@Groundwork

Building an economy that works for all of us. #WeAreTheEconomy Find us on Bluesky @ groundwork and Instagram @ groundworkcollab.

 Washington, D.C.
groundworkcollaborative.org
Joined April 2019
  • Tweets14.8K
  • Following2.6K
  • Followers12.3K
2.9KMedia
🚨 NEW: Big Business rewrote the rules in its favor. We’re rewriting them for shoppers. Our Shoppers’ Bill of Rights lays out 12 basic protections against hidden fees, pricing games, and the corporate tricks driving up everyday costs. theguardian.com/us-news/2026…

Gouged: why Americans are being ripped off – and what to do about it

How can we fix our pricing crisis? Economic sociologist Lindsay Owens urges tough new rules – and a consumer uprising

theguardian.com
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NEW profile of our @owenslindsay1, discussing her new book, "Gouged," the increasingly sophisticated technologies corporations are using to squeeze consumers, & what policymakers can do to restore fairness to our economy. Read the full conversation 👇 washingtonian.com/2026/10/21…

How Corporations Trick You Into Paying More

Lindsay Owens’s new book, “Gouged,” takes on dynamic pricing and other tactics.

washingtonian.com
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Thanks to Trump, this Halloween is frightening for all the wrong reasons. Spooky season should be about candy and decorations – not scary price hikes. But candy favorites will cost more than 15% more than last year, in new analysis from us and @TCFdotorg.
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Halloween Candy Prices Up 15%, Giving American Families a Jump Scare - Groundwork Collaborative

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Walmart patented a system to decide if you’re enough of a Karen to deserve a gift card when they screw up your order – plus a bunch of other dystopian ways to potentially profile shoppers & personalize prices. Our new report breaks down the patents you have to see to believe. groundworkcollaborative.org/…

The Walmart Watchtower: Patents Speak Louder Than Pledges - Groundwork Collaborative

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It's not just ghouls and ghosts out there. 40% of households with young children plan to take on debt in order to cover this year’s Halloween costs. New analysis from us & @TCFdotorg found Halloween candy prices are up 15% this year compared to last.
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Halloween Candy Prices Up 15%, Giving American Families a Jump Scare - Groundwork Collaborative

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Groundwork Collaborative retweeted
Congressman Dwight Evans
@RepDwightEvansOct 20
This Halloween, the real jump scare is how high candy prices are under Trump’s economy. Check out this new report 🔽
Groundwork Collaborative
@GroundworkOct 20
The scariest thing Americans face this Halloween won’t be a haunted house, but the price tags in the candy aisle. 🚨NEW: We and @TCFdotorg found Halloween candy prices are up 15.3% – a staggering 4x overall inflation.
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As day to day life seems increasingly unaffordable, a new book explores how dynamic and surveillance pricing is making this problem worse. For the Economic Populist, Gouged author @owenslindsay1 spoke with our own @helaineolen: "Gouged is a book about the reinvention of the ripoff and the ways big tech has supercharged age old impulses to extract as much as possible for consumers at the checkout line."
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It can be impossible to know if your personal AI agent is working for you or a retailer, our @owenslindsay1 told @CBSNews. Walmart's CEO admitted their "Sparky" boosted average order values by 40%, potentially upcharging their customers. cbsnews.com/news/personal-ai…

Should you trust personal AI agents with your money and data? Here's what experts say.

The more access you give personal AI agents, the more capable they can be. But should you trust them?

cbsnews.com
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"The ways in which pricing have become a highly engineered science have eroded the ability for shoppers to comparison shop." Our @owenslindsay1 sat down with @helaineolen to discuss her new book, and what the end of a fair prices means for our overall society & economy. economicpopulist.substack.co…
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NEW from us and @TCFdotorg: Americans hoping not to break the bank when preparing for Halloween this year have few options. Halloween candy prices are up 15.3% – a staggering 4x overall inflation. @scrippsnews with the exclusive 👇 scrippsnews.com/life/holiday…

Halloween candy costs surge as Americans increasingly take on debt to cover purchases

Halloween may come with a scarier price tag this year. Candy prices have jumped an average of 15% from 2025, far outpacing overall inflation.

scrippsnews.com
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Groundwork Collaborative retweeted
Zoe Butler@zoezoe_butlerOct 20
Two new housing reports this morning: Pending home sales fell 7.3% in September, reaching their lowest level since records began in 2001. Single-family building permits dropped 4.0%, hitting their lowest level since March 2023.
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The Century Foundation
@TCFdotorgOct 20
👻 The scariest thing about Halloween this year might be the price of candy. Our new report w/ @Groundwork shows candy prices are up 15.3%, 4x faster than overall inflation, and 40% of parents with kids under 18 plan to take on debt for Halloween costs: go.tcf.org/Halloween
Halloween candy prices are up 15.3% under Trump, rising four times faster than overall inflation. Text encourages readers to learn how Trump’s policies are making Halloween more expensive at go.tcf.org/Halloween. Three carved pumpkins sit against a dark background above The Century Foundation and Groundwork Collaborative logos.

