Sandeep Vaheesan
@sandeepvaheesan
Followers
8,694
Following
2,538
Media
409
Statuses
14,000
Legal director @openmarkets . Advisory council @PeoplesParity . Former @CFPB . Book Democracy in Power @UChicagoPress , coming this fall. All opinions are my own.
Washington, DC
Joined February 2014
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
Aqours
• 259778 Tweets
Power Of True Worship
• 216888 Tweets
#鬼滅の刃
• 159377 Tweets
#AustrianGP
• 130904 Tweets
Verstappen
• 115889 Tweets
Oscar
• 109988 Tweets
Norris
• 94260 Tweets
Russell
• 85495 Tweets
Perez
• 64695 Tweets
Lewis
• 58253 Tweets
ROMANCE UNTOLD TRACKLIST
• 38436 Tweets
Alonso
• 36763 Tweets
ブラックジャック
• 35304 Tweets
Leclerc
• 35157 Tweets
#ItsSailorTAEYONGDay
• 34918 Tweets
鬼滅劇場
• 34649 Tweets
劇場版三部作
• 34474 Tweets
Hamilton
• 29980 Tweets
BABYMONSTER FOREVER OUT NOW
• 29183 Tweets
Piastri
• 27567 Tweets
Sainz
• 26046 Tweets
#BF_ATEEZ_HushHush
• 23570 Tweets
煉獄さん
• 13017 Tweets
高橋一生
• 11983 Tweets
Ocon
• 11863 Tweets
Olu Jacobs
• 11140 Tweets
Highway 1009
• 10572 Tweets
神ちゃん
• 10380 Tweets
Pinned Tweet
Truly love the cover
@chadzimmerman_
and his colleagues designed for my book. Deeply grateful for all their work and support.
33
62
335
In final rule, FTC bans non-compete clauses for *all* workers!
54
1K
6K
Canceling $10,000 in student debt while ending the moratorium on loan payments is a good example of bad policy and bad politics
6
309
4K
If you believe unionization is solely about wages and benefits, organizing by Google workers might puzzle you. If you recognize unionization is about injecting democracy into autocratic workplaces, organizing by all workers makes perfect sense.
9
555
3K
In hindsight, it is surprising this investigative reporting didn't happen soon after Antonin Scalia's death in 2016 at a wealthy businessman's giant ranch
Get ready for this: The best investigative reporters in the country are now going to be digging into the corruption of the Supreme Court, and the whole right apparatus behind the right wing judicial takeover, for many months to come.
250
2K
6K
23
358
3K
"Fintech" sounds cool. The alternate name--credit and payments with fewer consumer protections and more surveillance--is honest though.
14
393
2K
Just when you think private equity firms cannot be any more socially destructive, you read this
31
576
2K
"It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country." - FDR
Minneapolis’s mayor on the supposedly dangerous precedent set by the ride share ordinance: “Are we now planning to set a minimum wage for every industry?”
340
198
3K
4
377
2K
In the 1950s, investor-owned utilities attacked electric co-ops as "socialistic" and launched a propaganda campaign against them in corporate mouthpieces like Reader's Digest. Good illustration of how the Red Scare's true target was the New Deal, not mythical Soviet infiltration.
8
246
1K
New Deal state >> neoliberal state
In 1947, New York City vaccinated 5 million people against smallpox in two weeks. How can we be so much worse at this 75 years later?
4K
20K
112K
5
173
1K
Breaking up Facebook and Google is necessary but that alone is a conservative remedy that preserves their socially destructive methods of moneymaking. Abolishing their basic business model (targeted advertising built on mass surveillance) should be the end goal.
19
223
958
And it makes existing non-competes null and void for everyone except senior executives
5
93
941
So much of contemporary Silicon Valley innovation is just "appwashing"--presenting predatory business models as socially beneficial because they are offered through an app
6
113
863
Do neoliberals like this Big Tech lobbyist realize that their fellow neoliberals are responsible for the United States not having adequate state capacity to deliver public services and works?
“Can you build a tunnel under a highway in one weekend?” is a good litmus test for state capacity.
(The Netherlands passes, the US does not).
173
677
4K
14
90
742
A Democrat attacks very reasonable product safety standards using right-wing talking points
A new rule mandating finger-detection technology in table saws could raise costs by hundreds of dollars and result in a government-mandated monopoly.
