Supercreator PM: Biden’s next move could change how Big Tech does biz
The president wants to do away with noncompete agreements. Plus: A pro-vax remix of a ‘90s hip-hop classic.
◆◇ THE LEAD: Noncompete agreements ◆◇
HORROR IN HAITI ⇢ First some tragic news from Etant Dupain, Gerardo Lemos, Ivana Kottasová and Caitlin Hu at CNN: “Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse was killed during an attack on his private residence on Wednesday, according to the country’s acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph.
Haiti’s First Lady Martine Moise was also shot is reported to be stable but in critical condition.
According to the Miami Herald, the unknown assailants claimed to be Drug Enforcement Administration agents.
In a statement released from The White House, President Joe Biden said:
“We condemn this heinous act, and I am sending my sincere wishes for First Lady Moïse’s recovery. The United States offers condolences to the people of Haiti, and we stand ready to assist as we continue to work for a safe and secure Haiti.” {Read the full statement.}
BIDEN TO TAKE ON NONCOMPETE CLAUSES ⇢ In government news that could have economic ramifications at home, Jim Tankersley and Neil Irwin at The New York Times report that President Biden will issue an executive order in the coming days to crack down on noncompete clauses.
What are noncompete clauses? I’m glad you asked!
They’re clauses in a contract that prevent employees from entering into competition for a specified amount of time after they’re no longer employees. {Further reading}
Most noncompetes also prohibit former employees from revealing proprietary information or trade secrets to other unauthorized parties during or after employment.
According to a 2019 study by the Economic Policy Institute, somewhere between 27.8 and 46.5 percent of private-sector workers in the US are subject to noncompete agreements.
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Republican Sen. Todd Young of Indiana introduced a bill in 2019 that would disallow noncompetes unless their enforcement was “necessary.” Murphy and Young reintroduced the bill in February with the hopes it’d pick up more momentum in this Congress. As a candidate, President Biden said he would support the bill.
In an email to The Supercreator, Zephyr Teachout, a law professor at Fordham University — who describes herself as “anticorruption, anti-monopolist, anti-mass incarceration, pro-labor” — said the executive order would be “extremely significant.
Noncompetes are the epitome of anticompetitive practice and it is long past time they become banned.”
Teachout added on Twitter: “People have internalized the crazy modern notion that unfair business practices are facts of nature, instead of abuses that should be banned. That’s changing and [it’s] beautiful to see.” {Read the tweet.}
Biden’s executive order is part of a broader action to bolster competition across the economy by removing barriers to workers’ ability to pursue better jobs, especially across state lines. The FTC declined when asked to comment on the executive order and referred The Supercreator to The White House. A White House spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.
If signed, the reverberations could be especially felt in the tech industry, which is notorious for its ironclad noncompetes.
Amazon and Microsoft — both headquartered in California where noncompetes are unenforceable and Washington where they’re limited — have sued employees for breaking the terms of their agreements. The companies did not respond to a request for comment on the possible Biden executive order. (Facebook, Google, Apple, Uber and Lyft also did not respond to requests for comment; Microsoft declined to comment.)
“Competition is generally good and for workers, competition among businesses for your labor is the most fundamental bargaining power you’ve got,” John Lettieri, president and CEO of the Economic Innovation Group, said to Megan Rose Dickey at Protocol in May.
Lettieri added that noncompete agreements create a “downstream series of consequences that are really bad for the worker, they’re bad for the broader labor market and it’s increasingly clear they’re bad for the broader economy as well.” A few reasons why: They prohibit better wages for workers, limit worker mobility and stifle innovation.
Tankersley and Irwin at The Times made an excellent point in their reporting: Many of the policies that are most problematic for workers and are in the crosshairs of Biden’s executive order are actually set at the state level, which leaves little scope leeway for federal intervention. (Plus, there’s the reality that such action would likely be the subject of plenty of lawsuits.)
Still, it’s nice to see politicians continue to play on offense after sitting asleep at the wheel for much of the past decade-plus while leaders and executives at the biggest tech companies amassed most of their wealth, power and influence. Let’s just hope they keep this energy.
👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! Welcome to Supercreator PM. It’s Wednesday, July 7. I’m Michael, writing to you from New York City. Thank you for spending part of your evening with me. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at michael@thesupercreator.com or on Twitter at @bymichaeljones. If someone forwarded you this email, subscribe to get Supercreator PM sent straight to your inbox.
