Category Archives: Commentary

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: 

Albertsons

Blog Post: Private Equity Set to Loot Albertsons Ahead of Proposed Merger With Rival Kroger

Cerberus Capital Management, the private equity owner of Albertsons grocery stores, is quickly moving to extract an unusually large amount of money from the grocer that would leave Albertsons in a much worse position to repay the massive debt load put on by its private equity owners. This move puts many of Albertsons’ workers and their pensions at risk.

sign for the CFPB outside a building

Blog: Big Banks Argue Discrimination is Fair and it’s Not Satire

Ask a reasonable person if discrimination on the basis of race or religion is unfair. The odds are good – very good, according to this AFR poll, – that you’ll get a resounding “yes,” a polite “of course,” or even an incredulous “are you kidding?” Yes. Discrimination. Is. Unfair. But if you try to convince big-bank lobbyists that discrimination is unfair, you won’t get a “yes.” You get a lawsuit, with multiple awful lines of attack, that stands a good chance of succeeding. And that’s not satire.

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.

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.

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.

Cryptocurrency

Why Crypto is not the Solution to Financial Inclusion

Americans for Financial Reform and the Take on Wall Street campaign gathered several experts on July 1 to lay out the multiple ugly truths about crypto and addressed a few reasons why we should not take the promises made by its most enthusiastic advocates at face value, and why regulators need to use the authority they already have to oversee this market.

Blog: Private Equity and The Care Economy

Having a rapacious business like private equity watching over particularly vulnerable people has never been a good idea. Still the evidence is mounting that Wall Street has pushed the envelope in recent years. Nursing homes, youth facilities, and homes for disabled adults have all fallen under the ownership of an industry with a track record of prioritizing wealth extraction over running companies well, to say nothing of caring for people in need.