I introduced a bipartisan bill to protect consumer choice and block this mandate until the patents for this tech are made public.
2K
110
2K
23
62
778
Imagine being horrified by the prospect of spending more money on things that make life better for people everywhere and less on things designed to kill people outside the U.S. . . .
Time to face the harsh reality, socialist Bernie Sanders will become the chairman of the Sen Budget Committee. He has vowed to use his position to enact his progressive agenda on healthcare, climate, infrastructure spending, & cutting defense spending.
@standamericanow
24K
2K
10K
21
228
652
Airline executives making $30 million a year should be able to anticipate and plan for things like Chicago and Denver are cold and snowy in December
10
90
674
Mainstream economists are eternally afraid of a small risk of 5% annual inflation but are conspicuously silent about the 10,000% overnight increase in wholesale electricity prices in Texas last week
7
114
635
A revealing fact about the antitrust community: Many scholars and previously even the FTC were convinced that Uber had succeeded exclusively due to its app, instead of primarily through its large-scale lawbreaking and predatory pricing
6
73
583
U.S. Chamber of Commerce official: Because some workers have exceptional tolerance for high temperatures, the federal government should continue to let people unnecessarily suffer and die on the job from extreme heat
28
231
517
Instead of recognizing that Jeff Bezos' wealth is the result of legal entitlements that allow him to run Amazon and control many markets, mainstream economists believe he is millions of times more productive than the average person is
5
75
466
On many issues, centrist wonks favor the solution that is both bad policy and bad politics
6
40
472
I still can't quite believe that the Department of Justice did not sue a single monopolist between 1999 and Oct 2020 (the Google case)
9
59
449
The Obama administration, in which Summers served, showed similar hostility to aiding distressed homeowners, while extending unlimited public support for big banks
To those who say $2,000 checks not optimal, but better than nothing: what is limiting principle? How about $10,000 checks? More?
Hard to justify support for near-universal giveaways when income losses fully replaced, w/ no liquidity problem for most.
928
29
146
6
102
396
During his time in the Obama administration, Larry Summers expressed this extremely right-wing view (and kept his job)
“One of the reasons that inequality has probably gone up in our society is that people are being treated closer to the way that they’re supposed to be treated.”
12
40
391
Fingers crossed we are on the verge of federal action against what appears to be one of the most harmful price-fixing schemes: third-party assisted collusion among landlords in cities across the country
SCOOP: DOJ’s
#antitrust
investigation into algorithmic price-fixing into rental housing market deepens with a dawn raid on a property management company
@JusticeATR
#cartel
21
396
1K
1
122
408
I suspect most neoclassical economists exclude the creation and maintenance of property rights, enforcement of contracts, and chartering of corporations from their definition of "government intervention"
13
91
369
Law school trains and, even more importantly, socializes students to be aspiring judicial clerks and judges (instead of civil servants, administrators, legislators, public advocates, etc.). It's a big problem for lawyers in an (aspirationally) democratic society.
7
34
359
Critics of "cancel culture" are generally silent about at-will employment--and its adverse effects on free speech--because they support top-down control and seek to preserve hierarchical systems in the face of popular discontent
3
61
345
A common belief among progressives, including lawyers, is that bad Supreme Court decisions are divided ones--previously 5-4 and now 6-3. In reality, many bad rulings are 9-0, such as AMG Capital Management v. FTC this week.
5
35
338
Imagine if the federal government funded municipal broadband utilities to compete against Comcast. That is what the Public Works Administration did in the 1930s for cities that were frustrated with the high rates and poor service of power companies.
7
81
340
This action alone, which marginalized the Free File program and left millions of Americans at the mercy of Intuit every tax season, should disqualify Renata Hesse from government positions
2
98
345
At all levels, the Democratic Party appears to favor people who exude careerist ambition and treat every elected or appointed position as merely a stepping stone to something bigger, instead of a public responsibility that should be taken seriously and done well
6
57
337
The only state in the U.S. where all electric utilities are either cooperatives or publicly owned
6
44
338
Just cancel it all and use it as first step toward fixing financing of higher ed
2
13
312
What should tarnish academia's reputation but doesn't: Not mythical "nutty left-wing professors of underwater basket weaving" but the many glorified corporate lobbyists umm "libertarian scholars" who teach in economics departments and law schools
4
67
322
Legal scholars: The law grants Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk entitlements to run and derive great wealth from Amazon, Facebook, and Tesla
Mainstream economists: These individuals are actually millions of times more productive than the rest of us
3
40
294
Democrats, please stop asking your political opponents to do your work
Democrats ask chief justice to investigate Clarence Thomas trips: "It is your duty"
40
56
195
5
42
288
"Few people will ever search for and buy things on their smartphone." - FTC economists in 2012
7
33
278
Hochul sides with bad employers and loses any claim to be "pro-worker." This ban would have pressured firms to retain workers by offering good pay and fair treatment, instead of using non-competes clauses.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul will veto a bill to ban non-competes after facing intense opposition from Wall Street, hospitals, and business groups.
