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Reposted by Brian Callaci

Jim Kane @kanejim.bsky.social · 9d

If you're trying to make sense of BlackRock's recent buying spree, we have a deep dive into the firm's operations and where it's likely headed.

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · 21h

Truly the singular genius of the past 25 years of popular music. Time has never been the same.

Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 21h

A painful, profound loss for the world.

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 1d

Yeah the nice thing about Columbus is he neatly sidesteps debates about historical relativism by just being bad relative to every time. Superbad, but in the analytic philosophy way not the cool way.

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Dangit @dangbeetle.bsky.social · 1d

Now that’s what I call cover art

Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Sep 11

Crassly dipping my toe onto this platform with self-promotion: My book, Chains of Command: The Rise and Cruel Reign of the Franchise Economy now has a beautiful cover, and a release date: April 20th. So you'll have something to enjoy with your 4/20 Taco Bell order! bookshop.org/p/books/chai...

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · 1d

Melville's repeated info-dumping of WHALE AND WHALING FACTS into the narrative is like the best part of Moby Dick.

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 2d

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

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Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 2d

“Win every election” is not a viable strategy for preventing authoritarianism

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Sep 11

With franchisees bearing the costs of higher sectoral wages in California, and franchisors continuing to refuse to accept responsibility for business and labor conditions they control, the franchisor-franchisee coalition is under pressure.

What happens next, who knows?

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Sep 11

Fast food workers threatened this alliance with the Fight for $15, which sought to hold franchisors responsible for low wages. Recently, workers won the creation of a franchisor-franchisee-labor sectoral council to govern wages and working conditions in fast food in California.

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Sep 11

With franchisee livelihoods depending on low wages and labor discipline, many franchisees ultimately accepted franchisors' invitation to join the big business/small business coalition against workers that became one of the hallmarks of the neoliberal era.

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Sep 11

Since franchisors control nearly all variables influencing franchisee profitability *except* labor costs, franchising is tailor made for disciplining a low-wage, high-turnover workforce. In short, the business model forces small business owners to ruthlessly squeeze labor.

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Sep 11

Consolidating their gains post-1980, franchisors not only won the right to dominate small business franchisees, they also managed to defuse franchisee rebellion as well: by turning franchisee anger against corporate control into rage against a common enemy: low-wage workers.

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Sep 11

However, better resourced and organized franchisors won. In victory, they created a degraded version of small business ownership in which would-be entrepreneurs supplied intense labor effort under the thumb of corporations, exercising little independent initiative or dynamism.

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Sep 11

The book is also about the transformation of entrepreneurship. For decades, small business franchisees fought against control by distant corporate interests, invoking antimonopoly symbols and rhetoric long after Richard Hofstader declared the antimonopoly movement dead.

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Sep 11

Thus, franchising's revolution in antitrust helped created the "fissured workplace."

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Sep 11

On one hand, franchisors fought to overturn antitrust precedents preventing big business from dominating and controlling small business owners. On the other, they fought to prevent control from creating the employment and liability relationships that normally accompanied control

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Sep 11

It's about the big business of small business: how the legal entrepreneurs who invented franchising engaged in a decades-long campaign of lobbying and litigation to transform the meaning of business ownership and employment, pioneering the tactics now standard in the gig economy.

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Sep 11

Crassly dipping my toe onto this platform with self-promotion: My book, Chains of Command: The Rise and Cruel Reign of the Franchise Economy now has a beautiful cover, and a release date: April 20th. So you'll have something to enjoy with your 4/20 Taco Bell order! bookshop.org/p/books/chai...

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Sep 11

I am very grateful to the artist!

Reposted by Brian Callaci

Lenore Palladino @lenorepalladino.bsky.social · Sep 10

pre-order @briancallaci.bsky.social's book!

I am jealous of how good this cover is

bookshop.org/p/books/chai...

Chains of Command: The Rise and Cruel Reign of the Franchise Economy

The Rise and Cruel Reign of the Franchise Economy

bookshop.org

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Brian Callaci @briancallaci.bsky.social · Apr 10

This will serve as my first Bluesky post

Jim Kane @kanejim.bsky.social · Apr 9

Hopefully @briancallaci.bsky.social doesn't mind me dragging this over from the other site.

Brian Callaci
@brian_callaci
I have never seen Marxist guys so happy. So many finance things to explain, crises to interpret
10:15 AM · Apr 9, 2025

https://x.com/brian_callaci/status/1909973558928801882?s=46

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Frederick Guy @frederickdguy.bsky.social · Apr 3

frederickguy.com/2025/04/03/e...

Europe should hit Trump right in the platform

As a business deal, Trump’s tariffs seem to make sense for Trump and Trump only: Trump, the shake-down artist. As many have pointed out, what the President gets out of this is a queue of CEOs…

frederickguy.com

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Reposted by Brian Callaci

Erik Baker @erikmbaker.bsky.social · Apr 3

Revealed preferences theory suggests that Wall Street executives value their ability to call their subordinates gay at approximately 8 trillion dollars

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John Carl Baker @johncarlbaker.bsky.social · Apr 2

The executive of the modern state is nothing but a committee for screwing up the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie.

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