Wall Street’s revolving door has spun more appointees from the private equity industry into the Trump administration than ever before. CEOs, founders, and even family members have been tapped to spearhead some of the very institutions that regulate or contract their own companies.
This week, Congress will start considering the tax provisions of the reconciliation legislation, Trump’s “big beautiful bill” that will slash safety net programs and further dismantle agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in order to pay for tax breaks for wealthy families and corporations.
Recently, some of the most politically influential industries — fossil fuels, firearms, private prisons, crypto — have been crying foul about so-called debanking, accusing banks of unjustly denying them financial services because of supposed political biases. This is part of a larger misinformation campaign that is hijacking civil rights language to frame powerful industries as victims of discrimination and achieve their deregulatory goals.
Last week, the Trump CFPB announced plans to stop enforcing its previously issued Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) interpretive rule, which improves the price transparency of these loans to help people understand the real costs, fees, and charges that can accrue. This step risks amplifying the harms of BNPL loans, which include lower credit scores, lost bank accounts, and predatory fees. And it represents yet another example of the Trump CFPB actively siding with predatory lenders.
The Senate is moving toward legislation to embed cryptocurrency tokens known as stablecoins into the fabric of the financial system at the very same time that a prominent person – no less than President Trump – is plumbing the depths of corruption and conflicts of interest. The beginning of the solution to the problem of crypto scams and corruption involves stopping this legislation – not fast-tracking it to enactment.
Few tax loopholes better exemplify how our rigged economy rewards wealth extraction over real work than the carried interest loophole. The controversial loophole exists to benefit some of the wealthiest people on Wall Street—especially private equity executives—at the expense of workers, communities, and the public.