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Susan Holmberg

@susanrholmberg.bsky.social
169 followers 99 following 66 posts

Proudly from Minnesota. Writer, Comms, looking for patterns in the economy. Associate Director for Research @ILSR. Former @rooseveltinstitute.org‬ @PERIatUMass. PhD, UMass Econ.

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Reposted by Susan Holmberg
Judd Legum @juddlegum.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Whatever happens, this is a deeply shameful episode in American history that will leave a permanent stain on the country. Repeatedly vowing to commit war crimes against millions of innocent civilians is beyond the pale.
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Katelyn Burns @katelynburns.com · 31/03/2026
It's Trans Day of Visibility today. If you're trans and are raising money for something (I don't care what it is), reply to this thread and I will boost you. If you are a cis person, take a look and find someone to support if you can. Everyone give this a share after.
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Susan Holmberg @susanrholmberg.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
Interested in algorithmic pricing? Don't miss this conversation on March 3. How powerful corporations — including Amazon, Instacart, and major landlords — are using pricing algorithms to inflate prices and undermine competition. Great panel! Register here: ilsr.org/article/inde...
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The Editorial Board @editorialboard.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
If it’s a tax on them, elites make it sound like a tax on you. If it’s a tax on you, they make you wonder if it’s a tax at all. When you understand that, you can see how the news media actually created conditions in which some middle-class Americans unknowingly voted for their own immiseration.
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Reposted by Susan Holmberg
Claire Kelloway @clairek.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
I live in Minneapolis, and witnessing the ways local businesses are boldly and creatively stepping up to meet community needs as large corporations offer mild statements or facilitate ICE reminds me why antimonopoly policy is central to a healthy democracy. foodandpower.substack.com/p/wall-stree...
foodandpower.substack.com
Wall Street Doesn’t Reward Resilience, Main Street Does
Minnesota shows how small businesses can support their communities through crisis while large corporations make measured statements, or worse, cooperate with authoritarian overreach.
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Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 04/02/2026
🚨 The political economy of finance summer school is back, 3rd year running! Better still: We're bringing it to London via @lse-ei.bsky.social. 𝐓𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜: Finance & democracy 𝙳̲̲𝚊̲̲𝚝̲̲𝚎̲: 4-5 June 2026 𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦: March 1. Link below. We've got brilliant instructors as usual. Please spread the word!
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 03/02/2026
happening this morning in Minneapolis -- ICE agents drawing guns on observers. I reiterate again that it is only a matter of time before DHS kills more innocent people in Minnesota. Congress needs to shut this shit down right now.
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Gil Friend - Sustainability OG @gpfriend.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
"four things"
youtu.be
Tim Walz Calls for Mass Resistance Against ICE in Minnesota
YouTube video by electron media group, inc.
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Susan Holmberg @susanrholmberg.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Reports from outside Minneapolis are that ICE is pulling people over on the freeway, leaving cars abandoned. They have been seen in towns throughout the Twin City exurbs. If you are feeling moved to help families in MN, this is verified. www.gofundme.com/f/support-so...
gofundme.com
Donate to Support Twin Cities families in Crisis: Metro Surge, organized by Southwest Alliance
Our neighbors all over the Twin Cities Metro have now been end… Southwest Alliance needs your support for Support Twin Cities families in Crisis: Metro Surge
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Susan Holmberg @susanrholmberg.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
@ronmknox.bsky.social has a must read end-of-year piece. Working Americans are raging against corporate power, which is coalescing into an antimonopoly movement. This should be the Democratic party's lodestar. (Also, no one does antimonopoly storytelling better.) www.thenation.com/article/acti...
thenation.com
Anger at Corporate Power Is Everywhere
It should guide the Democrats.
