You’ve been hearing a lot about immigrants and undocumented workers lately — and all of it is a pack of lies. A great champion of immigrant worker rights throughout her entire career, former Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su, is here to correct the record.

JULIE: Immigrant workers are nothing like the villains Trump is making them out to be.

The exploitation they face on the job is sadly nothing new. 

In 1995, I was the lead attorney in a landmark case brought by over 70 Thai garment workers who’d been trafficked to the U.S. and forced to work behind barbed wire and under armed guard. These workers, the majority of them women, were lured from Thailand with the promise of a good job, but were forced to sew clothing in a sweatshop for 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, for pennies. They worked under the constant threat that if discovered, they would be the ones who would be punished — not their captors. 

But instead of further punishing the workers, we punished the companies. By supporting the workers’ own power to exercise their rights, we sued those who profited from their labor and won millions of dollars in unpaid wages. We fought against their deportation. We sent a message that immigrant workers could demand corporate accountability.

These garment workers wanted to escape poverty, support their families, and contribute to a new country they called home — just  like so many others who come to the United States seeking opportunity today.

Do these people sound like the “worst of the worst” to you?

Immigrant workers help raise our children, care for our sick and elderly, wash our cars, serve food in restaurants, harvest our produce, and sort and deliver our packages. They are indispensable to their communities and the economies that depend on their labor.

But instead of being valued, some greedy corporations use these workers’ immigration status — both undocumented and documented — to terrorize them into keeping silent about workplace abuses.

“If you report me, I’ll report you,” is one of the most common threats that immigrant workers hear from employers who abuse and exploit them. As a result, they face more abuse and difficulty getting justice.

One of the most common abuses workers face is bosses stealing their pay. More money is stolen from low-wage workers in wage theft a year than the total cost of all other property crimes combined — and the problem is more prevalent in U.S. industries with more immigrant workers.

This abuse can be a matter of life and death. Immigrants are more likely to work in dangerous industries like construction and agriculture. In 2023, Latino immigrant workers were twice as likely to die on the job than U.S.-born workers.

Immigrant women workers in particular face high rates of sexual harassment and violence. One study found that a staggering 80 percent of Mexican and Mexican-American female farmworkers in the U.S. have experienced sexual harassment at work — and many are threatened with deportation if they report the abuse.

And under Trump, immigrant workers have endured relentless racial targeting. Trump’s deportation machine has abducted thousands of workers of color on the way to work or at their job site. They’ve been thrown into detention centers and some have been illegally deported to countries they have never even been to. 

This is not just about vilifying immigrants. Trump has also used lies about immigrants to fuel attacks on all communities of color — including on many U.S. citizens.  

No worker is safe when anyone can be targeted.

So what can we do to protect immigrant workers?

First, stop the raids. 

They are making workplaces less safe and tearing workers, families, and communities apart.

Second, hold corporations responsible for labor law violations

Workers deserve real protections. Breaking labor laws can’t just be a cost of doing business. Government is supposed to enforce the law, not aid and abet corporations in breaking them.

Third, immigrant workers must be protected from retaliation and deportation when they speak up. 

When I was Acting Labor Secretary in the Biden administration, we expanded Deferred Action for Labor Enforcement, or DALE. This protected immigrant workers involved in labor investigations by granting them a work permit and temporary protection from deportation when they came forward to report abuse. Programs like DALE should be expanded, not eliminated, so bad actors can be held accountable.

Fourth, workers need real power on the job.

That’s what unions and worker centers do. It’s still too hard to form a union in this country, and now Trump’s corporate-backed war on workers has made it even more difficult. Immigrants have powered the labor movement for over a century, and we need to remove the barriers that keep workers from successfully organizing.

Fifth, enforce anti-monopoly laws.

Part of making sure workers have real power is curbing corporate power. When corporations have too much power, they can suppress wages and impose harsh working conditions across entire industries.  

Enforcing anti-monopoly laws gives all workers — immigrant and American-born alike — a fairer shot. 

Sixth, and finally, we need a clear, attainable pathway to citizenship. 

Undocumented immigrants are forced into the shadows and called freeloaders. But they pay billions in taxes every year while being ineligible for benefits like Medicaid, Social Security, and unemployment insurance. They deserve to reap the benefits of the backbreaking labor they pour into our communities.

