I started by asking "What is financialization?" And then I started to see it everywhere. My latest for @rooseveltinstitute.org. This will be the subject of future work!
rooseveltinstitute.org/blog/what-is...
This from Roberts is all you need to know about him: "I recognize that the posture of this stay request is not typical, but review is sought of what has been described as the most expensive regulation ever imposed on the power sector--net costs have been estimated to run as high as ~480 billion."
This column by @stevevladeck.bsky.social is worth reading in full. What we are seeing from the Supreme Court shadow docket now has its roots in rulings against Pres. Obama which truly were unprecedented and led by CJ Roberts, whose reputation should take a hit for sending the Court down this path.
7/ What I will say about this latest anti-affordability OCC effort: it may not work. These are called “orders,” but ultimately the legal effect will be up to courts. And courts have seen through OCC preemption nonsense before. So states should NOT take the OCC’s statements on this as the last word.
6/ But this hasn’t slowed them down either.
Now, Comptroller Gould is taking action to prevent states from passing affordability laws that, e.g., try to ensure banks pay interest to families that have money in escrow, or reduce “swipe fees” that small businesses pay to credit card companies.
5/ Nonetheless, in 2024, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected the OCC’s position. (With some wild quotes from oral argument where Justice *Gorsuch* mocked the OCC.)
4/ It’s hard to say the Biden OCC was much better. Acting Comptroller Mike Hsu didn’t take action to help states protect their citizens, and even gave speeches vowing to “fortify and vigorously defend core preemption.”
3/ The Dodd-Frank Act put certain restrictions on the OCC’s disastrous attempts to preempt state laws. Did this slow them down at all? No!
In 2011, the Obama OCC–over the Obama Treasury’s objections—finalized a bunch of ridiculous regs that the OCC itself won’t even rely on now…
2/ The OCC has been on a crusade for decades to preempt/overturn state consumer protection laws. The commission that investigated the Great Recession found that this helped cause the Great Financial Crisis!
📖Page 112 here:
1/ I keep reading that the Trump administration is focusing on affordability. So why are his financial regulators trying to drive up costs?
Exhibit A: Comptroller Jonathan Gould is running around the country trying to overturn state affordability laws! 🧵
@reporterev.bsky.social
Instead of “quietly asking,” Treasury could demand standardized, usable and comparable financial data from private credit firms.
But that would require a functional Office of Financial Research, which Bessent has gutted.
Apparently the Caesar wrap at Ted’s Bulletin is going viral. Pretty good! And the homemade tots were really good.
One thing that jumps out from CFPB's latest court filing: they are NOT serious about enforcing the law or examining for compliance by financial institutions. Drastic cuts to CFPB enforcement & supervision (254 to 50; 523 to 77). Reupping this 🧵 on why that matters. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/01/u...
5/ In short: this move risks tying the stability of the housing market to the value of crypto assets. What could go wrong?
4/ And yes, the government guarantees payment to investors in the case of mortgage defaults. Homeowners typically pay for that in the form of higher interest or mortgage insurance. Yet if defaults spike unexpectedly, ultimately the taxpayer is on the hook to pay. In other words, me and you!
3/ The plan is to let people substitute a second loan backed by crypto for a down payment on a mortgage. That will tie people’s incentive to pay both loans to the value of their crypto. But, if there’s a crypto crash, those people will suddenly be much more likely to default on their mortgage.
2/ The Trump admin continues to chase housing affordability through financial engineering—not making hard choices to, say, actually build more homes. 50 year mortgages! Using your 401k for a down payment! And here it’s combined with a weird allegiance to crypto even where it may not make sense.
1/ An alliance between Trump and the crypto industry means that people will soon be able to use crypto instead of cash for mortgage down payments. This threatens to inject a *lot* of volatility into the housing market. And just remember who is on the hook for that…🧵
www.coinbase.com/blog/coinbas...
Market Lunch @easternmarketdc
All of the major players in this investment ecosystem are vulnerable. Private-equity firms are being squeezed on both ends by generative AI: During the coronavirus pandemic, they bought up software companies, which are now plummeting in value because AI is expected to eat their lunch. Meanwhile, private equity’s new investment strategy, data centers, is also falling apart because of AI. Blackstone, Blue Owl, and the like are sinking huge sums into data-center construction with the assumption that lease payments from tech companies will pay for their debt. In order to pay for their investments, private-equity companies raised money from major financial institutions—but now the viability of those lease payments is coming into question as the hyperscalers’ cash flow is strained. “There’s a reason to think we’re seeing some of the same 2008 dynamics now,” Brad Lipton, a former senior adviser at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and now the director of corporate power and financial regulation at the Roosevelt Institute, told us. “Everyone’s getting tied up together. Banks are lending money to private credit, which in turn lends it elsewhere. That amps up the risk.”
lotta conversations like this one (via @bradlipton.bsky.social )
Does this extend to questions about who would have standing to challenge?
In a moment where it’s so clear that so much is broken, we have to get down to the studs on what our public institutions and policy are for. That’s true for taxes. This is a shared social project to fund our public goods, create broad social insurance, and rebalance power in our economy.
NEW from me and @joeldodge07.bsky.social for @rooseveltinstitute.org / Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator: Trump is using the Defense Production Act to promote fossil fuel of a major donor. We show how it could instead be used to promote clean energy Abundance.
rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...
The regulatory context here is that the SEC does not meaningfully supervise investment banks, and the (imperfect) alternative structure put in place after the 2008 financial crisis to supervise nonbank financial companies has been whittled away by lawsuits and years of deregulation.
I vividly remember sitting through a House Financial services meeting last year where a Congressman stated that "America was fine before the creation of the CFPB." Amazing how quickly some people forget the pain of the past. And you know the old saying about those who can't remember the past....
5/ The presence of statutory hammers in existing law should also affect the calculus of regulators in crafting regulations and other stakeholders, such as public interest groups, in choosing rules to challenge.
4/ Though statutory hammers have been used here and there in various contexts, Congress has not consistently incorporated them into the law. As Congress continues to consider legislation on everything from artificial intelligence to privacy, this drafting strategy will continue to be relevant.
3/ The piece compares Dodd Frank's mortgage lending and debit-card interchange-fee regulation to show how legislative design can determine whether Congress’s intent gets reflected in policy or instead is an empty gesture.