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Susan Holmberg @susanrholmberg.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
Months ago, we filed to get the FTC complaint against Pepsi unsealed. Last week, the judge ruled in our favor. It's damning, implicating Walmart. @ilsr.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Pepsi Gave Walmart Special Discounts, Biden-Era FTC Alleged
PepsiCo Inc. offers Walmart Inc. special product promotions and discounts that it doesn’t offer to any other retailers, according to a Biden-era antitrust complaint that was unsealed by a court.
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ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 10/12/2025
good LORD. like some turducken of neoliberal nightmares
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Susan Holmberg @susanrholmberg.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
Check out our latest investigation. Public buying on Amazon has ballooned and governments are facing higher costs and less transparency. This is pushing out independent suppliers that feed local tax bases — at a time when local budgets are bleeding dry. There's a better way. ⬇️
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Claudia Sahm @claudia-sahm.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
Okay, so maybe I wasn't too mean to him ...
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Ron Knox @ronmknox.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
More power for workers. Protections for small businesses. Freedom from slumlords. With Lina Khan by his side, Zohran Mamdani is the vanguard of the modern antimonopoly movement.
whoshallrule.com
Mamdani and the Antimonopoly Movement
In policies and promise, Zohran Mamdani has become antimonopoly's flag bearer
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Susan Holmberg @susanrholmberg.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
What is this feeling? It's so unfamiliar.
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Samuel Moyn @samuelmoyn.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
The imperial presidency wasn’t built in a term - my latest Comment, denounce, retweet! www.nytimes.com/2025/10/31/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Resistance to Trump Isn’t Enough
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Susan Holmberg @susanrholmberg.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Ron is an exceptional storyteller of resistance and analyst of corporate abuses. This substack is going to be good.
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Susan Holmberg @susanrholmberg.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
There's an antimonopoly movement afoot, happening at the local level. prospect.org/economy/2025...
prospect.org
The Shifting Anti-Monopoly Landscape
Fights over data centers and music venues show that resisting corporate power will have to go local in the age of Trump.
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Belinda Archibong @belindaarch.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
Dr Lisa Cook is a fantastic economist and person, and the attacks lobbed against her are absolutely egregious. Sharing the letter in support of her below. #Econsky
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Sherrod Brown @sherrodbrownoh.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
Standing up for workers. Treating everyone with dignity and respect. Working as hard as possible for the people of Ohio. I've tried to live my life by those principles. But these days that's not what's happening in Washington—so I'm running for Senate.
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John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
A great time to re-up this article -- How to Break Up with Amazon: ilsr.org/articles/its... @ilsr.bsky.social @kennedysmith.bsky.social
ilsr.org
It's Time to Break Up with Amazon. Here's How. - Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Shop Local, Amazon Alternatives
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Stacy Mitchell @stacyfmitchell.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
"It’s easy to think of food deserts as a natural consequence of poverty. But...the real reason food deserts emerged...is because of a major shift in one federal policy." The 99% Percent Invisible podcast has a great new episode on the hidden history of the Robinson-Patman Act.
99percentinvisible.org
Food Deserts - 99% Invisible
Woonsocket, Rhode Island was once home to many locally owned and regional grocers. There were small stores such as Fernandes Produce and Big D’s. The city also had supermarkets from classic New Englan...
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Stacy Mitchell @stacyfmitchell.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
Complaining about process is a way to sidestep having to take a stand and use your position to fight for a simple, obvious, and popular rule that would help Americans save money and avoid being taken advantage of.
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The Nation Magazine @thenation.com · 02/07/2025
Shoppers have fewer options for groceries after waves of supermarket mergers, and, writes Ron Knox, they get nickled and dimed at the stores that remain. www.thenation.com/article/soci...
thenation.com
As Federal Chaos Ensues, Trustbusters Rise in the States
With Trump’s antitrust appointees more concerned with scoring points in MAGA culture wars than restraining corporate abuses, officials in the states are keeping up the fight.