Let me be clear: attacking immigrant workers doesn’t help American-born workers. Corporations pit these workers against each other so they can drive down wages for both groups and make the workplace less safe for all workers. Protecting vulnerable workers improves standards and safety for everyone — no matter where they were born.

So don’t believe the lies you hear about immigrant and undocumented workers. The real villains are the greedy corporations that want workers fighting one another while they rake in record profits at workers’ expense.

We must not succumb to this administration’s scapegoating immigrant workers for the problems caused by powerful corporations.

We are always strongest when we stand together.

“Take me out to the ballgame…” 

…If you can afford it.

Sporting events bring us together. But nowadays, a trip to the big game is out of reach for many Americans.

That’s because sports are a big business — and most teams are owned by billionaires or investment groups that want to squeeze as much profit out of fans as possible. 

Ticket prices alone have skyrocketed in recent years. But the price gouging doesn’t end there.

When you’re at the game to watch your favorite team, you’re a captive customer who can’t leave the stadium or bring in outside food. So teams know they can charge you an arm and a leg on concessions — sometimes double or triple what you’d spend across the street at a restaurant or grocery store for the same item.

When you add everything up — it costs the average family of four a fortune to attend a single game. Who can afford that?

But here’s the kicker, you’ve already paid most of these billionaire team owners with your tax dollars. 

In the last few decades, professional sports teams have raked in over $30 billion dollars in public funds to help build major league arenas. Sports teams and their billionaire owners have taken advantage of all sorts of sweetheart land deals, property tax breaks, and other public funding. I’ve got a whole video about the sports stadium scam you can watch later. 

It’s bad enough that we’re subsidizing extremely profitable sports teams with our tax dollars, but we’re letting them charge us $17 for a beer and $11 for a damn hotdog? 

There’s a way to tackle this. 

States and cities should pass what are known as “street pricing” laws for any stadium or venue that receives public funding from taxpayers.

This would require that stadium food and drink be sold at prices comparable to nearby bars or restaurants outside the stadiums. Street pricing is already being used effectively at some airports across the country.

Look, sports teams that are getting big taxpayer subsidies for their stadiums shouldn’t be allowed to just rip off the public. 

Not at the concession stand.

And not at the box office either. 

If sports teams are getting public money, they have a public responsibility to make tickets affordable. 

That way you can actually…TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME. 

Has Trump kept his campaign promises?

Let’s see how Trump did at keeping 10 of his biggest campaign promises during his first year in office. 

Promise # 1 Trump said tariffs would unleash a “New Golden Age” and revive American jobs.

TRUMP MONTAGE: A new golden age.

Not so fast.

Tariffs were a cornerstone of his re-election campaign. He wouldn’t stop talking about them.

TRUMP: The most beautiful word in the dictionary to me is “tariff.”

You know what’s not so beautiful? How Trump’s tariffs hurt the job market. 

The unemployment rate hit a four year high during Trump’s first year back in the White House. So did the number of job cuts announced by corporate America. That’s because Trump’s chaotic tariffs created uncertainty in the economy, which resulted in more layoffs and less hiring. 

Trump said his tariffs would bring back manufacturing…

TRUMP: America will be a manufacturing nation once again.

But the U.S. actually lost thousands of manufacturing jobs while manufacturing activity slumped. That’s because Trump’s tariffs made it more expensive for U.S. manufacturers to source materials and machines from abroad needed to produce goods in America. 

But Trump’s tariffs didn’t just raise prices for American manufacturers, they raised the price of…just about everything. Which leads me to…

Promise #2 Trump said he would lower grocery prices…

TRUMP: A vote for Trump means your groceries will be cheaper.

Actually, grocery prices have gone up almost every month that Trump’s been back in office. And Trump’s tariffs are a big reason why, simply because America imports a huge chunk of its food supply. 

It’s not just tariffs on imported food that drove up grocery prices. Trump’s cruel mass deportations are causing a shortage of farm workers and meat packers, which has also contributed to soaring food prices. 

But Trump’s promises to lower costs didn’t end there…

Promise #3 Trump said he would lower your energy bill.

TRUMP: I’m going to cut your energy prices in half.

