Dear friend,
Every March, Americans expect some bracket busters, but not from the leaders who should be safeguarding your wallets and pocketbooks and our economy. But, while that did happen, a couple of star players joined the team and are on the march!
We sounded the alarm on so-called “prediction markets” for years and no one would listen- boy has that changed! See my latest conversation with John Cassidy in The New Yorker discussing how prediction markets are nothing but unregulated, unpoliced 24-hour online gambling casinos, which the CFTC has unleashed nationwide with virtually no thought, safeguards, or public input. That’s bad enough, but now there are anonymous traders making perfectly timed bets hours before U.S. military action in Venezuela or Iran. That’s not predicting; that’s knowing and nothing more than insider‑driven war profiteering enabled by the CFTC’s dereliction of duty. It’s not only insider trading, but also the apparent use and de facto disclosure of the most highly sensitive secret U.S. information: military action, which endangers both those military actions and the safety of our troops.
This is not just gambling involving war, assassination or terrorism; it’s also blatantly violating innumerable state laws and regulations to protect consumers. That’s why Arizona just filed the first criminal charges in U.S. history against a prediction market for running an illegal gambling and election‑wagering operation. It’s the kind of thing the CFTC should have stopped long ago, not encouraged, which is what the CFTC Chairman is doing—in complete abandonment of his duties and responsibilities to uphold the law and protect the public.
The CFTC wasn’t the only financial protection agency that put protecting industry profits over protecting the public from reckless and illegal financial industry activities. Banking regulators moved to slash capital requirements for the biggest banks, abandoning international standards and weakening key safeguards that protect everyday lending for Main Street Americans, small businesses, and the real economy. As our rapid response analysis made clear, these proposals gave Wall Street’s biggest banks that their lobbying blitz demanded. That means Wall Street revenues, profits, bonuses, and buybacks are going to skyrocket as they engage in much riskier activities with less supervision.
These are examples of a broken financial system that result in a rigged economy where Washington tilts the playing field to benefit Wall Street at the expense of Main Street Americans, small businesses, and community banks. This is why no matter how hard you work, you just can’t seem to get ahead. This is why the bottom 50% of Americans—about 170 million people—have only 2.5% of the wealth of the country, but the top 10% have 68% of the wealth. This kind of March Madness is infuriating.
But here’s the good news:
Our bench is stronger, deeper, and more equipped than ever to fight these baseless actions, to counter the influence of finance in Washington, and to rebut the false claims and propaganda used to justify them.
This month, we welcomed three former senior staff from the SEC and Federal Reserve—Evan LeFlore, Chris Appel, and Dominick Freda, as well as a new development director, Emily Russell—to our team. These are uniquely qualified public servants with deep experience across Washington and in the private sector. Their arrival expands our already powerful team of experts and ensures that when Wall Street and its many allies launch their attacks on consumer, investor, depositor, and financial stability protections, they will be met with a public‑interest‑focused force fighting back.
Because make no mistake: while insiders profit from war bets and the biggest banks celebrate gutting the most important protections for Main Street, the American people deserve a team that fights for them—a team committed to an economy that works for everyone, not one rigged to benefit the wealthy and well‑connected.
That’s what Better Markets is here to do. That’s what we’ve always done. And after this month, we’re more fired up—and better staffed—than ever!
With you in the fight,
Dennis
