David Dayen
@ddayen.bsky.social
Executive editor, The American Prospect. Author, Chain of Title and Monopolized. Tips at ddayen-at-prospect-dot-org or Signal at ddayen.90
Pinned
Sports - The American Prospect
prospect.org
You can see our entire series on The Business of Sports at
prospect.org/sports. More to come in the days ahead!
prospect.org/sports. More to come in the days ahead!
Reposted by David Dayen
Kate is a reporter for the American Banker. Trump’s DOJ & CFPB turn a predatory lending discrimination lawsuit into an anti-immigrant crusade. Instead of providing restitution for victims of discrimination they use $ to fund more police resources aimed at “illegals.” (Full article paywalled.)
February 11, 2026 at 1:57 PM
Kate is a reporter for the American Banker. Trump’s DOJ & CFPB turn a predatory lending discrimination lawsuit into an anti-immigrant crusade. Instead of providing restitution for victims of discrimination they use $ to fund more police resources aimed at “illegals.” (Full article paywalled.)
Reposted by David Dayen
Some personal news
Scoop–CFPB just fired employee alexisgoldstein.bsky.social for allegedly disrupting &documenting a meeting a year ago between CFPB & DOGE www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
She says she's being retaliated against after asking DOGE visitors who they were & if they'd completed training on handling info
She says she's being retaliated against after asking DOGE visitors who they were & if they'd completed training on handling info
CFPB Fires Employee Over a Confrontation With DOGE a Year Ago
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fired an employee for disrupting and documenting a 2025 meeting between the agency and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, according to emails rev...
www.bloomberg.com
February 12, 2026 at 1:10 AM
Some personal news
It's not, really. After Prop 50 he's in a blue seat and while he's desperately recalibrating, he's going to lose.
February 11, 2026 at 11:42 PM
It's not, really. After Prop 50 he's in a blue seat and while he's desperately recalibrating, he's going to lose.
The 6 Rs who crossed the aisle to block Trump's Canada tariffs:
Thomas Massie
Don Bacon
Brian Fitzpatrick
Jeff Hurd
Kevin Kiley
Dan Newhouse
Jared Golden (D) voted with the Republicans to maintain them.
Thomas Massie
Don Bacon
Brian Fitzpatrick
Jeff Hurd
Kevin Kiley
Dan Newhouse
Jared Golden (D) voted with the Republicans to maintain them.
Incredible that this many Republicans are still backing Trump on this wildly unpopular policy.
They'll now have to do it again after Trump vetoes and an override vote is held.
Just generating mountains of votes for midterm ads.
They'll now have to do it again after Trump vetoes and an override vote is held.
Just generating mountains of votes for midterm ads.
U.S. HOUSE APPROVES RESOLUTION TO END TRUMP’S CANADA TARIFFS BY 219–211
February 11, 2026 at 11:29 PM
The 6 Rs who crossed the aisle to block Trump's Canada tariffs:
Thomas Massie
Don Bacon
Brian Fitzpatrick
Jeff Hurd
Kevin Kiley
Dan Newhouse
Jared Golden (D) voted with the Republicans to maintain them.
Thomas Massie
Don Bacon
Brian Fitzpatrick
Jeff Hurd
Kevin Kiley
Dan Newhouse
Jared Golden (D) voted with the Republicans to maintain them.
Incredible that this many Republicans are still backing Trump on this wildly unpopular policy.
They'll now have to do it again after Trump vetoes and an override vote is held.
Just generating mountains of votes for midterm ads.
They'll now have to do it again after Trump vetoes and an override vote is held.
Just generating mountains of votes for midterm ads.
U.S. HOUSE APPROVES RESOLUTION TO END TRUMP’S CANADA TARIFFS BY 219–211
February 11, 2026 at 11:22 PM
Incredible that this many Republicans are still backing Trump on this wildly unpopular policy.
They'll now have to do it again after Trump vetoes and an override vote is held.
Just generating mountains of votes for midterm ads.
They'll now have to do it again after Trump vetoes and an override vote is held.
Just generating mountains of votes for midterm ads.
The House revolt yesterday, no longer content to serve as human shields for Donald Trump's policies, was an important moment, as Bob Kuttner explains:
prospect.org/2026/02/11/h...
prospect.org/2026/02/11/h...