Go ahead and check your electric bill. Electricity costs in 2025 rose by an average of 11% nationwide — three times the rate of inflation. One of the reasons is Trump’s vendetta against renewable energy.

TRUMP: We don't allow windmills, and we don't want the solar panels.

By reducing America’s supply of cheaper, clean energy, Trump is driving up energy prices — and doing a favor for his Big Oil backers.

Trump is worsening energy affordability by boosting the construction of power-hungry AI data centers — which are putting a strain on electric grids across the country and driving up household electricity costs.

While construction of AI data centers exploded, construction in other areas did not…

Promise #4 Trump said he would lower housing costs

TRUMP: We will eliminate regulations that drive up housing costs with the goal of cutting the cost of a new home in half.

Home prices are rising, and rent is growing faster than inflation. One big reason is that Trump has done nothing to increase the supply of affordable housing. 

Instead, he’s pushing the idea of a 50-year mortgage, which will saddle homeowners with gargantuan interest payments. He’s creating a construction labor shortage with his cruel ICE abductions. And his tariffs are driving up the price of homebuilding materials. Meanwhile, his administration has cut billions of dollars from housing for the homeless. 

Moving on…

Promise #5 Trump said he would…

TRUMP: MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN

Yes, Trump celebrated getting Coca-Cola and other food corporations to replace some artificial ingredients and food colorings…

But you know what else Trump is doing?

Making devastating cuts to health care — you know, the thing that actually helps us stay healthy! 

Trump and Republicans' big ugly bill will kick millions of people off their health insurance. Trump also allowed Affordable Care Act subsidies to expire, sending insurance premiums soaring for millions of Americans by an average of more than $1000 per year — some by as much as $48,000!

It somehow gets worse. Trump’s EPA rolled back dozens of environmental regulations that protect our air and water, while also approving new “forever chemical” pesticides — which have been linked to cancer and birth defects. 

And his fanatical HHS Secretary, RFK Jr., dismantled federal health agencies and cut their funding. He falsely linked autism to vaccinations — and made it more difficult to access vaccines. He gave America measles again. 

He also fired civil servants who inspect our food, track infectious diseases, and research life-saving medications.

How will this make America healthy again?

Promise #6 

Trump said he would bring… 

TRUMP: …peace throughout the world.

In fact, Trump increased military spending to record levels, sold out Ukraine to Putin, bombed Iran without approval from Congress, and launched deadly air strikes on fishing boats in the Caribbean.

In fact, Trump increased military spending to record levels, sold out Ukraine to Putin, bombed Iran and kidnapped Venezuela's president without approval from Congress, and launched deadly air strikes on fishing boats in the Caribbean.

TRUMP: I don't think we're going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war. I think we're just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. We’re going to kill them.

Of course Trump hasn’t presented evidence that the people he’s killing in the Caribbean have anything to do with drug smuggling. And even if they did, the technical term for imposing the death penalty without a trial or any due process is…“murder.”

And sure, the ceasefire Trump helped negotiate between Israel and Hamas made headlines. But he’s been silent in the months since, as hundreds of Palestinians, including many children, have been killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza.

Promise #7 Trump said he would only deport criminals…

TRUMP: We will remove all criminal aliens immediately. All of the criminals, we start with that.

But the vast majority of people abducted by ICE have no criminal records. 

Besides, repeated studies show immigrants are more likely to be law-abiding than U.S.-born citizens. 

And more than 170 of the people ICE arrested and imprisoned were U.S. citizens. At least three children who are U.S. citizens were deported. One of them was a four-year-old undergoing cancer treatment!

This will continue to worsen now that Trump has boosted ICE’s budget, making it the largest federal law enforcement agency in the country.

Promise #8 Trump said he would end the weaponization of the U.S. government…

TRUMP: The vicious, violent, and unfair weaponization of the Justice Department and our government will end.

Far from it. 

Trump weaponized the Department of Justice to a degree that would make even Richard Nixon shudder. Trump installed his personal lawyer as the Attorney General and pushed out prosecutors who refused to oversee sham prosecutions of his political enemies. 

Meanwhile, he doled out pardons to January 6th rioters, political cronies, the drug trafficking ex-president of Honduras, and a crypto kingpin who helped enrich Trump’s own family crypto business. I made a whole video about this, which you can watch later.

