Revolving Door Project | RDP Work Round Up: Labor Day Edition

This newsletter was originally published on our Substack. Read and subscribe here.

Labor Day is just around the corner, marking the unofficial end to an incredibly eventful summer in politics. It’s basically the last chance for a little reprieve before we’re inundated with the endless punditry and forecasting that accompanies the lead-up to a presidential election. So, before looking forward to November, let’s take a look back at some great research and writing that my RDP colleagues produced throughout the summer. You’ll be forgiven if some of this slipped past you in the chaos of the past two months. Luckily, in true summer reading fashion, you still have one week to cram before summer ends on Labor Day. Enjoy!

Pushing Back On The Yglesias Take Factory

Speaking of endless punditry, we spent a bit of time this summer volunteering as Matt Yglesias’ unofficial fact checker. It’s unfortunate that Slow Boring can’t find room in their budget to hire one themselves, but we’re glad to do the work pro bono. Much of this fact checking came following Matt’s Bloomberg column calling for more business people in a potential Harris administration, and a Slow Boring piece “Bring Back the Revolving Door.” For obvious reasons, we felt the need to respond.

Our Henry Burke and Max Moran had a piece in The American Prospect dispelling the notion that we need more corporate influence in the executive branch and outlining our position on when and why private sector experience warrants increased scrutiny. Henry also corrected Matt’s claim that Biden’s administration “hasn’t included any businesspeople in the cabinet.” My colleague Kenny Stancil’s blog on Biden administration revolvers highlighted some of the negative policy consequences of placing revolvers in positions of power at the DOJ and Commerce Department. I had the pleasure of correcting the record after some unnamed, “good faith” critics told Matt that Lina Khan could not win cases, which Matt attributed to her lack of private sector experience. It’s just not true, and the FTC’s Director of Public Affairs shared my piece while letting Matt know that the FTC has won 90.3% of merger challenges.

Before taking Matt Yglesias at his word, keep an eye out for a Revolving Door Project fact check—we promise to set the record straight.

Revolving Door From FCC To Telecom Giants

If that’s not enough reading on the problems with the revolving door, see this blog from our intern Jacob Plaza unveiling the revolving door between the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the telecom giants that the agency is responsible for regulating. Brendan Carr, a current FCC member and former BigLaw lawyer specializing in defending telecom companies, recently drew the ire of Democrats for his involvement in Project 2025’s deregulatory plans for the industry. But Carr is far from the only revolver at fault: 7 recent FCC chairs and commissioners from both sides of the aisle have gone on to represent, lobby for, or sit on the boards of telecom companies.

On Price Gouging And Fealty To Orthodox Economists

Kamala Harris released a set of economic policy priorities and the pundits had a melt down. The criticisms sounded something like this: “Cracking down on illegal price gouging? That’s, like, communism!” If you think I’m exaggerating, Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell literally wrote an op-ed titled, “When your opponent calls you ‘communist,’ maybe don’t propose price controls?” Our Julian Scoffield set the record straight in our Hack Watch newsletter: Harris did not propose price controls, nor should we let a habitual liar like Trump dictate the terms of a debate in the first place.

When the New York Times covered the proposal, they presented the policy debate as a false dichotomy between what progressives say and what economists say. Our Dylan Gyuach-Lewis broke down how this inaccurate portrayal misleads NYT readers—the progressive groups in question often include economists! The Times, however, takes centrist economists like Jason Furman at their word but does not acknowledge dissenting opinions from left-leaning economists like Isabella Weber.

Wall Street Should Not Get Regulatory Veto Power

Fed Chair Jerome Powell continues to be a disaster. At the end of July, he once again refused to cut interest rates despite falling inflation and rising unemployment. (Powell recently signaled that the Fed will finally cut rates in September, but we’ll hold the applause until we see the cuts—and future cuts cannot undo the damage Powell has done to the cause of green investment and the price of housing and credits.)

Apart from his insistence on high rates, Powell has remained headstrong in his opposition to Basel III, a regulatory proposal to increase capital requirements for the biggest banks. Our Kenny Stancil wrote in The Sling about Powell’s absurd prerequisites for moving the proposal forward, from seemingly wanting a unanimous vote from the Fed’s board of governors to needing “broad support” from interests on all sides of the debate. As Kenny explains, this is merely a demand that Wall Street gets a say in the formulation of the regulatory framework.

In 2021, we warned against Powell’s renomination given Powell’s private equity background and antagonism towards financial regulation. Unfortunately, we’ve been fully vindicated.

A Harris DOJ Could Mean More Climate Accountability

Despite passing landmark climate legislation, the Biden administration has had a lackluster prosecutorial record towards the corporate powers responsible for destroying the environment in the first place. Hopefully, a Kamala Harris presidency could see a culture shift at the Department of Justice. My colleague Hannah Story Brown wrote in The American Prospect on Harris’ climate record as California’s attorney general. Harris was a fairly energetic prosecutor on environmental issues, bringing lawsuits against polluters for corporate negligence, improper storage of hazardous materials, greenwashing in advertising, and a landmark victory against Volkswagen for installing cheating devices in their vehicles to conceal illegal emission levels. If Harris wins the presidency, we hope she’ll build on that record and change course from Attorney General Merrick Garland’s timid approach to polluter accountability.

Follow the Revolving Door Project’s work on whatever platform works for you! You can find us on that website formerly known as Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram, and Facebook.