Category Archives: Blog Post

Blog: Private Equity Can Kill: Help Us Fight Wall Street’s Deadly Power in Nursing Homes

Unbeknownst to most people with loved ones in nursing homes, it’s often nearly impossible to determine if the facility you’ve entrusted your family member to is owned by a private equity firm – an ownership structure that has been shown to result in worse health outcomes for patients, at greater cost. Within the past two decades, the once-obscure private equity industry has ballooned in size from $1 trillion in 2008 to nearly $4.5 trillion in 2021.

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Guest Blog: Do Not Revamp or Defund the CFPB

Congressional Republicans have moved on to their next target for financial deregulation: Republicans in Congress and the consumer finance industry want to eliminate or hobble the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The agency has provided $16 billion in restitution or cancelled debt to 192 million consumers since the agency began operation in 2010. It’s one of the few institutions, public or private, that has earned Americans’ confidence in a long time.

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We need a robust IRS to stop Wall Street tax evasion

House Republicans rang in the New Year with a craven attempt to pander to their corporate cronies, making the 118th Congress’ very first vote one to defund the IRS and protect tax evaders. This comes after the agency finally received much-needed funding in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act after years of being under-resourced. 

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Blog: Private Equity Lobbyists Want to Hijack Child Tax Credit for More Giveaways

A corporate tax break that could give some of Wall Street’s wealthiest people a $200 billion gift over ten years is under consideration as part of the omnibus budget negotiations underway in Congress this month. At issue are provisions of the 2017 Trump tax bill that took effect this year, and the private equity’s lobbying effort to overturn the parts of the law that limit a key tax break.

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Cryptocurrency

Blog Post: Congress Needs a Reset on Crypto Policy in Wake of FTX Collapse

This week, the Senate Banking Committee and House Financial Services Committee are each holding hearings to discuss the fallout from the collapse of the major crypto exchange FTX: what happened, why, and what should be done about it. There is a real opportunity here for Congress to reset crypto policy discussions and focus on first principles. To do that, Congress should keep the following points in mind: 

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Blog: Hedge Funds and Labor Are Not Bedfellows

Two SEC proposals have billionaire activist hedge funds up in arms and pulling out all the stops—including falsely claiming organized labor is opposed to the important proposals.  Industry opponents will showcase their disdain at an upcoming Investor Advisory Committee (IAC) meeting scheduled for Sept. 21.

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Blog: Congress Takes Historic Step to Tax Stock Buybacks

Schumer uttered those words as the Senate was on the brink of passing the Inflation Reduction Act—the compromise reconciliation bill that resulted from prolonged, heated negotiations amongst Democrats.  The version that will go to President Biden includes something brand-new in U.S. economic policy: a one percent excise tax on stock buybacks, which reached an astonishing $882 billion last year.

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Blog: Cancel it Now: The Unconstitutional Nature of Student Debt 

We are well into the Biden administration and approaching a pivotal time in his Presidency where all hope could be lost on an issue I care a lot about: student debt. We are facing the possible flipping of Congress, student borrowers are in constant flux–unaware of when their loan servicers will be unleashed on them in the midst of a broken repayment system… and I’m afraid. I, like the rest of us, am still waiting for a portion of federal student debt to be canceled, one of Biden’s biggest campaign priorities. And despite the chatter of this announcement being forthcoming, we’re still on standby.

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