[BOB: It’s a wonderful time to be a criminal, if you cozy up to Donald Trump that is] 

Trump also attacked our First Amendment freedoms and the freedom of the press. He’s had protestors arrested and threatened with deportation for speaking out against him. He’s threatened to sic the Federal Communications Commission against late night comedians and anyone in the press who criticizes him.

[TRUMP: Maybe we should be taking away their licenses…]

If this isn’t weaponizing the government, I don’t know what is.

Promise #9

Trump said he would make government more efficient and pay down the debt

TRUMP: We’re gonna pay down our national debt.

Nope.

Even though Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency laid off thousands of federal workers and cut billions in funding for vital programs, the national debt exploded during Trump’s first year back. His Big Ugly Bill will add another $3.4 trillion to it.

But hey — give Trump some credit. There’s ONE promise he kept!

Promise #10

TRUMP: You’re rich as hell! // We’re going to give you tax cuts.

Aha! Under the Big Ugly Bill, each of the richest 1% of Americans is getting a tax cut of more than $66,000 a year — for the next ten years! 

And cuts to the Estate Tax mean that America’s richest nepo-babies will pocket an extra $212 billion of inherited wealth over the next decade.

Once you factor in some of the other giveaways to the rich in the bill, America’s wealthiest will end up with an extra $2 trillion in tax cuts over the next decade — money that otherwise could be invested in health care, education, cancer research, making child care affordable, or feeding hungry kids.

Of course there were lots of other promises. He even claims…

TRUMP: I’m the only politician in history that I’ve actually kept more promises than I’ve made.

I couldn’t even begin to tell you what that means. 

But I can tell you he also promised to close tax loopholes for private equity investors, expand in vitro fertilization, root out corruption and — release ALL the Epstein files. Will he follow through? 

I won’t hold my breath. 

Are there promises I missed that you think should have been in the top 10? Let us all know in the comments.

Is the AI bubble about to pop? 

Some financial analysts think so…

AI is worrisome enough already — its insatiable thirst for energy and water, its capacities to replace humans on the job, its potential to destroy the planet over the long run. But my immediate concern is how the flood of money into the opaque AI industry has inflated the U.S. stock market and, indirectly, the U.S. economy. 

What happens if the bubble bursts?

Remember the housing bubble of 2008 that resulted in millions of foreclosures and a recession? What about the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s that wiped out almost 200,000 jobs and trillions of dollars in wealth? Or the stock market bubble that exploded into the Great Depression that lasted for a decade?

These economic bubbles followed a well-worn pattern…

An asset generates excitement among investors because its value starts rising — not because it’s inherently valuable or profitable, but mainly because other investors are buying it. 

As more and more investors borrow piles of cash to get in on the action, the bubble grows. But when it becomes evident that way too much has been invested relative to the potential for profits, the bubble bursts. 

It’s often the case that the biggest investors, with inside information, notice the bubble and cash out before it bursts. Everyone else is left with near-worthless pieces of paper. If the entire economy is threatened, governments have to bail out the remaining players to avoid even more widespread destruction.

AI has many of the characteristics of a bubble.

Market valuations of the industry’s major players have soared in recent years. Some of this rise in value is on the basis of legitimate hope that AI will transform the world. But some of the rise is based on industry hype that, ironically, may itself be artificial.

Major AI companies have been pumping up their own value by doing trillions of dollars worth of deals with each other — helping the bubble get bigger by generating more hype and luring in more investment. 

But according to an MIT report, 95 percent of companies that have adopted AI tools aren’t yet seeing any financial returns from them. And some of AI’s biggest companies, like OpenAI, are losing billions of dollars every year. Others, like Oracle, are taking on more and more debt to fund their AI development.

How big can a bubble get? Even Jeff Bezos admits there’s a lot of hot air…

“When people get very excited, as they are today, about artificial intelligence, for example ... every experiment gets funded, every company gets funded. The good ideas and the bad ideas. And investors have a hard time in the middle of this excitement, distinguishing between the good ideas and bad ideas.”

Investors sorting out good and bad ideas wouldn’t be as much of a problem if AI weren’t completely taking over the entire U.S. economy. 