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Susan Holmberg @susanrholmberg.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
A beautiful tribute to the late founder of @ilsr.bsky.social. He profoundly shaped how to think about the intersection of place, power, and policy. ilsr.org/articles/rem...
ilsr.org
A Letter from ILSR’s Co-Directors: Remembering David Morris - Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Visited 105 times, 105 visit(s) today
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Susan Holmberg @susanrholmberg.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
State leadership on antitrust is not new. Our first trustbusting laws were incubated at the state-level. This tradition is being revived. New from @ronmknox.bsky.social
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Reposted by Susan Holmberg
Stacy Mitchell @stacyfmitchell.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
With many people talking about how Mamdani has embraced small businesses as a crucial & obvious part of a progressive coalition of working people, I wanted to re-up this piece from a few years ago: ilsr.org/articles/in-...
ilsr.org
In The Nation, the Left Should Fight for Small Business - Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Stacy Mitchell and Susan R. Holmberg argue that the left should embrace small business again; it is crucial to reversing inequality and rescuing democracy.
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Susan Holmberg @susanrholmberg.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
@ronmknox.bsky.social's new piece in Wash Monthly today, examining why the Trump FTC's decision to drop a landmark case against PepsiCo for price discrimination will be extremely bad for for community grocers and people who, you know, like to buy food. washingtonmonthly.com/2025/06/25/h...
washingtonmonthly.com
Has Trump’s FTC abandoned fair markets? | Washington Monthly
Trump's FTC just killed a landmark antitrust case that could have leveled the playing field for small grocers.
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randall "tex" boggs @cinatyte.bsky.social · 14/06/2025
It is going to be another very stressful news day, so particularly if you are in Minnesota and reading this, please go eat something RIGHT NOW and drink a full glass of water - keep your strength and your mind healthy.
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Matt Keliher @mattkeliher.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Downtown Saint Paul is an excellent location for the city's first municipal owned grocery store. ilsr.org/articles/com...
ilsr.org
Community Wins: In the Face of Consolidation, Communities are Opening Their Own Grocery Stores - Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Visited 552 times, 3 visit(s) today
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Anat Shenker-Osorio @anatosaurus.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
We have to do what every other successful effort to confront authoritarianism, both in our past and in the present abroad, has done: organize sustained civil resistance. Imagine if, in lieu of bus boycott, civil rights leaders had waited on Dems? Or ACT-Up folks not done die-ins & broke into NYSE?
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Matt Keliher @mattkeliher.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Four newspapers in rural, northwest Minnesota announced they'll be sending their final papers out this week. I thought the founder's reason for the closure was interesting: www.grandforksherald.com/news/minneso...
“I think the trouble started with Walmart coming into our towns and shutting down our main streets, our grocery stores, our hardware stores,” Richards said. “Then COVID was kind of a nail in the coffin when everything shut down and advertising stopped. … (Advertisers) didn’t come back to newspapers — they stayed with social media and that sort of thing. I think you can look at any newspaper and see that.” - quote from linked story
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Stacy Mitchell @stacyfmitchell.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
The FTC just voted 3-0 to drop this case — that's effectively an endorsement of the predatory tactics Walmart uses to crush local grocery sores, create food deserts, and drive up prices. This will hit working-class, rural, and Black communities hardest.
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Ron Knox @ronmknox.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
omg thank you Claire! If, ahem, you'd like to pick one up, you can do that here! microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/zine...
microcosmpublishing.com
Resist Monopolies!: How to Fight Corporate Control and Support an Economy That Matters
What can we do to resist monopolies in a world that tells us they’re too big to fail and too strong to fight? We take them on anyway! From vacant downtowns to...
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Anat Shenker-Osorio @anatosaurus.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Resist. Refuse. Ridicule. This fascist regime requires our capitulation to enact their agenda.
