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.
Public pensions hold trillions of dollars of workers’ capital — wages earned by teachers, firefighters, nurses, and public workers who keep our society running. But this money is under attack.
The Business Roundtable’s most recent diatribe against a modest shareholder check on the power of corporate boards and executives came just in time for Tuesday’s House Financial Services Committee hearing on proxy advisors — firms that provide research and proxy voting recommendations to shareholders.
Another Musk/Big Tech giveaway occurred this week as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dropped its case against PayPal for skirting prepaid card rules that apply to gift cards and re-chargeable payment apps.
Let’s be clear: Hal Scott’s opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal calling for the shutdown of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)—because the Fed has been running a deficit—isn’t just a bad policy recommendation; it’s an intentionally backward argument that advocates harming the very people the financial system has historically exploited.
