Yacht Rocked

This is Lever Weekly, a recap of our work from the past week. If you only read one email from us all week, this should be it.

Here’s what The Lever published this week:

⛵ The Succession Battle For A Prison Empire. Luxury cars, mansions, a superyacht called Convict, and wined-and-dined sheriffs — a legal war is exposing the big business of extracting profits from prisoners.

Musk Has Triggered A Corporate Deregulation Bomb. A Delaware bill would award Elon Musk $56 billion, shield corporate executives from liability, and strip away voting power from shareholders.

The Secret Supreme Court Lobbyists Who Want To Stay Hidden. Dark money groups tied to conservative power broker Leonard Leo are trying to kill a rule forcing them to disclose who’s funding their judicial pressure campaigns.

How Ads Increase Your Credit Card Bills. A new Federal Reserve study shows credit cards’ high interest rates aren’t because of lending risk — they reflect monopoly power built by marketing campaigns.

The Working Class Is Paying To Insure Beach Mansions. An impending deadline spotlights how the federal flood insurance program is forcing low-income households to subsidize the rich.

Dr. Oz Is Coming For Your Medicare. Trump has deployed television’s Dr. Mehmet Oz to auction off the country’s public health care system to the highest bidder.

Big Pharma Swamps The Drain With MAGA Lobbyists. Former Trump aides get hired by a foreign drugmaker aiming to kill Medicare’s plan to lower the price of U.S.-funded weight-loss meds.

Bezos Becomes Trump’s Apprentice. A new streaming movie deal is the latest gift to Trump from the billionaire CEO and his company — which profits off government contracts.

Money Laundering For All (Who Can Afford It). With the help of Republicans, Trump and his corporate allies have taken a sledgehammer to what remains of federal anti-money laundering law.

🎧 Do Democrats Have A Game Plan? The Democratic Party has lost the trust of working-class voters. This congressman says he has the key to winning them back.

🎧 Big Tech’s Forever War. Rohit Chopra and other experts discuss how technology is changing reality and what can be done to stop it.

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🤔 Let the lobbying shenanigans begin. Trump’s promised “no tax on tips” legislation doesn’t outline what constitutes a tip — it instead empowers Wall Street mogul-turned-Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to issue “a list of occupations which traditionally and customarily received tips” — and then shield those from taxes. For example, Bessent could reclassify Wall Street fees as tax-free tips from customers paid to asset managers. The possibilities are endless — and endlessly corrupt.

✈️ Southwest once bragged that “bags fly free” — not anymore. The airline just announced the end of its free checked bag policy amid pressure from infamous private equity investor Elliott Investment Management. Since Elliott’s 2024 investment in the airline, Southwest has upped ticket prices and — for the first time in 50 years — laid off staff. The company’s transformation reflects a consolidated industry with few competitive incentives to court customers with low prices or quality service. Meanwhile, airlines are generating more revenue than ever. In September, Southwest officials admitted that while the company could reap up to $1.5 billion in new checked bag fees, the move would likely result in a $1.8 billion loss of market share.

💊 Big Pharma is swamping the drain. As part of its multimillion-dollar lobbying assault, the Danish maker of Ozempic just hired two former Trump aides as lobbyists, one of whom oversaw federal health policy. The hirings come as Republicans are pushing to repeal the Medicare program that could lower the weight-loss medicine’s price. The Lever recently reported that the federal government spent more than $6 billion of taxpayer money to develop Ozempic’s active ingredient — but Americans pay up to 11 times more than the world market price.

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Every week, our paid subscribers receive a newsletter full of policy wins, environmental victories, social initiatives improving your life, and more. 

This week’s good news:

• Trump goes surprisingly antitrust on Google.
• The Supreme Court lets states fight over the climate.
• Medical research gets a hand.
• A zombie pipeline loses its momentum.

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• Sunday Long Read — The weekly compendium of exemplary journalism named “The Looting of America’s Affordable Housing Fund” one of its favorite stories of the week.
• New York Times Dealbook — The newsletter featured our reporting on the family feud tearing a prison technology company apart.
• The Hill: Rising — Ronnie Riccobenne joined the show to discuss The Lever’s reporting on how pesticide makers are hindering victims from seeking damages for chemical exposure.
• Canary Media — The climate-focused publication featured our reporting on the political fallout from Trump’s reversal on EVs.
• Daily Hampshire Gazette — The local paper featured our reporting on an exclusive ICE detention center contract granted to one of Trump’s corporate campaign donors.
• Gizmodo — The tech-focused publication featured our reporting about the Musk-backed legislation that could further erode corporate regulation in the U.S.
• Wisecrack — The philosophy-focused YouTube channel used Master Plan to explain how we reached this political moment.