press, Khan has been careful not to say much about what remedies the FTC will pursue if it wins the case. But the agency is asking the court to stop Amazon from engaging in illegal practices, issue monetary penalties, and provide any relief necessary to prevent Amazon from violating the law again in the future — up to structural relief, which means breaking the company up.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NWlKqZ">
|
||
That doesn’t mean that an FTC win will break up Amazon, and we don’t know what that breakup would look like even if it did. A judge would make that decision, and we’re a long way away from even the possibility of it. The fact that the FTC played up the interconnected and interlocking nature of Amazon’s alleged violations in its complaint, though, indicates that the agency would say there’s no way to truly solve the problem if the company remains in one piece.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JWj3lZ">
|
||
This also means it’s impossible to say, right now, how things would change for you, the customer. If Amazon isn’t broken up, it may well have to stop or significantly change its Prime service, which is one of the alleged weapons Amazon wields over sellers. The FTC will say that an agency victory will mean lower prices for you and more competition that will force Amazon to have to offer a better product or give you more or better shopping options elsewhere. The very fact that Amazon is now fighting a lawsuit could have a chilling effect on some of the ways it does (or wants to do) business, as was the case for <a href="https://www.vox.com/microsoft">Microsoft</a> in the late ’90s and early ’00s. That said, Amazon isn’t going to do anything drastic unless it absolutely has to. —<em>SM</em>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="h4DpY0">
|
||
<ol start="9" type="1">
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">But will Amazon lose? I mean, come on. Really?
|
||
</li></ol></h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pM0ZDw">
|
||
We here at Vox don’t have a crystal ball, but history shows that antitrust cases are hard to win. Courts are business-friendly and have only become more so since the last Big Tech antitrust case <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22893117/microsoft-activision-antitrust-big-tech">against Microsoft</a>. Khan’s FTC has had some <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/02/24/ftc-meta-within-case-dismissed">high</a>-<a href="https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/7/11/23785775/microsoft-activision-ftc-antitrust-decision">profile</a> losses with Big Tech so far. But those were about acquisitions and not, as this case is about, existing business practices.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IDHr5c">
|
||
This case does have something other cases against Meta and Google don’t: physical goods that, the FTC says, consumers are paying more for than they should. That’s something that courts, which have come to embrace the “consumer welfare standard” as a deciding factor in whether or not a company’s monopoly is harmful, will pay attention to. That still doesn’t mean the FTC will be able to convince them that Amazon is doing anything wrong. —<em>SM</em>
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Hangzhou Asian Games | 18 and counting: Indian shooting has its best ever medal count</strong> - The Indian shooters bagged six gold, seven silver and five bronze with two more days of action remaining.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Nikhat Zareen secures Paris Olympic quota; assures of medal at Asian Games</strong> - Fighting in her third bout of the tournament, Nikhat needed less than three minutes to notch a facile RSC (referee stops contest) win over Nassar Hanan of Jordan in the quarterfinal.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Hangzhou Asian Games | Indian men’s badminton team assured of medal, women’s team bows out</strong> - Taking the court first, Lakshya Sen defeated Prince Dahal 21-5 21-8 before Kidambi Srikanth beat Sunil Joshi 21-4 21-13 in the second match. In the third match, Mithun Manjunath edged past Bishnu Katuwal 21-2 21-17 to clinch the tie</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>2023 ODI World Cup venues | Ekana Stadium, Lucknow — capacity, pitch info, tickets and more</strong> - The Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association believes hosting World Cup matches will boost cricket in the region and encourage young talent</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>ICC World Cup preview | Afghanistan’s primary goal will be to improve its poor record</strong> - The squad boasts of a strong spin attack, comprising Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Noor Ahmad.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>State registers significant rise in non tax revenue in August</strong> - Slow pace of overall growth in revenue receipts continues for fifth month in a row; State’s revenue deficit at the end of August stood at ₹3,715 crore against surplus of ₹4,881 crore estimated for the year</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Punnapra set to become first beach ecotourism destination in Kerala</strong> - Government contemplating setting up ecotourism directorate, says Forests Minister A.K. Saseendran</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Two held with country-made guns near Piler in Andhra Pradesh</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Work on new PHC in Kavanur village near Arcot town begins</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Women’s reservation bill gets President’s assent</strong> - Now, it will be officially known as the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rotterdam shootings: Hospital was warned of ‘psychotic’ suspect</strong> - Dutch prosecutors had raised concerns about the man accused of killing three people in Rotterdam.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Putin meets former Wagner commander Andrei Troshev</strong> - The Kremlin says Andrei Troshev, ex-aide to Yevgeny Prigozhin, now works for the defence ministry.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Death toll in Nagorno-Karabakh fuel depot blast jumps to 170</strong> - The sharp rise comers as more than two-thirds of the region’s ethnic Armenians have left for Armenia.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Gulnara Karimova: Swiss say Uzbekistan ex-leader’s daughter ran huge crime network</strong> - Switzerland seizes $857m of assets as the daughter of Uzbekistan’s ex-leader is charged with fraud.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Slovakia elections: The populist ex-PM vowing to cut Ukraine support</strong> - Robert Fico says if his party returns to power in Saturday’s vote, military aid to Ukraine will end.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rocket Report: Iran launches satellite; Artemis II boosters get train ride</strong> - Is ArianeGroup finally getting more serious about a reusable rocket? - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1972044">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>$5,000 Google Jamboard dies in 2024—cloud-based apps will stop working, too</strong> - Google’s digital whiteboard for schools and businesses lasted 8 years. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1972006">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>US may pay 3x more than EU for Moderna’s US-funded COVID shot</strong> - Moderna developed its vaccine with the NIH and got $1.7 billion in federal grant money. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1972056">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A new Chrome 0-day is sending the Internet into a new chapter of Groundhog Day</strong> - If your software package involves VP8 video encoding, it’s likely vulnerable to attack. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1972043">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Losing subscribers, Disney+ starts fighting password sharing, too</strong> - The enforcement is starting with Canada. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1971954">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A man escapes from prison where he has been for 15 years. He breaks into a house to look for money and guns and finds a young couple in bed.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
