What’s in This Week’s Issue…

Good morning. Every time you pay your taxes, you’re told it’s for the greater good: to fund healthcare, schools, and programs like SNAP that help low-income families access nutritious food.

But what if a huge chunk of those benefits isn’t making people healthier? What if, instead, it’s fueling one of the biggest public health crises of our time?

So this week…

• 🏆 The Big Play: Why Big Soda is fighting a $25 billion battle against public health

• 💪 The Power Move: How Big Industries protect their profits at your expense

• 💵 Follow the Money: Luigi Mangione to get the death penalty?

-GEN

🏆 The Big Play

The biggest money power story of the week.

How Big Soda Exploits the SNAP System (and thrives off your tax dollars)

SNAP, formerly food stamps, was designed to help low-income folks buy essentials like milk, bread, and vegetables.

But there’s a loophole: SNAP benefits can buy almost anything edible…including sugary drinks. And that loophole has created a system where taxpayer dollars are bankrolling obesity and chronic disease while also filling the pockets of Big Soda.

Big Soda is hellbent on protecting this billion-dollar pipeline, and it’s not just relying on old-school lobbying. They’re also now using a PR firm called Influenceable to throw millions at influencer campaigns to shift public opinion

Here’s how they are doing it:

1. The SNAP Sweet Spot

A recent study found that SNAP recipients spend about 9% of their grocery spending on sugar drinks:

• That is more than $10.5 billion in direct SNAP benefits to the soda industry each year.

• Most of that money ends up in the pockets of Big Soda companies like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Dr. Pepper.

So, when the new Health Secretary, RFK Jr., suggested banning sugary drinks from SNAP, Big Soda countered by unleashing a sophisticated campaign using right-wing social media influencers.

2. Big Soda’s Influence Army (and How They Fight Back)

Big Soda isn’t just lobbying Congress. They’re funding a full-blown digital influence campaign:

• Recent reports reveal that soda companies have been paying right-wing voices up to $1,000 per post to argue that banning soda from SNAP is government overreach.

• These coordinated paid posts even invoke Trump’s Diet Coke habit to muddy the reform debate and protect Big Soda’s billion-dollar revenue stream.

• They argue that banning soda would be “discriminatory” and would hurt low-income families by limiting their choices.

• Soda companies also fund studies downplaying the health risks of sugary drinks.

And so far, it’s working. Lawmakers have been hesitant to challenge the industry’s grip on SNAP.

But that hesitation comes at a great cost: Your Health.

3. The Real Cost: A Public Health Crisis

The impact of SNAP-funded sugary drinks is devastating:

• Low-income communities are already facing increased rates of obesity, diabetes, and other diet-related diseases.

• Kids on SNAP grow up consuming more sugar drinks than their peers, leading to lifelong health risks such as tooth decay, weight gain, and chronic diseases.

• The medical costs of diet-related illnesses have already skyrocketed past $1 trillion annually.

SNAP was meant to fight hunger, but in reality, it’s feeding a public health epidemic.

So, is Big Soda’s multi-billion dollar run finally coming to an end?

Likely not, because they know how to use a repeated playbook…that works.

💪 The Power Moves

Playbook for understanding the game of power.

How Industries Protect Their Profits At Your Expense

Every time a reform is proposed, you see the same thing happen: lobbyists mobilize, digital influence campaigns flood social media, and the media is flooded with “alternative facts“ designed to reframe the narrative.

This isn’t unique to Big Soda — it’s the same tactic used by Big Tobacco, Big Pharma, and Big Oil.

Industries that rely on mass consumer spending don’t just sit back when their profits are threatened. They fight back using a well-established playbook:

• Lobbying and legislation warfare

• Median manipulation

• Narrative Control

Ultimately, the question isn’t just about soda. It’s about whether we can reclaim public trust when industries manipulate policy debates to protect their profits.

💵 Following the Money

Three of the wildest financial and corruption stories from around the world.

#1 - Bondi orders death penalty in Luigi Mangione case, calls CEO shooting ‘assassination’

#2 - $40 million to jail about 400 migrants: Senators touring Guantanamo Bay lambast Overspending

#3 - ‘The end of soup on van Goghs’: Just Stop Oil to halt its climate protests

✨ Poll time!

I put together a 2-minute survey to learn more about what you care about most. Your answers will directly shape the content I create with this newsletter so that you get more of what YOU need and less of what doesn’t serve you right.

Please take the survey now and help shape this newsletter! 👇

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