Rakeen Mabud
@rmabud.bsky.social
Political economist and public policy strategist. Senior Fellow, Climate and Community Institute, Associate Fellow, Common Wealth. Formerly: Groundwork Collaborative, Time's Up, Roosevelt Institute, U.S. Treasury Department
Very excited for this new essay at "Can We Still Govern?": The key claim is that planning for a progressive future cannot just focus on new policies. It also has to include - to start with - political power. What does a power-shifting perspective look like? 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/rebuilding...
Rebuilding Democracy Requires Rebalancing Power
What does a power-shifting agenda look like?
donmoynihan.substack.com
Trump, his family, and his administration has been unprecedentedly corrupt. 2028 candidates should respond by pledging to return the money to the American people as a corruption rebate. Sabeel Rahman, Jamie Keene, Rakeen Mabud, and I flesh out the idea for @bharatramamurti.bsky.social's Substack.
Guest Post: Americans Are Owed a Trump Corruption Rebate
In his second term, President Trump has illegally accepted a $400 million Boeing 747 from the government of Qatar.
bharatramamurti.substack.com
Today we launch a special collaborative briefing with Forces of Production, introducing an approach to policy — The Productive State — governing the supply side. 🧵 🖊️ @atwilliams.bsky.social @brusselermel.bsky.social www.common-wealth.org/publications...
The Productive State: On Governing the Supply Side
To produce a better life for all, policymakers will need to take a Productive State approach to governing the supply side.
common-wealth.org
hello all!! Big Drop Today we are launching a manifesto for our framework for the next US supply-side economic consensus -- The Productive State -- at Forces of Production www.forcesofproduction.com/p/the-produc...
The Productive State
On Governing The Supply Side
forcesofproduction.com
3 Tech Giants Driving the AI Data Center Boom Avoided $50 Billion in Taxes Last Year A new report from @cplusc.bsky.social reveals how the Trump administration is actively facilitating the data center contagion sweeping the nation. @premthakker.bsky.social breaks it down: zeteo.com/p/50-billion...
But with Slaughter, a president could fire every agency head or commission member and then fire every replacement who refuses to be anything other than a complete stooge. The Senate’s vetting process means nothing. 2/2
There's no sugar-coating Slaughter. It's an enormously important ruling (far more important than the other three decisions #SCOTUS handed down today). It's a huge win for Trump/the executive. And it's going to have massive ramifications for the functioning of the government long after Trump is gone.
The TL;DR, as always, is this: SCOTUS will allow Donald Trump to wreck separation of powers and the rule of law, but they draw the line at wrecking capitalism.
Mark Joseph Stern@mjsdc.bsky.social · last mo.Slaughter is an earthquake: SCOTUS has overturned a 90-year-old precedent that facilitated much of modern governance by granting many agencies meaningful independence from the president. Now SCOTUS crushes that independence ... for seemingly every agency except the Federal Reserve.
One of the many reasons it is idiotic for Democrats to merely play defense on immigration.
LPE Blog@lpeblog.bsky.social · last mo.Today, @rmabud.bsky.social argues that while the current focus on costs of living represents an essential reorientation from the left, an affordability frame that fails to confront the Trump administration’s bureaucratic and cultural power grab is bound to fail.
Today, @rmabud.bsky.social argues that while the current focus on costs of living represents an essential reorientation from the left, an affordability frame that fails to confront the Trump administration’s bureaucratic and cultural power grab is bound to fail.
Affordability Politics Needs a Power Analysis
A renewed focus on the cost of living crisis is a welcome and potentially unifying frame for the political left. Yet unless we confront the Trump administration's consolidated economic, cultural…
lpeproject.org
Honored to be in @lpeproject.bsky.social about the need for a power analysis in affordability politics. Narrow technocratic or deregulatory "affordability" misses the point: affordability is about confronting power dynamics at the core of the cost of living crisis. lpeproject.org/blog/afforda...
Affordability Politics Needs a Power Analysis
A renewed focus on the cost of living crisis is a welcome and potentially unifying frame for the political left. Yet unless we confront the Trump administration's consolidated economic, cultural…
lpeproject.org
Lawyers for GEO Group, which operates the Delaney Hall ICE prison in New Jersey, argued in a recent court filing that the company is exempt from legal action because it is subject to government oversight—a function the Trump administration has largely destroyed. @whitneycwimbish.bsky.social reports.
ICE Profiteer Claims It Cannot Be Sued - The American Prospect
Delaney Hall operator GEO Group believes it has qualified immunity.
prospect.org
American life is defined by instability — economic precarity, civic insecurity and institutional distrust. This instability is not accidental but rather engineered to concentrate power at the top. 🧵 What have these crises produced and how can democracy can fight back? shorturl.at/dDtKc
Breaking the Cycle: Addressing Instability and Building Better Institutions in an Anti-Institutionalist Moment
The economic instability pervading American life is being exploited by an authoritarian coalition. A pro-democracy agenda must reduce market dependence for life's essentials and rebuild state capacity...
shorturl.at
If you're not already pissed about data centers, check out these latest figures on how Big Tech is forcing struggling ratepayers in PJM to cover its costs: in the last two PJM capacity auctions, it increased customers’ bills by $13.8B. More increases are coming unless policy changes.
