Deposits are the raw materials with which bankers play, the key to unlocking market power, as giants like Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase demonstrate.
mergers
Posted inEconomic Policy
Credit Unions Go Large and Go Rogue
Intended to bolster local access to lending, large credit unions today are swallowing up community banks. A Trump purge has reduced their oversight to one regulator.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
The Flaw in Trump’s MAGA Media Empire Plot
Warner Bros. Discovery has announced that it is for sale, and Trump is trying to force the company to agree to a merger with Paramount, consolidating media with his allies the Ellisons. But states can block that merger.
Posted inLaw and Justice
Justice Department Turmoil Bubbles Up to the Surface
While DOJ continues to weaponize the legal system, the resignation of Pam Bondi’s chief of staff, Chad Mizelle, signals possible accountability for pay-to-play corruption.
Posted inBooks, Arts and Culture
This Proposed Media Empire Runs on AI
Oracle scion David Ellison wants to combine two of the largest movie studios and streaming networks, along with dozens of cable stations.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
DOJ Insider Blows the Whistle on Pay-to-Play Antitrust Corruption
Roger Alford, former number two at the Justice Department Antitrust Division, speaks out. Here’s what was important in what he said.
Posted inTAP
UnitedHealth Merger Approval Again Shows Lobbyist Power
Today on TAP: Another merger settlement allows consolidation in health care; UnitedHealth’s lobbyist was MAGA’s biggest firm.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
The Second Gilded Age Is Resembling the First
It’s the return of rotten boroughs, railroad barons, and constant graft.
Posted inLaw and Justice
DOJ Does MAGA Lobbyist Bidding Again, Shutters Another Antitrust Case
Pam Bondi’s old lobbying firm, Ballard Partners, pushed to move through a business travel merger. Bondi’s DOJ did it, in a way that avoids judicial scrutiny.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
The Law That Could Blow Open Trump Antitrust Corruption
Lobbyist meddling to get a critical merger case approved could face sunlight thanks to a 1974 law called the Tunney Act, which allows a judge to investigate the outcome.