5
13
28
8
81
281
TLDR: Let's ignore Amazon's unfair competitive practices, alleged in great detail by the FTC, and instead assume the FTC is suing the company for offering lower prices and better service
Being an Econ 101 bro means never having to take facts seriously
The FTC's complaint against Amazon makes an Econ 101 mistake: confusing a shift of a curve for a movement along a curve.
Fellow Econ 101 teachers, our time has come! A 🧵
14
80
433
11
31
277
Finally read this complaint carefully. Damning stuff--RealPage helps landlords jointly raise rents in Phoenix, Tucson, and cities across the country and contributes to the housing crisis. This should be a national scandal.
Yes, it's outrageous! From our
@arizonaago
complaint, here are two maps showing multifamily apartments where RealPage is allegedly collecting and sharing pricing and occupancy information in the Phoenix and Tucson areas. Camaron - thank you for sharing this.
17
87
196
10
83
275
In oral argument in NCAA v. Alston, Clarence Thomas just asked the NCAA's lawyer (Clinton era solicitor general Seth Waxman) why the "amateurism" principle (benign name for collusive wage suppression) applies to players, but not to coaches. A very good question.
9
35
258
The First Circuit's decision last week that workers, regardless of employment classification, can organize and strike for better terms and conditions of work (without violating the Sherman Act) may be the most important and best antitrust development in 2022 so far
7
51
250
Believe it or not, former public servants can feed their families and live comfortably without becoming corporate lobbyists
4
9
236
My read of the initial reactions to FTC non-compete ban:
Everyone seems to love it, except for Big Law attorneys, corporate lobbyists, and their favorite antitrust professors
7
39
238
When neoclassical economists claim they are "non-ideological," recall what they consider government "intervention" (and hence suspect):
Intervention: Consumer protection, labor, and minimum wage laws
Not intervention: Property rights, contract enforcement, and corporate charters
9
53
222
This is a great idea. The drivers and cars didn't go anywhere, they are still in Minneapolis. If the people who do the work get financing, they could establish a democratic alternative to the VC-run Uber and Lyft.
Inbox: Minneapolis City Council will consider giving $150,000 to transportation network companies to replace Uber and Lyft
69
39
288
21
45
215
Elite law school faculties are principally made up of the ideological equivalents of Amy Klobuchar and John Kasich and yet are somehow "leftist" in the eyes of right wingers.
3
19
203
An idea for improving Shark Tank:
Instead of Mark Cuban and some other rich people deciding whether to invest in mostly trivial business ideas, have a modern Harold Ickes award federal grants to fund projects proposed by state and local governments
9
16
201
The end goal of neoliberal attacks on unions, occupational licensing, and other forms of non-corporate market governance is to Uberize all work arrangements
2
34
189
The moral courage displayed by these law students is such a refreshing change from the relentless careerism commonly seen in the legal profession
New Columbia Law Review statement—the student board has voted to refuse to work until:
(1) Rabea Eghbariah’s Article is published online without qualification or disclaimer, and
(2) CLR’s Board of Directors commits to complete editorial independence of the journal
17
223
641
1
41
194
Delighted to share that I am writing a book for
@uchicagopress
on the successes and shortcomings of cooperative and public power in the United States (working title Democracy in Power) and how they can inform the
#GreenNewDeal
today. I am excited to work with
@chadzimmerman_
!