Since 2022, shares of stock surrounding AI and its data centers have accounted for an estimated 75 percent of the returns to America’s biggest corporations and 80 percent of earnings growth. The seven biggest technology companies tied to AI are disproportionately propping up the entire U.S. stock market. 

And by one estimate, investments in AI data centers and other infrastructure have accounted for 92 percent of U.S. GDP growth in 2025. All of this growth has, of course, minted new billionaires and made other Big Tech titans even more wealthy. But what about everyone else?

One way or another, you and I are footing some of the bill surrounding AI development. Thirty-seven states have passed legislation granting hundreds of millions of dollars in tax exemptions for the building of data centers. Electricity bills are rising to power AI. Communities are seeing their water sources depleted. Data centers do create some jobs, but many are temporary — and don’t amount to nearly as many jobs as the ones that could be lost. 

This AI bubble keeps getting pumped bigger and bigger while the rest of the economy, you know, the real economy that we actually live in, is gasping for air. Trump’s tariffs are sending prices skyrocketing. Housing and healthcare are out of reach for too many. And the job market is slowing to a halt.  

Which giant corporations or ultra-wealthy investors strike it big — and which lose their shirts — because of an AI bubble is beside the point. 

I worry about the working families whose struggles don’t make the headlines, like AI stocks breaking record after record. 

I worry about the people who are barely scraping by as AI hype masks an economy that is really only working for the super-rich.

I worry about all of the people who could lose their jobs and savings if the AI bubble bursts — possibly causing another massive recession and leading to yet another massive government bailout at taxpayer’s expense.

This isn’t meant to alarm you. But you need to understand the warning signs.

The future of AI is not inevitable — we still have time to shape it.

We can let Big Tech innovate, but we can’t let it dictate the future — or put our entire economy in jeopardy. 

And if the AI bubble bursts, we simply cannot bail out Big Tech and keep inflating its bottom line.

The most dangerous corporation in America is one you may not have heard of. 

It’s called Palantir Technologies, a Silicon Valley tech company that may put your most basic freedoms at risk.

Palantir gets its name from a device used in The Lord of the Rings. If this weren’t such a serious subject, I’d spend the whole video making funny Lord of the Rings references…

BOB: You shall not pass!

… but I won’t do that because there’s nothing funny about the real dangers of Palantir.

Think about this — What do AI, the US Military, domestic surveillance, and the tech broligarchy all have in common? 

Palantir — co-founded by far-right billionaire Peter Thiel and its current CEO, Alex Karp.

TRUMP: We buy a lot of things from Palantir

In JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, a “palantir” is a seeing stone — something like a crystal ball — that can be used to spy on people and distort the truth. During the War of the Ring, a palantir falls under the control of the evil Sauron, who uses it to manipulate and deceive.

Palantir Technologies bears a striking similarity. 

It sells AI-based data platforms that let their clients, including governments, militaries, and law enforcement agencies, quickly process and analyze massive amounts of your personal data. 

Whether it’s social media profiles, bank account records, tax history, medical history, or driving records, the tools that Palantir sells are used to help clients identify and monitor individuals — like you. 

Why should this matter to you? Well, billions of your tax dollars are going to Palantir, and what Palantir is working on could be used against you.

ALEX KARP: Palantir is here to disrupt and make the institutions we partner with the very best in the world and, when it’s necessary, to scare enemies and on occasion kill them.

Early in his current term, Trump signed an executive order requiring government agencies to consolidate all of their information about you into one giant database — something that has never been done before. To help process this massive amount of information, Trump chose Palantir.

Trump claims this is about “efficiency.” But as one Silicon Valley investor described it, Palantir is “building the infrastructure of the police state.”

Data privacy experts warn that when government data is pooled together, it can be used by a tyrant to intimidate or silence opposition. The possibilities for abuse are huge. One of Palantir’s major projects is a new immigrant surveillance system for ICE’s deportations. 

We’ve already seen Trump target people or organizations he considers enemies. Imagine if he could punish or deny services to individual Americans based on their political affiliation,  whether they’ve attended a protest, or even posted an unflattering picture of him online. 

Palantir could be giving Trump the power to do just this.

