Today’s links Antitrust is a labor issue: Banning noncompetes is huge, but it’s not all the FTC is doing! Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: 2009, 2014, 2019, 2023 Upcoming appearances: Where to find me. Recent appearances: Where I’ve been. Latest books: You keep readin’ em, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Colophon: All the rest. Antitrust is a labor issue (permalink) This is huge: yesterday, the FTC finalized a rule banning noncompete agreements for every American worker. That means that the person working the register at a Wendy’s can switch to the fry-trap at McD’s for an extra $0.25/hour, without their boss suing them: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/04/ftc-announces-rule-banning-noncompetes The median worker laboring under a noncompete is a fast-food worker making close to minimum wage. You know who doesn’t have to worry about noncompetes? High tech workers in Silicon Valley, because California already banned noncompetes, as did Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia and Washington. The fact that the country’s largest economies, encompassing the most “knowledge-intensive” industries, could operate without shitty bosses being able to shackle their best workers to their stupid workplaces for years after those workers told them to shove it shows you what a goddamned lie noncompetes are based on. The idea that companies can’t raise capital or thrive if their know-how can walk out the door, secreted away in the skulls of their ungrateful workers, is bullshit: https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/02/its-the-economy-stupid/#neofeudal Remember when OpenAI’s…Pluralistic: Antitrust is a labor issue (25 Apr 2024)