I put out a piece today comparing the rules that apply to traditional gambling with the federal rules for “swaps.” It did not occur to me to summarize state-level gambling rules on lending and credit! So quickly: 1/

More Perfect Union@moreperfectunion.bsky.social · yesterday

BREAKING: Kalshi is asking the CFTC to allow margin trading on its platform, which would let users gamble with borrowed funds. www.cnbc.com/2026/09/22/k...

What’s actually at stake in the legal fight between states and prediction markets platforms / the Trump admin, which many are predicting will go to SCOTUS? I hadn’t seen a good analysis of the difference in state laws governing traditional gambling and the federal regime, so I broke it down.

How the Federal Rules for Prediction Markets Fall Short of State-Level Gambling Laws

Prediction markets increasingly resemble gambling but operate under far fewer protections. Brad Lipton explains what federal rules leave out and why state gambling laws offer a stronger baseline.

rooseveltinstitute.org

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute.org · yesterday

NEW: Prediction markets are exploding, and a growing legal fight is over a basic question: Are they gambling, or financial products? In a new explainer, @bradlipton.bsky.social shows how the push to put prediction markets under federal financial rules leaves major gaps in consumer protections. 🧵

Had a bunch of recent email interactions with corporate types where not only has AI clearly written their email, but the *person* involved thinks it is totally normal that they have no idea what the email *they sent* said (since the AI wrote it). How is this OK? Is it just me??

BlackRock says it wants your 401(k) to look more like a pension. Read the @wsj.com piece closely though, and, maybe this is actually all about extracting more money from people? PE for everyone, plus an annuity. Some thoughts, and a few places where Jack's piece takes Wall Street's word for it. 1/

Exclusive | BlackRock Plans to Make the Corporate 401(k) Look More Like a Pension

The investment manager aims to overhaul target-date funds with more options for employers.

wsj.com

NYC’s new click-to-cancel rule takes effect October 1, making it easier for New Yorkers to end unwanted subscriptions. Our @bradlipton.bsky.social broke down what the new rule could mean for consumers in a new segment for @scrippsnews.bsky.social. Watch 📺⬇️ www.scrippsnews.com/life/money/n...

My colleagues @bradlipton.bsky.social & @todusola.bsky.social recently showed how these markets harm users & society at large. Now, I show how those harms are being institutionalized by major firms, lending gambling institutional legitimacy & accelerating the financialization of everything.

1/ My colleague @todusola.bsky.social and I did this piece on the real effects that prediction markets can have on people in our society who DO NOT use those markets, b/c the sheer range of bets available on those platforms gives people incentives to modify their behavior about all sorts of things.

How Prediction Markets Are Shaping Real-World Events and Eroding Public Trust

Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket are rapidly expanding beyond sports betting into politics, news, and global events, raising concerns about insider trading, market manipulation, and their...

rooseveltinstitute.org

1/ When federal prosecutors dismiss a case, the motion is usually all of two sentences. In the Reflecting Pool case, Jeanine Pirro's office wrote 20 pages, with pictures, confessing the $14M renovation was "hasty and botched." Why? A thread on maybe the most unusual court filing of the year….

Justice Department motion to dismiss case against former Olympian David Hearn

The Justice Department is dropping the criminal case against former Olympian David Hearn that accused him of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, admitting that President Donald Trump’s $14 ...

documentcloud.org

Norm Eisen@normeisen.bsky.social · 2mo ago

STATEMENT ON TRUMP ADMINISTRATION REFLECTING POOL INFIGHTING

This should be titled "US Attorney's office apparently most gullible people in the universe, believed 'vandalism' claims"

Charges Dropped Against Ex-Olympian David Hearn Accused of Damaging Reflecting Pool

A former Olympian will not face trial after federal prosecutors acknowledged that the Trump administration’s claims of vandalism were false.

nytimes.com

One underappreciated consequence: Higher mortgage rates lock millions of middle- and working-class homeowners out of refinancing, leaving substantial savings on the table. @bradlipton.bsky.social shows just how much families stand to lose.

Unlocking the Significant Potential of Mortgage Refinancing for Working Families

Mortgage refinancing can save homeowners thousands annually—but low- and moderate-income borrowers face steep barriers. This report examines the inequities in refinancing participation and proposes st...

rooseveltinstitute.org

Prediction markets are sold as a way to understand the future. But they also create a financial incentive for users to manipulate the very events they're meant to predict. The latest in our prediction markets series from @bradlipton.bsky.social and @todusola.bsky.social explores why that matters:

How Prediction Markets Are Shaping Real-World Events and Eroding Public Trust

Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket are rapidly expanding beyond sports betting into politics, news, and global events, raising concerns about insider trading, market manipulation, and their...

rooseveltinstitute.org

Subscription traps are a billion-dollar business. Our @bradlipton.bsky.social and Noa Rosinplotz estimate New York City's click-to-cancel rule could save New Yorkers up to $162.5 million each year, while making it easier to stop paying for services they no longer want.

Letter to New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Regarding Proposed Click-to-Cancel Rule

The Roosevelt Institute is glad that the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection is considering adding rules to ensure that consumers can easily cancel subscriptions and are not subject to decept...

rooseveltinstitute.org

Prediction markets may look like a level playing field, but the data tells a vastly different story. Thanks to @moreperfectunion.bsky.social for featuring our research, courtesy of @bradlipton.bsky.social and @todusola.bsky.social! Watch below 📹⬇️

1/ SpaceX's president says she's donating her SpaceX "shares" to Trump Accounts. That's a head scratcher, because the law doesn't allow Trump Accounts to hold shares of individual companies. And it points to a bigger problem: the Trump admin is all over the map on this…

NEW: Prediction markets promise people a chance to profit by betting against each other. But our first-of-its-kind analysis suggests something different. @bradlipton.bsky.social and @todusola.bsky.social find that ordinary Kalshi users have lost a whopping estimated $583.5 million since 2021.