Palantir co-founder and Trump ally Peter Thiel has made no secret of his disdain for democracy, writing, “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.”

But when he speaks of “freedom,” he isn’t thinking about you. To him, “freedom” means that he and his fellow tech oligarchs get to do what they want, without consequences, while the rest of us live in an authoritarian police state.

It’s a match made in Mordor — Trump gets the infrastructure to go after his enemies. Thiel gets to end American democracy. 

And if Thiel’s anti-democratic sentiments weren’t terrifying enough, it also appears he isn’t sure if humans are all that great either.

Ross questions Thiel. “You would prefer the human race to endure? You’re hesitating. This is a long hesitation.”

The danger of Palantir’s AI-powered super database on all Americans is amplified by the vast wealth and power of those associated with it, and their apparent disdain for democratic institutions. 

To protect democracy and our individual freedoms, we need to elect leaders who will defend the public from corporations like Palantir — not partner with them. 

Tolkien’s Palantir fell under the control of Sauron. Thiel’s Palantir is falling under the control of Trump. 

How this story ends is up to all of us. Please, help spread the word by sharing this video.

Is your grocery store cheating you?

Imagine picking up an item on sale only to be charged full price at checkout. That's exactly what Consumer Reports says is happening at Kroger-owned stores across the country.

Kroger got caught repeatedly overcharging shoppers for items that were advertised for less. 

Here’s an example: Allison, a mom in Ohio, bought pizzas for her family because they were supposedly on sale. She got some minced garlic that was also on sale too. But she ended up getting charged 25% extra for the pizzas and 60% extra for the garlic. Apparently, the sale was over, but Kroger hadn’t updated the prices on the shelves.

This wasn’t a fluke. This happened so many times that Allison filed a complaint with Ohio’s attorney general. And she’s hardly alone. Hundreds of Kroger shoppers in at least half a dozen states have complained of deceptive pricing.

Consumer Reports, The Guardian, and the Food & Environment Reporting Network launched an undercover sting to find out how widespread the problem is. For three months, they sent secret shoppers to 26 Kroger stores in 14 states. 

On over 150 different items, they found big discounts advertised on the shelves, with only tiny print or store codes unclear to shoppers, revealing that the sales had ended days or even months earlier.

And that’s not the only way Kroger has overcharged its shoppers in recent years. Last year, Kroger executives admitted to using nationwide post-pandemic inflation as an excuse to raise its prices more than its costs were going up.

Kroger reported record sales and profits in 2024, all while nickel-and-diming shoppers like YOU. Meanwhile, it paid its CEO more than $15 million while also enriching Kroger shareholders with $7.5 billion in stock buybacks.

If this makes you want to shop somewhere else, that might be harder than you think. Kroger is the second largest grocer in America and operates 2,700 stores under at least a dozen different brand names. If you’re shopping at Harris Teeter, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, Mariano’s, or King Soopers, you’re really just shopping at Kroger. Investigators found the same pricing problem at all of them. 

Don’t shop at Kroger? Well, similar pricing shenanigans have recently been uncovered at other major grocery chains. Both Walmart and Albertsons had to shell out millions of dollars to settle lawsuits in which they were accused of unfairly overcharging customers. 

Now, Kroger, Walmart, and Albertsons all insist that these pricing snafus were an honest mistake. But the pattern resembles a bait-and-switch scam. And grocery prices are already high. Even small pricing discrepancies, over time, can put a strain on households that are barely scraping by.

Here’s the bigger problem. Together, these three corporations account for a whopping 57% of grocery sales in America. Their dominance of the grocery industry gives them an inordinate amount of pricing power. If shoppers are sneakily getting shafted at one store, it’s not so easy for them to just go shop at a competitor to get a fair deal…simply because there might not be any competitors.

It’s this near-monopolistic power that lets Kroger — and a handful of other grocery giants like Walmart and Albertsons — get away with these pricing scams. Minimal competition opens the door to maximal price-gouging — and maximal opportunity to rip off shoppers. 

This is why we need stronger antitrust enforcement to break up big corporations that dominate their industries.

We also need both state and federal regulators to crack down on these pricing abuses. 

You also have to be vigilant. The next time you head to the grocery store, be on the lookout for raw deals.