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John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
ILSR is hiring! We're looking for a terrific Operations Associate to help make this workplace hum: vist.ly/3n3bvt6
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Stacy Mitchell @stacyfmitchell.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
1. My colleague Ron Knox just published a killer guide to resisting monopolies. It shows that fighting monopoly power isn't just a job for the government — it's something regular people can do every day in their communities and workplaces.
microcosmpublishing.com
Resist Monopolies!: How to Fight Corporate Control and Support an Economy That Matters
What can we do to resist monopolies in a world that tells us they’re too big to fail and too strong to fight? We take them on anyway! From vacant downtowns to...
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Susan Holmberg @susanrholmberg.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Great thread about a great new zine! "There are folks out there taking the fight to corporate oligarchs..and winning."
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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Let's wake up. He's REALLY unpopular for this early in a term or really ever. President's this unpopular are already losing. Power becomes harder to assert when your power is fading.
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AZ Attorney General Kris Mayes @azagmayes.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
I take seriously my duty to protect hardworking Arizonans against abuses of corporate power. Thanks for the shout out, @ronmknox.bsky.social and @ilsr.bsky.social. Listen to the full episode here: ilsr.org/articles/blp... youtube.com/shorts/qF84I...
youtube.com
ILSR Building Local Power Podcast | Attorney General Kris Mayes
YouTube video by Arizona Attorney General's Office
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Institute for Local Self-Reliance @ilsr.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
📢 ILSR is hiring! 📢 We’re looking for an Operations Associate to help manage day-to-day organizational functions and support a productive, efficient work environment. This is a full-time, remote, union position with excellent benefits. Apply now ⬇️
ilsr.org
Careers at ILSR
Help reverse today’s extreme levels of corporate concentration and advance policies to rebuild the social and economic fabric of local communities.
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Stacy Mitchell @stacyfmitchell.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
This is a great listen! And energizing in these times.
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Teen Vogue @teenvogue.com · 09/04/2025
"Democratic leaders like my former boss are increasingly alienating young voters and progressives alike due to ideological rigidity, inadequate policy responses, and a failure to address the evolving socio-political landscape."
teenvogue.com
I Used to Work for Chuck Schumer. He's Pushing Young People Away From the Democratic Party.
I blame my former boss for the party's failures.
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
90 percent. They sent innocent people to a gulag so Trump could look like a tough guy. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
About 90% of Migrants Deported to El Salvador Had No US Criminal Record
Trump administration officials have described the men deported to El Salvador prisons last month as “the worst of the worst,” suggesting they were gang members involved in murder, rape and kidnapping.
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The Sling @theslingutah.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
Many economists advocate free trade. But, does it even work? Today in the Sling. Mark Glick and Gabriel Lozada discuss the failed assumptions of free trade. Check it out! #Econtwitter #Antitrust #tariffs www.thesling.org/the-failed-a...
thesling.org
The Failed Assumptions of Free Trade - The Sling
It is neoliberal economists who are wrong about the economics of trade. Economics textbooks and popular work by economists typically hide the unrealistic assumptions that are required to conclude that...
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Susan Holmberg @susanrholmberg.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
Led by @ronmknox.bsky.social, ILSR has a new suite of resources on how states can flex their antitrust muscle. Check it out!
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Susan Holmberg @susanrholmberg.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Love the energy of this blackout, and if more of us can learn to live without Amazon that's super cool. But getting Amazon to change it's behavior is a lost cause. We need the right regulatory guardrails in place so they can't get away with the shit they've pulled. www.cnn.com/2025/03/07/b...
cnn.com
The ‘economic blackout’ movement now wants you to boycott Amazon starting today | CNN Business
After a viral social media campaign to spend no money at big-box stores happened last week, a fresh one begins Friday targeting Amazon.
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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
Ahem ... Is this on? Yesterday our crew at @TPM launched our annual March membership drive. If you're not a member, I hope you'll consider joining. The link is right here. I wanted to take a moment to give you what I hope are good reasons to join. talkingpointsmemo.com/memberships?...
talkingpointsmemo.com
Memberships
Talking Points Memo (TPM) is an independent news organization that publishes reporting and analysis about American politics, public policy and political culture.
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