◆◇ SUPERCREATOR INDEX ◆◇
RISING:
⇢ Sources: A journalist’s number-one job is to protect the trust and safety of their sources, which isn’t always easy against pressure from powerful interests that attempt to intimidate whistleblowers into silence.
A new companion bill from Democratic Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Ted Lieu of California and John Yarmuth of Kentucky to a Senate proposal would privilege journalists from being compelled to reveal confidential sources and prevent federal law enforcement from abusing subpoena power. {Read the bill text.}
FALLING:
⇢ Chime: The financial technology startup that provides app-based banking services to an estimated 12 million customers, of which I am one, is under fire after a ProPublica investigation revealed a worrying amount of complaints from customers. Many said they couldn’t access their money or accounts and that Chime was slow to resolve problems.
◆◇ IN THE KNOW ◆◇
CORONAVIRUS
The vaccine ceiling ⇢ Tina Reed at Axios: Despite a renewed focus on closing the vaccination gap from President Biden, experts think we’ve maxxed out at the number of adults who will get vaccinated. “Just trying to deduce from other countries where we’re headed, if we don't get a big jump up in our vaccination rate, we’re going to be vulnerable for a lot more cases,” Eric Topol, director and founder of the Scripps Research Translational Institute said to Axios.
POLITICS
Louisiana just passed three gross anti-abortion laws ⇢ Julie O'Donoghue at The Louisiana Illuminator: One will require medical professionals to suggest to patients the possibility of “abortion reversal” even though there’s no evidence to support the claim.
Donald T**** sued three big tech CEOs because he has nothing better to do ⇢ Sara Fischer at Axios: He is such a clown.
“The unchecked power of police unions” ⇢ Robert Reich at Salon: “Experts believe the protections in police union contracts give too many officers the sense they can abuse their power.
“Police contracts often have provisions allowing departments to erase disciplinary records within a few years, enabling officers with histories of misconduct to clear their records.
“Others allow accused officers to access their investigative files before being questioned, letting them manipulate their story. Others set strict time limits for citizens to file complaints about officers; some prevent anonymous complaints from being investigated at all.
“All these provisions allow officers with histories of misconduct to stay on the force.”
“How Eric Adams did it” ⇢ David Freedlander at Intelligencer: “None of that ultimately mattered thanks to an election that played out in a city recovering from a pandemic and grappling with a sharp uptick in crime and chaos. Adams won [the Democratic primary for mayor] by constructing an old-school political coalition of labor unions, political clubs, religious leaders, and homeowners in the majority Black precincts of Brooklyn and Queens. He warded off a late surge in the Democratic primary by Kathryn Garcia, who swamped him in most of Manhattan, winning in famously liberal neighborhoods like Park Slope and the West Village while also winning in famously conservative white neighborhoods in the outer reaches of Brooklyn and Queens.”
“The outdated and insulting Olympics’ rule banning protest” ⇢ Farrell Greenwald Brenner at Teen Vogue: “Athletes, like all of us, live fundamentally political lives and sports are imbued with politics. Politics determine which youth athletes can afford the equipment or fees they need to get started. Politics determine which athletes are more likely to suffer traumatic brain injuries and receive compensation or necessary medical care afterward. Politics determine how a stadium will be built and who will be displaced in the process. Politics determine who can play with dignity. Even the Olympic opening ceremonies, in which host countries produce a spectacle of nationalism, are a perfect example of how politics are front and center at the Games themselves.
“The neutrality of sport is a myth that obscures the injustices that affect athletes and their communities while punishing those who dare to point out that the emperor has no clothes.”
BUSINESS
95 percent of workers are thinking of quitting their jobs ⇢ Anna Cooban at Insider: One in every three of the nearly 650 people surveyed said that burnout was the reason. Two-thirds of workers felt job opportunities were available to them and 92 percent said they’d consider switching industries.
US job openings rise to record high ⇢ Christopher Rugaber at AP: In related news, the number of available jobs on the last day of May rose to 9.21 million from 9.19 million in April. This, combined with fewer people getting laid off, have forced employers to pay more to attract workers, a trend I love to see.
MEL magazine is back ⇢ Sara Fischer at Axios: The men’s health and culture publication folded earlier this year to much disappointment from its cult readership. But thanks to an acquisition from Dollar Shave Club by a venture-equity-backed digital media company, MEL will have the resources it needs to get back to work.
“Don’t ban politics at work” ⇢ Megan Reitz and John Higgins at Harvard Business Review: “Instead of instituting a ban or seeking to diminish voices seeking political change, leaders would be better served by building a culture that handles political differences in the workplace more productively.”
