How Algorithms Are Gouging Us

Mike talks with Lindsay Owens, president and CEO of the Groundwork Collaborative and author of Gouged: The End of a Fair Price and What That Means for Your Wallet, about how new technologies are changing what companies know about consumers—and how much they can charge them. They discuss an Instacart experiment that found shoppers being shown different prices for identical groceries, the RealPage controversy over algorithmic rent-setting, and the growing use of dynamic and surveillance pricing. Lindsay explains why the shift from posted prices toward individualized “willingness to pay” pricing could fundamentally change how markets work. Mike and Lindsay also dig into junk fees and all-in pricing, right-to-repair restrictions, deliberately difficult subscription cancellations, and “algorithmic wages” that may allow companies to pay workers different amounts for essentially identical work. They close with Lindsay’s proposed “shopper’s bill of rights,” the political prospects for stronger consumer protections, and why consumer backlash may be one of the most effective checks on increasingly sophisticated pricing technology. Lindsay Owens on X (https://x.com/owenslindsay1) The Politics Guys on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/politicsguyspage) | X (https://twitter.com/politicsguys) Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. You can support us or change your level of support at patreon.com/politicsguys (https://patreon.com/politicsguys) or politicsguys.com/support (https://politicsguys.com/support) . On Venmo, we’re @PoliticsGuys. The Politics Guys is part of The Democracy Group (https://www.democracygroup.org/) , a network of podcasts that examines what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.