Since Kalshi's Launch, Ordinary Users Have Lost Half a Billion Dollars

Prediction markets claim to outperform traditional gambling by matching users against each other instead of a house. However, most participants end up competing against professional traders, and evide...

rooseveltinstitute.org

The CFPB was created by Congress to hold powerful financial institutions accountable and protect consumers from financial abuse. Whether it continues to fulfill that mission under new leadership has come into serious doubt, argues our @bradlipton.bsky.social:

More than 4.2 million homeowners—including 1.1 million low- & moderate-income borrowers—could benefit when interest rates fall to 6%. The catch: lenders prioritize higher-income applicants b/c it's easier. @bradlipton.bsky.social tells Realtor.com that may be illegal: www.realtor.com/news/trends/...

Mortgage refinancing has the potential to put thousands of dollars *every year* in the hands of middle class families if interest rates eventually fall -- more than many government programs. The Trump admin’s reckless actions have put this option increasingly out of reach. But when it...

Unlocking the Significant Potential of Mortgage Refinancing for Working Families

Mortgage refinancing can save homeowners thousands annually—but low- and moderate-income borrowers face steep barriers. This report examines the inequities in refinancing participation and proposes st...

rooseveltinstitute.org

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute.org · 3mo ago

New 📰: When mortgage interest rates fall, millions of homeowners benefit from refinancing. The challenge isn't demand or profitability—it's the barriers that prevent many households from accessing those savings. 🧵 Read: rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

What do $10,000 Knicks tickets, Hershey’s taking the chocolate out of the Goodbar, and Buy Now Pay Later loans have in common? The Financialization of Everything. With thanks to @kirenitynow.bsky.social for my first foray into fancy video content.

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute.org · 3mo ago

The incentives that created Wall Street’s worst excesses are spreading into everything else. Housing, healthcare, even wages and subscriptions are being shaped by trading logic, fees, and new layers of extraction that siphon value out of everyday life. 🎥 This is the story of financialization:

1/ If you've heard that the Department of Labor is proposing to allow crypto and private equity/credit into 401(k)s, you haven't heard the whole story. The media is being misled -- it's much worse than that!

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute.org · 4mo ago

Read the full comment letter from our Director of Corporate Power and Financial Regulation, @bradlipton.bsky.social, on why the DOL should withdraw the proposal.

We’ve spent decades told that if the economy grows, people’s lives will get better. Millions are working harder, paying more, and losing faith that institutions can deliver. Imagine an economy and democracy that actually make life better. That’s why today, we’re launching The #GoodLife Agenda. 🧵

1/ USA Today says the “Trump phone” may be coming soon but also maybe not coming soon. This saga is lolz. I’m still waiting for the Trump FTC to announce its investigation! Don’t worry not holding my breath. Here’s the debacle for anyone not terminally online. Vibes=QVC meets constitutional crisis.

What's the latest on the Trump phone? What we know

To order the Trump phone, customers must join a waitlist on the website and pay a $100 refundable deposit.

usatoday.com

1/ “Crypto market structure” is an aggressively boring phrase for something that could matter a lot: whether crypto gets regulated like other investments, or gets a special loophole big enough to drive a financial crisis through. I wrote about this last year.

Comparing Oranges to Onions: What Is Crypto “Market Structure,” and Why Is It Important? - Roosevelt Institute

Congress is currently considering the second bill of its planned three-part trilogy on cryptocurrency. The first was the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, w...

rooseveltinstitute.org

1/ Bowling may sound like something from a different decade, and in some ways it is. But as more of us think about disconnecting from our phones, maybe it’s time to bring some things back. Wait, guess what has screwed that up? Financialization!

Had a weird craving for savory breakfast so tried out the new Boulangerie Saint George in DC

This op-ed by Krysten Sinema (remember her?) proposing to make CFPB a bipartisan commission is one of the weirdest things I've seen in a while, given that SCOTUS is about to get rid of (most) bipartisan commissions. What planet is she living on? The same one as before, I guess. tinyurl.com/bdfsaxty

COLUMN: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema: End the CFPB's political football by creating a bipartisan commission | Washington Reporter

washingtonreporter.news

The song that never ends. Banking trades stomp their feet about the current crypto "compromise"---"the proposed language falls short of that goal." H./T @tbakerbroadmoor.bsky.social www.icba.org/w/banking-tr...

Banking Trades Statement on Crypto Market Structure Yield Language

Washington, D.C. (May 4, 2026) — Following the release of proposed language on stablecoin yield in the Clarity Act, the American Bankers Association, Bank Policy Institute, Consumer Bankers Associatio...

icba.org

When @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social — very much not a bomb-thrower — is saying this, you know it’s serious. open.substack.com/pub/goodpoli...

Court-Packing for Democracy

If Democrats win, the Court has given them little choice.

open.substack.com

Finally made it to Eebee’s for what is arguably DC’s best burger.

FINANCIALIZATION (the only great dim sum place in DC proper closing to make way for a bank) dc.eater.com/dc-restauran...

One of the Region’s Best Chinese Restaurants — And More D.C.-Area Closures to Know

Tracking all of D.C.’s shuttered restaurants this month

dc.eater.com