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March 08, 2021
Attn John Kerry: Mark Gallogly Is Loyal To Profit, Not Climate
John Kerry, President Biden’s international “Climate Envoy”, appears to want bold climate change policy. Kerry was a leader in developing the framework for the first UN climate talks in 1992, co-authored cap-and-trade legislation back in 2009 when it could have possibly been useful, and was a major driver of the 2015 Paris Agreement.
February 11, 2021
The Industry Agenda: Fintech
Since fintech apps provide a wide range of financial services, there are many potential harms to leaving the industry largely under-regulated — especially since many fintech and cryptocurrency firms design their products to narrowly evade existing laws that define certain types of financial products, and thus, the regulations to which they are subject.
February 10, 2021
Barr's Current Fintech Ties Run Through Venture Capital Firm Of Former Finance Execs
Under-appreciated in the Michael Barr press blitz (again, including by us) is Barr’s current listed work as an advisor to the venture capital firm NYCA Partners, which exclusively invests in fintech startups.
February 04, 2021 | American Prospect
Dorothy Slater Max Moran Timi Iwayemi
2020 Election/TransitionClimateDepartment of JusticeFinancial RegulationFintech
Even After The Cabinet Selections, Personnel Is Policy
As grinding as the cabinet fights have been, they’re only the first wave of the Biden administration’s personnel. Now comes a new stage of the transition, in which the newly-named secretaries choose their own undersecretaries and senior advisers. Although occupants of these positions typically operate outside the national spotlight, they still wield enormous power.
February 02, 2021 | Talking Points Memo
New Dem-Majority Senate Must Assess Financial Reg Appointees Through Climate-Tinted Lens
It is no longer tolerable to confirm nominees who lack awareness of the scale of our climate emergency and the immense work needed to address it across all aspects of American life.
February 02, 2021
The Industry Agenda: Big Tech
RDP’s Industry Agenda series will explore how different industries seek to influence executive personnel decisions.
February 01, 2021 | The Intercept
Robinhood Is A Perfect Example Of Fintech's Insidious Power
Fintech is neither inherently good nor bad; rather, like any technology, its potential impact on society is closely tied to the policy decisions guiding its use — and the next four years could define how much the fintech industry is able to shape the financial system. Left to their own devices, fintech firms could swindle average people through ill-advised day-trading or high-interest loans, usher new systemic risks into the financial system, and develop traceable, privately owned currencies with the potential to replace cash.
January 26, 2021
13 Questions Which Fintech-Tied Appointees Must Be Able To Answer
Lately, fintech-funded individuals like Michael Barr have been rumored for powerful financial regulatory positions, despite the fact that this would leave them in charge of decisions directly affecting the firms they advised.
January 13, 2021 | CODEPINK
WEBINAR: Joe Biden’s BlackRock Cabinet Picks
Our Max Moran joined CODEPINK Campaign Organizer Nancy Mancias to discuss investment management giant BlackRock’s role in influencing President-elect Biden’s executive branch personnel choices.
January 12, 2021
Gary Gensler Would Lead An Un-Captured SEC To New Climate Regs
Gensler’s first order of business at the SEC will be to reverse Trump’s deregulatory agenda and rebuild the agency’s capacity to police American stock-trading. But this should only be a starting point: SEC activity was insufficient even under Obama, and issues linked to the financial system, from climate change to inequality, have worsened in the four intervening years.
January 11, 2021 | Sludge
BlackRock Alum Who Developed Neoliberal Policies for Obama Will Be Harris’ Chief Economist
Michael Pyle, Vice President Harris’ incoming chief economist, is the latest member of BlackRock’s “shadow government” to be hired by the Biden-Harris administration. His record working for austerity advocate Peter Orzsag and TPP-proponent Lael Brainard should be a major red flag.
January 05, 2021
Biden's Shadow Transition Director Aided Corporations At Home And Abroad
Gitenstein’s time as Romanian ambassador earned him a walk-on role in Romanian historian and totalitarianism expert Florin Abraham’s post-World War II history of his country.
December 18, 2020
Tech In Transition Tracker
Use this ongoing tracker to monitor the ties to Big Tech from individuals on the agency review teams, individuals who have been officially designated as nominees, and others who we suspect are jockeying for posts right now.
December 17, 2020 | The American Prospect
Does Jeffrey Zients Have the Private-Sector Experience We Want in Government?
In an age of financialization and monopoly, ‘private-sector experience’ too often translates into those who successfully plunder for profit. Jeffrey Zients epitomizes that trend.
December 15, 2020
Exposing Big Oil's Payoffs To Corrupt World Leaders Falls To...The SEC?
Environmentalists and foreign policy activists shouldn’t overlook appointments to agencies outside of their usual portfolios.