Organized Money

The Real Supermarket Sweep: with Laurel Kilgour

Today, just four companies—Walmart, Kroger, Costco and Albertsons—account for about half of all grocery sales in the country. And two of them, Kroger and Albertsons, want to merge. If approved, it would be the largest supermarket merger in history. Together they employ 700,000 people across some 5,000 stores. But regulators are fighting back, arguing that a merger would be bad for consumers and for workers. In this episode we go inside the courtroom to hear the case for and against the merger with Laurel Kilgour, an attorney and the research manager at the American Economic Liberties Project.

Organized Money is a podcast about how the business world really works, and how corporate consolidation and monopolies are dominating every sector of our economy. The series is hosted by writers and journalists Matt Stoller and David Dayen, both thought leaders in the antimonopoly movement. Organized Money is a fresh spin on business reporting, one that goes beyond supply and demand curves or odes to visionary entrepreneurs. Each week Matt and David break down the ways monopolies control everything from the food we eat, to the drugs we take, the way we communicate and even how we date. You’ll hear from workers, business leaders, antitrust lawyers, and policymakers who are on the front lines of the fight for open markets and fair competition. If you care about an economy that is free and open, one not controlled by a handful of corporations, Organized Money is for you. New episodes out every week until the end of the year. Organized Money is a Rock Creek Sound production, from executive producers Ari Saperstein and Ellen Weiss, and senior producer Benjamin Frisch.