House Says No to Tariff Man - The American Prospect
Speaker Mike Johnson can’t hold a united Republican caucus to support Trump’s unpopular and economically perverse tariffs.
prospect.org
February 11, 2026 at 10:54 PM
The House revolt yesterday, no longer content to serve as human shields for Donald Trump's policies, was an important moment, as Bob Kuttner explains:
prospect.org/2026/02/11/h...
prospect.org/2026/02/11/h...
Reposted by David Dayen
Court battle over surveillance footage at the Broadview ICE detention center reaches new levels of kafkaesque absurdity: The DOJ claimed it *couldn't afford* hard drives to put video footage on. Plaintiffs bought THE US GOVERNMENT hard drives. ICE "lost" them.
www.404media.co/government-l...
www.404media.co/government-l...
Government Loses Hard Drives It Was Supposed to Put ICE Detention Center Footage On
A Kafkaesque saga in which the government has failed to produce critical video footage has reached new levels of absurdity.
www.404media.co
February 11, 2026 at 6:09 PM
Court battle over surveillance footage at the Broadview ICE detention center reaches new levels of kafkaesque absurdity: The DOJ claimed it *couldn't afford* hard drives to put video footage on. Plaintiffs bought THE US GOVERNMENT hard drives. ICE "lost" them.
www.404media.co/government-l...
www.404media.co/government-l...
I think the hype cycle absolutely contributes to managers hungry for higher margins to sabotage their own businesses in this fashion, yes.
bsky.app/profile/ipla...
bsky.app/profile/ipla...
I don't fear AI doing my job better than me. I fear my boss ignorantly believing that AI can do my job better than I can. *That* seems like the real problem. Managers will decimate the economy for no good reason other than they can.
February 11, 2026 at 10:27 PM
I think the hype cycle absolutely contributes to managers hungry for higher margins to sabotage their own businesses in this fashion, yes.
bsky.app/profile/ipla...
bsky.app/profile/ipla...
We've had a problem of consolidated control of capital and shortchanging of labor for roughly 250+ years in America and it will continue regardless of what technological tool is facilitating that capital hoarding today.
Eyes on the prize.
Eyes on the prize.
February 11, 2026 at 10:10 PM
We've had a problem of consolidated control of capital and shortchanging of labor for roughly 250+ years in America and it will continue regardless of what technological tool is facilitating that capital hoarding today.
Eyes on the prize.
Eyes on the prize.
The potential harms of AI do not in my view connect to creative destruction of bullshit jobs as much as it connects to the hoarding of its productivity and power by a narrow band of oligarchs.
If it takes out the economic termites in the process that might be useful for the broader fight.
If it takes out the economic termites in the process that might be useful for the broader fight.
February 11, 2026 at 10:09 PM
The potential harms of AI do not in my view connect to creative destruction of bullshit jobs as much as it connects to the hoarding of its productivity and power by a narrow band of oligarchs.
If it takes out the economic termites in the process that might be useful for the broader fight.
If it takes out the economic termites in the process that might be useful for the broader fight.
I'm personally more critical of how AI development is being financed than the technology itself, & I think it's foolish to critique the tech today when it's subject to change quickly.
But knee-jerk fears that AI is "coming for jobs" neglects assessing whether those jobs are worthwhile for society.
But knee-jerk fears that AI is "coming for jobs" neglects assessing whether those jobs are worthwhile for society.
February 11, 2026 at 10:09 PM
I'm personally more critical of how AI development is being financed than the technology itself, & I think it's foolish to critique the tech today when it's subject to change quickly.
But knee-jerk fears that AI is "coming for jobs" neglects assessing whether those jobs are worthwhile for society.
But knee-jerk fears that AI is "coming for jobs" neglects assessing whether those jobs are worthwhile for society.
This whole debate reminds me of Obama during the Affordable Care Act saying that we had to preserve insurance company administrative bloat because "a lot of good people" worked in health care. I didn't buy it then and I don't buy that we have to preserve Chegg or Epic now.