He orders the guy out of bed and ties him to a chair, while tying the girl to the bed he gets on top of her, kisses her neck, then gets up and goes into the bathroom. While he’s in there, the husband tells his wife: “Listen, this guy’s an escaped convict, look at his clothes! He probably spent lots of time in jail and hasn’t seen a woman in years. I saw how he kissed your neck. If he wants s<em>x, don’t resist, don’t complain, do whatever he tells you. Satisfy him no matter how much he nauseates you. This guy is probably very dangerous. If he gets angry, he’ll k</em>ll us. Be strong, honey. I love you.” To which his wife responds: “He wasn’t kissing my neck. He was whispering in my ear. He told me he was gay, thought you were cute, and asked me if we had any vaseline. I told him it was in the bathroom. Be strong honey. I love you too!”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/YZXFILE"> /u/YZXFILE </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16v5h80/a_man_escapes_from_prison_where_he_has_been_for/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16v5h80/a_man_escapes_from_prison_where_he_has_been_for/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A husband and a wife are waiting at the bus stop..</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
A Husband and a wife are waiting at the bus stop with their 10 children. A blind man joins them after a few minutes.<br/> Soon, the bus arrives, but it is overloaded and only the wife and the nine kids are able to fit onto the bus. So the husband and the blind man decide to walk.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
After a while, the husband gets irritated by the ticking of the stick of the blind man as he taps it on the sidewalk, and says to him, “Why don’t you put a piece of rubber at the end of your stick? That ticking sound is driving me crazy.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The blind man replies, “If you had put a rubber at the end of YOUR stick, we’d be riding the bus, so shut up.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/whyamihere999"> /u/whyamihere999 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16utnjs/a_husband_and_a_wife_are_waiting_at_the_bus_stop/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16utnjs/a_husband_and_a_wife_are_waiting_at_the_bus_stop/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Why is Santa always smiling?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Because he knows where all the naughty girls are.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Ravenclaw_Student_"> /u/Ravenclaw_Student_ </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16v701z/why_is_santa_always_smiling/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16v701z/why_is_santa_always_smiling/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A good looking man walked into an agent’s office in Hollywood and said “I want to be a movie star.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Tall, handsome and with experience on Broadway, he had the right credentials.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The agent asked, “What’s your name?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The guy said, “My name is Penis van Lesbian.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The agent said, “Sir, I hate to tell you, but in order to get into Hollywood, you are going to have to change your name.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
"I will NOT change my name!
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The van Lesbian name is centuries old.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
I will not disrespect my grandfather by changing my name. Not ever."
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The agent said, "Sir, I have worked in Hollywood for years.. you will NEVER go far in Hollywood with a name like Penis van Lesbian!
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
I’m telling you, you will HAVE TO change your name or I will not be able to represent you."
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“So be it! I guess we will not do business together” the guy said and he left the agent’s office.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
FIVE YEARS LATER… The agent opens an envelope sent to his office.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Inside the envelope is a letter and a check for $50,000.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The agent is awe-struck, who would possibly send him $ 50,000? He reads the letter enclosed:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
"Dear Sir, Five years ago, I came into your office wanting to become an actor in Hollywood, you told me I needed to change my name.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Determined to make it with my God-given birth name, I refused.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
You told me I would never make it in Hollywood with a name like Penis van Lesbian.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
After I left your office, I thought about what you said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
I decided you were right.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
I had to change my name.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
I had too much pride to return to your office, so I signed with another agent.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
I would never have made it without changing my name, so the enclosed check is a token of my appreciation.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Thank you for your advice.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Sincerely,
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Dick van Dyke
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/orgasmic2021"> /u/orgasmic2021 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16uaala/a_good_looking_man_walked_into_an_agents_office/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16uaala/a_good_looking_man_walked_into_an_agents_office/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Brakes</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
A Boy was having sex with a girl on a Railway track.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The train driver spots them and starts hooting but they ignore it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
He applies brakes hard and the train stops just a few yards away from the couple. The train driver jumps and walks to the boy who had just finished and was standing up and zipping up his pants.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The driver shouts at the boy "Do you realize that if I had not seen you, this would have been ur last f…!!!
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Boy -’Listen dude, you were coming… She was coming…. and I was coming…. then I realized ….only You have Brakes.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/njman10"> /u/njman10 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16uir5u/brakes/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16uir5u/brakes/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
|
||
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