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...

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...

for anyone who needs it, good primer on why this is a terrible idea papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Market Lunch @easternmarketdc

lotta conversations like this one (via @bradlipton.bsky.social )

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....

1/ Very pleased to have a short article, "Statutory Hammers: Legislative Drafting in an Age of Cynical Litigation," published in the Harvard Journal on Legislation Online today. journals.law.harvard.edu/jol/2026/03/...

1/ For people who saw the *second* district court ruling about the CFPB last week, let me do a quick explainer on what happened, because it’s all getting pretty confusing! 🧵 thehill.com/regulation/c...

In the midst of an illegal and unpopular war, a crypto company is advertising an exclusive Mar-a-Lago luncheon with the President for the top investors in the Trump-branded memecoin. (If Trump bails, they may have to settle for a "limited edition Trump NFT.") www.politico.com/news/2026/03...

1/ PUPPY PAYDAY LOANS 🐶 Last week, Oregon passed a law protecting Oregonians (?) from out-of-state lenders charging 100%+ annual interest through so-called "rent-a-bank." We may be seeing a nationwide trend really spotlighting the failures of modern banking regulation. 🧵 ocj.org/news/oregon-...

Credit reports are one of the few things in the consumer financial universe that affect nearly everyone. So that means nearly everyone has something to lose from the Trump Admin's abandonment of consumers here.

Had a Dan Dan craving. Recipe by @fuchsiadunlop.bsky.social

Ok one more. Plane banh mi @bunmee

The end of the Berkeley tour. Rose Pizzeria

I may be moving to Berkeley. Viks Chaat.

NEW from @shahrzadshams.bsky.social & me @rooseveltinstitute.org: Donald Trump just called the Supreme Court "fools & lap dogs" and we've already forgotten about it. What the ancient history of last Tuesday means for progressives rethinking SCOTUS power. rooseveltinstitute.org/blog/trumps-...

If your BART from the airport gets you to Berkeley at 4:30, you might as well try to walk into Cafe Chez Panisse, right? Asparagus is in season out here and the worst that can happen is they say no.

@newsweek.com with the scoop 👇 A 10% credit card interest rate cap is popular. But voters are skeptical it will actually happen. “If a credit card cap were a priority for the Trump admin, it should have been signed into law months ago,” as our Emily DiVito pointed out.

On Thursday, CEO @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social met with @mayor.nyc.gov to talk about what it takes to govern—investing in public capacity and building the talent pipeline to deliver for working people. That’s the Roosevelt tradition: pairing big ideas with the capacity to deliver lasting results.

I do wonder about some of the reporting on this. Seems clear @warren.senate.gov came ready to play, and there has been crickets from the admin on this since Trump's "announcement." Maybe reporters who covered Trump's initial pronouncement should start mentioning that?

Snowy night pork goulash. Recipe America’s Test Kitchen

Stuffed shells with peas fennel and spinach. Recipe by America’s Test Kitchen

1/ Woo boy. This CFPB “study.” Truly a sad, sick joke. You can really see the Admin watching its numbers sink into the toilet on affordability & thrash in response. Would be funny if not so bleak. If this is their case against the CFPB… wow. They clearly hate what they don’t understand.🧵

Duck served with @smittenkitchen.bsky.social lentil-potato salad (cooked in duck fat) and Alison Roman fennel lemon anchovy salad

A monopolistic private equity company has caused a crisis of typefaces at the CFPB. Here's the story: indebt.substack.com/p/this-week-...? That and much more in this week's edition of This Week In Debt from @borrowerjustice.bsky.social!

Rainy day duck

Dan Dan noodles from the new Little Tiger Dumplings in Farragut square DC

1/ I like this new @banking.senate.gov report on the cost of Trump’s unlawful near-shutdown of the CFPB. I will say that their headline number—“at least” $19 billion—is wildly conservative. Short 🧵 apnews.com/article/cfpb...

Imagine if I were in a city and arguably the best restaurant was named The Roosevelt and it was rec'd by @lukenorris.bsky.social and I didn't go. Luckily, we don't need to find out.

1/ Remarkably, the CFPB appeared in the Epstein files last week. (I don’t think this has been covered anywhere—h/t @kirenitynow.bsky.social.) It’s about financial education! And it’s… not flattering. Short thread on financial education, corporate power, and, yes, Epstein/CFPB 🧵

1/ For all the pundits who are saying that a cap on credit card interest rates will never pass Congress, can you please just take a look at what just happened IN CONGRESS on the government shutdown? www.nytimes.com/2026/02/03/u...

Cold day pot roast

Plenty of CFPB news in the past year. I get it if people have lost the plot. But @reporterev.bsky.social's scoop today about the “slashing” of CFPB bank exams, which is *arguably the biggest thing the agency does,* is worth paying attention to 🧵 bit.ly/4k7X3uN1/8

Snowy day cheeseburger from I Egg You in DC

Snow day pasta with ricotta and spinach (recipe ATK). What is happening in MN is shameful and disgusting.

Brian Shearer and Adam Levitin—two of the biggest brains in consumer finance land—have been going back and forth on the proposed 10% credit card interest rate cap. It’s a policy debate that’s both wonky and worth your time. Here’s a little thread. 1/9

“Crypto needs clear rules!” Industry sees rules it doesn’t like “Not like that.” And the bill’s gone. www.foxbusiness.com/politics/sen...

See also: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/14/b...

In the endless stream of "this one is really up to courts and financial institutions follow the Trump admin's fan fic' at their own peril," here is a new entry. www.reuters.com/legal/govern...

1/ Just to zoom out to the bigger picture here – President Trump’s floated ban on investors purchasing single-family homes is part of a broader pattern of faux-affordability rhetoric 🧵 www.nytimes.com/2026/01/07/b...

Thanks to a major investigation from @groundwork.bsky.social, @moreperfectunion.bsky.social, and @consumerreports.org, the FTC is reportedly probing Instacart’s AI pricing tool, which charged shoppers up to 23% more for the same items, in the same store, at the same time.

This piece by @ronmknox.bsky.social is terrific. I would add that where we are today on these issues is 100% a result of policy choices.

Corporate Power Director @bradlipton.bsky.social: the real con is using every trick in the book to let scammers and Wall Street take people’s hard-earned money, making families’ household balance sheets, retirement, and just about everything else harder. For instance: www.npr.org/2025/02/10/n...

Are people are hitting their limit on what they’ll tolerate in the name of corporate profits? When companies can adjust prices based on your data, it breaks the basic expectation that markets let people shop and choose freely. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/n...

This story is honestly insane. Faraway investors buying up Detroit homes and turning them into crypto tokens; letting housing fall into disrepair, and evicting residents. This is what happens in an extraction economy.

Companies are working overtime to stratify consumers, separating the haves from both the have nots and the have yachts on.ft.com/4p6brF8 How the American dream turned out to be pay to play