February 11, 2026 at 10:09 PM
This whole debate reminds me of Obama during the Affordable Care Act saying that we had to preserve insurance company administrative bloat because "a lot of good people" worked in health care. I didn't buy it then and I don't buy that we have to preserve Chegg or Epic now.
More recently, vibecoding is seen as an existential threat to niche software companies. Which are... horribly predatory! Epic Systems in the health care space is just one example.
prospect.org/2024/10/01/2...
prospect.org/2024/10/01/2...
An Epic Dystopia - The American Prospect
How a near-monopoly gained control of most of the nation’s electronic medical records, to the detriment of medical practice and doctor morale
prospect.org
February 11, 2026 at 10:09 PM
More recently, vibecoding is seen as an existential threat to niche software companies. Which are... horribly predatory! Epic Systems in the health care space is just one example.
prospect.org/2024/10/01/2...
prospect.org/2024/10/01/2...
The first company that really suffered from AI adoption was Chegg, an online education tutor that was facilitating cheating by hiring Indian subcontractors to write essays, answer questions during exams, etc.
Am I supposed to mourn for its demise?
prospect.org/2023/06/01/2...
Am I supposed to mourn for its demise?
prospect.org/2023/06/01/2...
The Companies AI Might Replace Aren’t Exactly Good - The American Prospect
A review of Chegg, an online education tutor that’s threatened by ChatGPT, suggests that a bigger problem than AI is what we allow businesses to get away with.
prospect.org
February 11, 2026 at 10:09 PM
The first company that really suffered from AI adoption was Chegg, an online education tutor that was facilitating cheating by hiring Indian subcontractors to write essays, answer questions during exams, etc.
Am I supposed to mourn for its demise?
prospect.org/2023/06/01/2...
Am I supposed to mourn for its demise?
prospect.org/2023/06/01/2...
I feel like there's an unsaid side to this line of discourse.
If we're looking right now at what AI is replacing, broadly defined it's things that need to be replaced. 🧵
If we're looking right now at what AI is replacing, broadly defined it's things that need to be replaced. 🧵
I understand why people are exhausted by AI hype, and why those of us squarely in the corner of "human dignity uber alles" see AI doomerism as self-serving hype, but I *really* think people on the left broadly need to start thinking seriously about the possibiltiy of the hype being...true.
February 11, 2026 at 10:09 PM
I feel like there's an unsaid side to this line of discourse.
If we're looking right now at what AI is replacing, broadly defined it's things that need to be replaced. 🧵
If we're looking right now at what AI is replacing, broadly defined it's things that need to be replaced. 🧵
Reposted by David Dayen
Invoking wealthy class solidarity to excuse sex crimes against children is sorta the Epstein Class in a nutshell
Bondi crashes out over Epstein: "The Dow is over 50,000 dollars! I don't know why you're laughing. You're a great stock trader as I hear, Raskin. The Dow is over 50,000 right now. The S&P at almost 7,000, and the Nasdaq smashing records. That's what we should be talking about."
February 11, 2026 at 4:48 PM
Invoking wealthy class solidarity to excuse sex crimes against children is sorta the Epstein Class in a nutshell
Here come the pro-AI PACs, which actually have more money than the pro-Israel PACs, into Illinois.
IL02 has competing PAC support, as the pro-Israel PAC $ is supporting Donna Miller, while the pro-AI PAC is supporting Jesse Jackson Jr.
Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale is a major pro-AI PAC donor.
IL02 has competing PAC support, as the pro-Israel PAC $ is supporting Donna Miller, while the pro-AI PAC is supporting Jesse Jackson Jr.
Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale is a major pro-AI PAC donor.
AI dollars boosting Jackson, Bean
www.politico.com
February 11, 2026 at 6:27 PM
Here come the pro-AI PACs, which actually have more money than the pro-Israel PACs, into Illinois.
IL02 has competing PAC support, as the pro-Israel PAC $ is supporting Donna Miller, while the pro-AI PAC is supporting Jesse Jackson Jr.
Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale is a major pro-AI PAC donor.
IL02 has competing PAC support, as the pro-Israel PAC $ is supporting Donna Miller, while the pro-AI PAC is supporting Jesse Jackson Jr.
Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale is a major pro-AI PAC donor.