Data Centers Drive 76% Rise in Power Bills on Largest US Grid
Power prices on the largest electric grid in the US jumped 76% in the first quarter due to rampant demand from data centers, adding to pressure on its operator to alleviate the strain on consumers.
bloomberg.com
new from me at FORCES OF PRODUCTION! a short history of the transition from goods to services alongside some recent discussion from @rajakorman.bsky.social and @conorsen.bsky.social on What Is Going On With Healthcare www.forcesofproduction.com/p/services-o...
Services on the Supply Side
Looking away from Manufacturing for a moment
forcesofproduction.com
For more, read @karlsson-kris.bsky.social's new brief with @cplusc.bsky.social: stopgreedbuildgreen.climateandcommunity.org/posts/trade-...
Are There Trade-offs Between Decarbonization in the Power Sector and Affordability?
Affordability and climate action are often pitted against one another, but public ownership and market controls can secure energy price stability and bring down the cost of living.
stopgreedbuildgreen.climateandcommunity.org
Rakeen Mabud@rmabud.bsky.social · 3mo agoBrilliance in @jacobinmagazin.bsky.social from @cplusc.bsky.social's @pmbigger.bsky.social and @karlsson-kris.bsky.social jacobin.com/2026/05/just...
Speaking from experience, working with the CCI team is a dream. They are ambitious, fun, creative, collaborative, and set a high standard for success. If this sounds like the kind of team you like to work with, apply to be their inaugural political director!👇
Today @theguardian.com has a big profile on @cplusc.bsky.social and our Stop Greed, Build Green working class climate agenda. The piece does a great job of capturing where we've been, what we're trying to accomplish, and why green economic populism beats fossil fueled fascism.
As household bills soar, is it time for a ‘working-class climate agenda’?
Proposal from group that worked with AOC and Bernie Sanders seeks to counter claim that climate policy is politically toxic
theguardian.com
Cannot stress enough that what's happening now and will accelerate over next few weeks is a big spike in fuel costs paid for by every American that will flow *directly* into insane, unprecedented profits for American oil companies. They're going to be the big winners of this.
“According to the Common Wealth think tank, around a quarter of every energy bill is taken in profit across the industry. One pound in every four that households spend keeping the lights on and the heating running flows out as profit, not as energy.” www.lbc.co.uk/article/bp-r...
BP’s record profits come at a human cost | LBC
When conflict drives up the price of oil and gas, energy companies profit and households pay, writes Simon Francis
lbc.co.uk
Tuesday, @rmabud.bsky.social and @brusselermel.bsky.social co-authors of the @cmmonwealth.bsky.social essay, “The Power Grab: The Authoritarian Coalition’s Strategy of Power Consolidation." www.patreon.com/posts/this-w... Live at 10AM at thisishell.com and podcast shortly after.
This Week in Hell! Authoritarianism and Revolution | This Is Hell!
This Week in Hell! Authoritarianism and Revolution by This Is Hell! on Patreon. Join This Is Hell!'s community for exclusive content and updates.
patreon.com
thanks again joe manchin!
NBER@nber.org · 4mo agoWhen the expanded CTC expired in 2022, each $1,000 in lost benefits reduced consumer sentiment by 1.7 points—with effects lasting nearly two years—long after the checks stopped, from @jacobbastian.bsky.social and Melody Harvey www.nber.org/papers/w35059
feels almost quaint to post about how much the big banks are spending juicing their stock prices with major spending on stock buybacks $33 billion *in one quarter* giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
The affordability and climate crises are inseparable. @cplusc.bsky.social's new strategy to put the working class in charge of climate & economic transformation is an essential intervention to build towards the economy we need and deserve. Honored to get to work on this with the CCI team.
Climate and Community Institute@cplusc.bsky.social · 4mo ago🚨🚨 Today, we’re launching “Stop Greed Build Green,” a strategic framework and agenda to confront the affordability crisis and the climate crisis together by putting working people in charge of the economy and the climate transition. (1/10)
One of the best things i've read this year is from @rmabud.bsky.social and @brusselermel.bsky.social. "Without understanding how the pro-authoritarian coalition has used three interlocking levers to consolidate power, it will be impossible to build something better."
The Power Grab: The Authoritarian Coalition’s Strategy of Power Consolidation
The authoritarian coalition is using three interlocking levers of power to consolidate control: political and institutional control, cultural and narrative power, and economic power.
common-wealth.org
“An authoritarian coalition is embarking on a power grab unprecedented in recent US history ... each of [Trump’s] policy moves isn't simply about the policy itself, but about the consolidation of power as a whole” 🖋️ @rmabud.bsky.social @brusselermel.bsky.social www.common-wealth.org/publications...
The Power Grab: The Authoritarian Coalition’s Strategy of Power Consolidation
The authoritarian coalition is using three interlocking levers of power to consolidate control: political and institutional control, cultural and narrative power, and economic power.
common-wealth.org
Mamdani is not just filling the potholes with the crew. He's creating a visual and personal reminder of the dignity inherent in all of these anonymous government jobs.
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani@mayor.nyc.gov · 4mo agoBeautiful day to fill the 100,000th pothole of the year.
