January 11, 2023
Larry Summers Advised A Possible Crypto Fraudster. Is Anyone Going To Ask Him About It?
Considering how much of the financial press eagerly solicits Summers’ take on every imaginable economics topic, it’s bizarre that no reporters have gotten his thoughts about his involvement in this crumbling company, and the asset class it promotes.
December 20, 2022
CFPB Alone Cannot Cure Wells Fargo's Disease
Fed and OCC Must Step Up With Their Own Preventative Tools
December 14, 2022 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter
Real Politicians Stay Bought by Fake Money Tycoons
Sam Bankman-Fried may have been arrested, but his influence campaign in DC is continuing unabated, with Members of the House and Senate looking to use FTX’s collapse to push for SBF’s hand-picked regulatory framework and undermine the work of SEC Chair Gary Gensler.
November 30, 2022 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter
Union Joe’s Disgrace
If rail workers are so important to our economy that a single week of striking could cost the economy $1 billion, and if their demands are so modest that any decent employer would easily exceed them, then meeting their demands seems like the obvious solution. But the American balance of power is such that railroad bosses have the allegedly most pro-labor president in history doing their dirty work for them.
November 24, 2022 | The American Prospect
Quants, Carbon, and Climate Change
It’s been a bad few weeks for the sort of opinionated center-left pundit who prides themselves on data-driven, hyper-quantitative approaches to solving society’s intractable problems.
November 24, 2022 | The American Prospect
Quants, Carbon, And Climate Change
Both EA and popularism appeal to a desire for mathematical rigor and objective calculation, whether it’s calculating lives-saved-per-dollar or playing probabilities in politics.Both EA and popularism appeal to a desire for mathematical rigor and objective calculation, whether it’s calculating lives-saved-per-dollar or playing probabilities in politics.
November 23, 2022 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter
A Few Things We Aren't Thankful For
Hello everyone, and welcome to a special holiday edition of the RDP Newsletter. Since we’re off for Thanksgiving tomorrow and Friday, this week’s edition will be a bit more off the cuff and includes some material that would normally be in our Hack Watch newsletter. So sit back, relax, and enjoy.
November 23, 2022 | The New Republic
Timi Iwayemi Dylan Gyauch-Lewis
Op-Ed Congressional OversightCryptocurrencyFinancial RegulationIndependent Agencies
Don’t Fall for FTX’s Final Con
The FTX disaster should be all the impetus needed to kill off any new crypto industry–approved legislation. Instead, we need Congress to provide material support for financial regulators in the form of increased appropriations to guard against the next collapse. Much of the crypto industry is already subject to laws—the very ones that the SEC seeks to enforce and that the crypto industry broadly (not just Sam Bankman-Fried) seeks to evade by reducing the SEC’s jurisdiction ex post facto. Both the CFTC and SEC urgently need funds to fulfill their mandates. Crypto stretches these needs even further, but the need has existed for years. For decades, financial crimes have too often gone unpunished. This wasn’t for a lack of rules, but a lack of will, funds, and people willing to enforce them. Crypto doesn’t need special treatment, it needs to face the music.
November 17, 2022
The Public Does Not Need Another Fintech-Friendly Regulator
At a critical juncture such as this where the industry seeks kid-glove treatment from regulators, backgrounds such as Harris’s should be disqualifying.
November 16, 2022 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter
Hack Watch: Summers's Cyber Speculation
How The Former Treasury Secretary Boosted Crypto Bros
November 16, 2022 | The American Prospect
The Biden Administration Does Not Need Another Wall Street Adviser
The White House does not need to hire someone to get a banker’s perspective on inflation.
November 14, 2022 | The Nation
Money From Nothing: Sam Bankman-Fried’s Crypto Shakedown
The rapid meltdown of FTX stands as one of the most gruesome chapters in the annals of investment fiascos: think of the false technological promises of Elizabeth Holmes’s Theranos grift combined with the evaporation of Bernie Madoff’s prestigious Ponzi fund. But the saga of FTX involves much more than either the vanity and hubris of Holmes’s fraud offensive or the deceptive practices of the Madoff scam. The rapid rise and fall of Bankman-Fried points up the delusional character of information-age capitalism; Far from standing as an outlying trend within the crypto investment world, Bankman-Fried’s scam was nestled at the very heart of its prevailing business model.
November 04, 2022
Hack WatchNewsletter BankingCongressional OversightConsumer ProtectionExecutive BranchFinancial RegulationIndependent Agencies
Corporate Scammers Aren't Independent Voices
White collar crooks are behind the campaign to kill the CFPB, but don’t expect the mainstream media to tell you that.
October 24, 2022 | The American Prospect
The Unlikely Origins of the Chamber-Chopra War
Big business could soon get their chance to kill the CFPB for good, thanks in part to former Obama aide William Daley.
September 30, 2022
Politico Rolls Out The Red Carpet For Ripple And Securities Fraud
Boosters of Ponzi products should not be granted the freedom to tout their products without ample pushback and skepticism. Because, as is all too common in Washington, when this media cover is combined with other forms of political pressure including lobbying and campaign donations, industry interests take precedence over the public’s. Politico knows where to find skeptical voices; they had Healthy Markets President and CEO Ty Gellasch on the panel that followed Alderoty’s remarks, albeit alongside three other preachers of crypto’s so-called greatness.