Our Blog
April 11, 2023
Progressive Groups Urge President Biden Not To Rush To Fill Republican FTC Vacancies
Demand Progress and the Revolving Door Project sent a letter to President Biden reminding him that neither the White House nor Senate Democrats “should feel compelled to expedite the nomination and/or confirmation of Republicans to independent agencies” particularly while Democratic nominees remain languishing in the Senate due to years of Senate Republicans’ malfeasance.
April 10, 2023 | The American Prospect
If The Law Is Legitimate, Clarence Thomas Must Stand Trial
There is no reasonable ambiguity about this. If the ProPublica reporting is accurate, Thomas has knowingly and brazenly violated federal ethics law for decades.
April 10, 2023
The Larry Summers-Linked Fintech Firm That Bought A Bank
By doing so, Jiko became one of the, if not the, first fintech company to buy a national bank.
April 07, 2023
Campus Activists Fight Back Against Academic Reputation-Laundering
April 06, 2023
We Have Always Been Right About Jerome Powell
Despite years of our best advice, and indeed the better judgments of Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other progressives in Congress, government watchdogs like Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) and others, nearly one year ago President Joe Biden disappointed his responsibility to the public and to his own economic agenda by renominating Donald Trump’s hand picked head of the Fed: Jerome Powell. Biden bafflingly stuck by Powell despite his years of betraying labor unions, environmental groups and frontline communities, and the middle class. As a result, broad coalitions of folks concerned about the climate crisis, about the long term safety and stability of our financial system, about attacks on labor and the working class, about housing insecurity and the long term impacts of the pandemic, mobilized against Powell’s renomination because his storied track record of, well, making each of these things (and more!) worse.
April 06, 2023
House Should Impeach, Durbin Must Investigate Justice Thomas For Ethics Violations
No one can reasonably retain a shred of benefit of the doubt in the face of this evidence.
April 05, 2023 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter
Dylan Gyauch-Lewis Hannah Story Brown
Department of JusticeDepartment of TransportationFinancial RegulationGovernanceIndependent AgenciesRevolving Door
Several Flavors of Regulatory Failures
Until the Biden administration learns that they need to draw a sharp contrast with their predecessors and, generally, do a full 180, they will keep getting egg on their faces. And when the blame genuinely belongs to both the Trump and Biden administrations, warranted criticism of disastrous Republican deregulation is undermined.
April 03, 2023 | The American Prospect
The Chickenshit Club, Climate Edition
If we at the Revolving Door Project could exhort the Biden administration to do anything, it would be this: Choose the right enemies—rich, powerful corporations that harm the public, most often with impunity. Sometimes you will lose, but that doesn’t mean you should forfeit the fight. And getting caught trying can inspire the public to rally around a political party and its leaders.
March 31, 2023
As We Say Good Riddance, Which Corporate-Funded Entity Will Give Christine Wilson A Warm And Lucrative Welcome?
Today marks Christine Wilson’s final day as a Commissioner for the Federal Trade Commission. The question on the top of our minds: Will Wilson follow in the footsteps of her former colleague, and RDP’s 2022 “Revolver of the Year,” Noah Phillips, and move to a cushy BigLaw job defending corporations from antitrust enforcement?
March 31, 2023
Hack Watch: Steve Rattner, SVB, And Selective Expertise
A wealth manager with a history of breaking the rules should not be the authority on bank regulation.
March 27, 2023 | The American Prospect
The SVB Collapse Reveals the Class Bias in American Policymaking
When bankers blow their businesses up, it’s no-questions-asked bailout time. When student borrowers need relief, not so much.
March 25, 2023 | Common Dreams
Steven Rattner's Not Afraid Of Work From Home, He's Afraid Of Worker Power
American workers have just started getting the barest minimum of a few lucky breaks. But that is terrifying to Rattner and his fellow moguls, so they need some sort of rational argument for why these bare scraps of power are actually bad for everyone.
March 24, 2023
DOJ IN THE NEWS: Mid-March Trends
This is the latest installment of a new biweekly blog series from RDP. Every two weeks, we call out ongoing trends in media coverage of the Justice Department’s focus and priorities, giving context from our past DOJ oversight work as needed, with an eye to the impact of DOJ capacity and resources, as well as alignment with the Biden administration’s professed goals.
March 24, 2023
CNBC Airs Falsehoods And Parrots Landlord Lobbyists To Trash Rent Control
Corporate media continues to carry water for Big Real Estate by presenting industry-aligned talking heads as neutral “experts”.