Listen wherever you get podcasts, and sign up at organizedmoney.fm for every episode in your inbox.
Organized Money | Matt Stoller | Substack
Dave Dayen and Matt Stoller take you on a tour of how business really works. Click to read Organized Money, by Matt Stoller, a Substack publication with thousands of subscribers.
organizedmoney.fm
February 11, 2026 at 5:00 PM
Listen wherever you get podcasts, and sign up at organizedmoney.fm for every episode in your inbox.
Both parties are sick of Big Medicine, and some surprising counterattacks have emerged—like flat-funding Medicare Advantage. On Oganized Money this week we talked to Olivia Webb Kosloff about some rare pushback against the privatization of Medicare.
prospect.org/2026/02/11/o...
prospect.org/2026/02/11/o...
Organized Money: The End of United Health Care for All
There's been good news in health care reform this week, and our guest is right in the middle of the fight for positive change.
prospect.org
February 11, 2026 at 5:00 PM
Both parties are sick of Big Medicine, and some surprising counterattacks have emerged—like flat-funding Medicare Advantage. On Oganized Money this week we talked to Olivia Webb Kosloff about some rare pushback against the privatization of Medicare.
prospect.org/2026/02/11/o...
prospect.org/2026/02/11/o...
Ultimately crypto is crashing because degenerates found something more fun to bet on
February 11, 2026 at 4:19 PM
Ultimately crypto is crashing because degenerates found something more fun to bet on
Wow just a completely false statement in @axios.com, resolutions of disapproval are privileged and only need a simple majority in the Senate, in fact four of the anti-tariff resolutions have passed the Senate already.
www.axios.com/2026/02/11/t...
www.axios.com/2026/02/11/t...
February 11, 2026 at 4:14 PM
Wow just a completely false statement in @axios.com, resolutions of disapproval are privileged and only need a simple majority in the Senate, in fact four of the anti-tariff resolutions have passed the Senate already.
www.axios.com/2026/02/11/t...
www.axios.com/2026/02/11/t...
Yes claims delays should not be seen as a legitimate inquiry into the validity of the claim but a tactic to hang on to a money-generating asset
February 11, 2026 at 3:46 PM
Yes claims delays should not be seen as a legitimate inquiry into the validity of the claim but a tactic to hang on to a money-generating asset
It's underappreciated how health care companies make money by holding your money (like in an HSA account or insurance premium) & investing it before you can use it.
One insurance giant, UnitedHealth, even has a bank. A payday lender!
Emma Freer & Olivia Webb Kosloff have this report:
One insurance giant, UnitedHealth, even has a bank. A payday lender!
Emma Freer & Olivia Webb Kosloff have this report:
The Bank of Big Medicine - The American Prospect
Health insurers and providers are using industrial loan companies and other tactics to make money from financial engineering rather than patient care.
prospect.org
February 11, 2026 at 3:36 PM
It's underappreciated how health care companies make money by holding your money (like in an HSA account or insurance premium) & investing it before you can use it.
One insurance giant, UnitedHealth, even has a bank. A payday lender!
Emma Freer & Olivia Webb Kosloff have this report:
One insurance giant, UnitedHealth, even has a bank. A payday lender!
Emma Freer & Olivia Webb Kosloff have this report:
Reposted by David Dayen
Adam Smith agreeing to give an interview witj the The American Prospect is like Pete Hegseth giving an interview to Isaac Chotiner.
Stay for this bonkers interview with Rep. Adam Smith about his financial support from Palantir, facilitators of the ICE panopticon.
prospect.org/2026/02/11/p...
prospect.org/2026/02/11/p...
February 11, 2026 at 3:19 PM
Adam Smith agreeing to give an interview witj the The American Prospect is like Pete Hegseth giving an interview to Isaac Chotiner.
Stay for this bonkers interview with Rep. Adam Smith about his financial support from Palantir, facilitators of the ICE panopticon.
prospect.org/2026/02/11/p...
prospect.org/2026/02/11/p...
February 11, 2026 at 3:13 PM
Stay for this bonkers interview with Rep. Adam Smith about his financial support from Palantir, facilitators of the ICE panopticon.
prospect.org/2026/02/11/p...
prospect.org/2026/02/11/p...