ALT Halloween candy prices are up 15.3% under Trump, rising four times faster than overall inflation. Text encourages readers to learn how Trump’s policies are making Halloween more expensive at go.tcf.org/Halloween. Three carved pumpkins sit against a dark background above The Century Foundation and Groundwork Collaborative logos.

A table compares Halloween candy prices in 2026 and 2025 across 10 products. Mondelez Sour Gummy Candy Variety Pack prices rose the most, by 39.1%, from $3.02 to $4.20. Hershey Seasonal Peanut Butter Cups rose 23.4%, from $6.67 to $8.23. Across all 10 products, average prices increased 15.3%. The Century Foundation and Groundwork Collaborative logos appear alongside a link to the full report at go.tcf.org/Halloween.

ALT A table compares Halloween candy prices in 2026 and 2025 across 10 products. Mondelez Sour Gummy Candy Variety Pack prices rose the most, by 39.1%, from $3.02 to $4.20. Hershey Seasonal Peanut Butter Cups rose 23.4%, from $6.67 to $8.23. Across all 10 products, average prices increased 15.3%. The Century Foundation and Groundwork Collaborative logos appear alongside a link to the full report at go.tcf.org/Halloween.

Candy corn decorates the top of a light blue background. Large purple text states that 40% of parents with children under 18 plan to take on debt to cover Halloween costs this year. A highlighted message reads, “Families shouldn’t have to go into debt just to celebrate Halloween.” The Century Foundation and Groundwork Collaborative logos appear alongside a link to the full report at go.tcf.org/Halloween.

ALT Candy corn decorates the top of a light blue background. Large purple text states that 40% of parents with children under 18 plan to take on debt to cover Halloween costs this year. A highlighted message reads, “Families shouldn’t have to go into debt just to celebrate Halloween.” The Century Foundation and Groundwork Collaborative logos appear alongside a link to the full report at go.tcf.org/Halloween.

Infographic showing price increases for Halloween candy, including a 23% rise for peanut butter cups, 39% for sour gummy candy, and 19% for chocolate variety packs.

ALT Infographic showing price increases for Halloween candy, including a 23% rise for peanut butter cups, 39% for sour gummy candy, and 19% for chocolate variety packs.

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The scariest thing Americans face this Halloween won’t be a haunted house, but the price tags in the candy aisle. 🚨NEW: We and @TCFdotorg found Halloween candy prices are up 15.3% – a staggering 4x overall inflation.
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Our full report 👇 groundworkcollaborative.org/…

Halloween Candy Prices Up 15%, Giving American Families a Jump Scare - Groundwork Collaborative

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We have compiled a decade’s worth of Walmart patents that spell out their new pricing technology. The proof is at the patent office: Walmart is building the tech they could use to set personalized prices. groundworkcollaborative.org/…

The Walmart Watchtower: Patents Speak Louder Than Pledges - Groundwork Collaborative

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Groundwork Collaborative retweeted
Breyon Williams
@BreyonWilliamsOct 19
Great sitting down with @wusa9 on behalf of @Groundwork to talk rising inflation, the Iran war, and tariffs, and what it all means for working families already stretched thin.
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Prices are up & wages are down. Little wonder, then, that measures of consumer sentiment have worsened. “The thing that people want more than anything, more than economic opportunity or economic growth, they want economic stability,” @ENPancotti told @bencasselman. nytimes.com/2026/10/18/busin…

3 Charts That Explain the Economy as Voters Head to the Polls

Inflation is high, consumer spending is strong and seemingly everything depends on what happens with artificial intelligence.

nytimes.com
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Americans were furious about their living costs before AI. Now, they’re contending with a technology that may lead to transformational economic change. “People really crave stability. They do not like change. And prices are going up & up & up & up,” @AlexSJacquez told @politico. politico.com/newsletters/dec…

Big Tech’s elephant in the room

An exclusive new poll looked at voters' views of the biggest names in tech, from Elon Musk and Sam Altman to Dario Amodei.

politico.com
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It should not be on consumers to dodge and weave corporations' deceptive pricing practices. But it is time for to update our rules for an age of e-commerce, agentic commerce, and shopping that is increasingly assisted by AI, @owenslindsay1 writes for @CNBC. cnbc.com/make-it/2026/10/15/…

How to get the best prices online—and fight back against companies that experiment on shoppers

Groundwork Collaborative president and CEO and "Gouged" author Lindsay Owens shares her top tips for finding fairer and better prices online.

cnbc.com
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