TECHNOLOGY
Youtube’s algo still recommends harmful studies ⇢ Brandy Zadrozny at NBC News: A new crowdsourced investigation from the Mozilla Foundation revealed YouTube’s algorithm recommended 71 percent of the videos reported to include COVID-19 misinformation, political conspiracy theories and both violent and graphic content, including sexual content that appeared to be cartoons for children. Also terrible: Reported videos outperformed others, gaining 70 percent more views per day than others watched by the study’s volunteers.
CULTURE
“Stop describing food as ‘exotic’” ⇢ G. Daniela Galarza at The Washington Post: “The first problem with the word is that, probably within the past two decades, it’s lost its essential meaning. The second, more crucial problem is that its use, particularly as applied to food, indirectly lengthens the metaphysical distance between one group of humans and another, and, in so doing, reinforces xenophobia and racism.”
“Maya Moore isn’t finished working” ⇢ Macaela MacKenzie at Glamour: “Moore’s story is about doing the work — especially when it comes to sacrifice and having the conviction to sit in, as she described it, ‘uncomfortable tension.’ It is not a story about a woman fighting to free the man she loves (that’s too simple). But relationship—not just theirs but the very concept of being in relationship with people—is of foundational importance to understanding the work that she is doing.
“‘One of the key messages I pray that people get from Win With Justice is that you need to be in relationship with your neighbor—preferably your neighbor that’s not exactly like you,’ she says. ‘That’s how you learn to love more deeply and get out of your comfort zone.’
“‘None of what you see in front of us happened because either of us stayed comfortable,’ she adds.”
“What’s going on with fentanyl overdoses in New York?” ⇢ Bridget Read at The Cut: “Cocaine users who aren’t used to opioids can be susceptible to an extremely small amount of fentanyl, and they often aren’t as familiar with recovery methods like Narcan to combat an overdose. The pandemic could have exacerbated cross-contamination in numerous ways: It very likely destabilized supply chains, shaking up dealers and their sources; we know it changed habits, with people using drugs more often to combat depression or alienation, and using them alone, and it likely even changed people’s bodies. If someone stopped using for a certain amount of time when the city was shut down, their tolerance could have decreased significantly. Researchers, including some at the Health Department, say they will be studying these trends for years before they fully understand them.
“For years, decriminalization advocates have been raising the alarm on the profound knowledge gap on drug use in New York City. They are the ones working with users in the hardest-hit neighborhoods, primarily East Harlem and the South Bronx (which, in 2017, had the second-highest overdose rate in the United States). Here, fentanyl is not the cause of a sudden panic that trends on Twitter. It’s a raging epidemic. Harm-reduction proponents say efforts like Overdose Prevention Centers, where people can safely do drugs in the presence of trained staff, and drug-checking materials and equipment would go a long way toward collecting better data and saving lives. But they don’t have the resources or the legislative backing.”
“The return of the girls trip” ⇢ Kate Dwyer at Refinery29: “Now that almost half the country is fully vaccinated and international travel is becoming viable once again for Americans, long-distance friends are making plans to reunite IRL. Over the past year and change, phone and Zoom calls offered the welcome opportunity to hear friends’ voices without the risk of swapping germs, but they lacked the intimacy of seeing people in person. And yet, sharing air again with loved ones is exhilarating (a real milestone!), but also nerve-wracking for those who have become attached to their quarantine habits. Still, a great many are taking the plunge. Whether it’s a bid to reawaken our social muscles or make up for lost time, a cascade of women are planning elaborate girls trips that check two boxes of things they’ve dearly missed: friends and travel. Just as we covet the return of arena concerts and house parties, there is something singularly enticing about not just a trip, but a big! fun! group trip!”
“Why do we buy so much stuff?” ⇢ Juliet Schor in conversation with Emily Stewart at Vox: “The key impetus for contemporary consumer society has been the growth of inequality, the existence of unequal social structures, and the role that consumption came to play in establishing people’s position in that unequal hierarchy. For many people, it’s about consuming to their social position, and trying to keep up with their social position.”
◆◇ DO THIS ONE THING ◆◇
Watch the pro-vaccination remix of Juvenile’s 1998 classic, “Back That Azz Up” (h/t Ashley Reese at Jezebel):
◆◇ THE ONE-SENTENCE SEND-OFF ◆◇
I finished Sex/Life on Netflix last night; Sasha was its only redeeming quality. 🙃