24
17
186
Obama since leaving office:
1. Helping install Tom Perez as DNC chair
2. Endorsing Macron for French presidency (in first round)*
3. Reassuring Theresa May that she would keep her majority against Corbyn's insurgency
4. Orchestrating centrist consolidation against Bernie Sanders
Former president Barack Obama says he supports Sen. Joe Manchin III’s effort to scale back a sweeping voting rights bill in hopes of securing some Republican support
632
302
1K
4
42
183
I imagine this is why Frum is actually against AMLO and Sheinbaum
3
40
187
Someone who is "a public servant at heart" probably wouldn't choose to be Uber's chief legal officer and lead its fight against labor and employment rights for drivers
3
25
175
The post-1970s antitrust revolution is an underappreciated culprit in the Great Regression.
For instance, the growth of poorly paid, precarious jobs (fast food, Uber, Amazon, etc.) was brought to us by Supreme Court decisions like Sylvania.
5
74
182
I really hope concentration in land ownership, particularly in cities, is soon a big topic in empirical economics research
2
24
178
If you excluded its debt obligations, Lehman Brothers looked strong on September 14, 2008
1
27
181
Mostly forgotten radicalism of the New Deal:
In addition to the Rural Electrification Administration extending credit to electric cooperatives, the Public Works Administration gave loans and grants to municipalities to take over investor-owned utilities.
3
34
177
A neoclassical economist when observing a few get very rich thanks to particular configurations of property, contract, corporation, consumer protection, and antitrust rules: Markets are natural and efficient and must not be modified through state action!
8
33
174
Great excerpt in U.S. v. Google on how Google shares its monopoly profits with Apple. Google pays billions for exclusive pre-installation on Apple devices--payments that are as much as one-fifth of Apple's annual net income.
9
70
174
The Secretary of Transportation has consumer protection and antitrust powers to stop and remedy the airlines' misconduct and negligence. Buttigieg appears uninterested in using them.
As travelers look to rebook due to Southwest's cancellations, other airlines should cap fares on these routes to help people who need to get home. I'm encouraged to see several airlines have now committed to this step – all of them should.
243
466
5K
5
45
175
If a CEO says "technology" three times, his corporation doesn't have to follow laws he finds annoying or inconvenient
7
33
162
Amazing! The FTC proposes a complete ban on non-compete clauses--no carveouts tied to income or occupation. This blanket prohibition would protect *all* workers.
4
50
169
What Keynes said about Ricardianism applies equally to neoclassical economics
8
52
170
"The Uber files reveal for the first time that [the late Alan Krueger] was paid about $100,000 for a study that was widely quoted in support of Uber as a creator of good jobs precisely because it operated outside the rules."
3
71
166
This is the chief legal officer of Uber, a company famous for scrupulously abiding by the law
A former colleague from the Obama Administration just shot me a text: “remember when we abided by the Hatch Act?” We were all so quaint and naive back then, following the law and such.
218
4K
25K
8
30
164
The current Antitrust Division has correctly recognized that Uber's misclassification of workers is unfair competition--not the type of competition the law should condone
1
9
163
In
@WIRED
, I argue the Biden administration should do more than just litigate the antitrust suits against Facebook and Google. To tame corporate dominance, the FTC should enact bright-line rules to restrict mergers and outlaw unfair competitive practices
4
45
162
Traditional cab companies offered apps too (remember Hailo?) but they generally complied with labor and employment laws and municipal cab regulations and didn't have the luxury of losing billions of dollars year after year
1
8
158
Me, dumb and unsophisticated: We should discount the opinions of economists who are paid by big businesses to say monopoly is okay and who have been consistently wrong in their predictions.
You, smart and savvy: AD HOMINEM!
3
32
154
These "private" entities are actually publicly charted corporations dependent on a host of state granted privileges
The First Amendment prohibits government censorship and protects private censorship. In a free society, Twitter and Facebook are allowed to make horrible decisions with respect to content moderation, and you are allowed to tell them off and use another service.
2K
3K
14K
10
23
151
FTC staff spent years reviewing the evidence on non-competes, thinking about the agency's statutory authority, and identifying more targeted methods of protecting business information. They did not just wake up one morning and say, "Hey, let's ban non-competes for everyone!"
4
29
159
So-called pro-worker conservatives refuse to offer one important thing: power on the job
Student debt cancellation would give millions more power to walk away from bad jobs and to work in public service, subsidized apprenticeships would not do that
6
21
150
Neoclassical economists pushed these bad ideas. Given their poor track record and methodology (not to mention the corruption of many practitioners), maybe we should stop listening to them?
The bottom line is:
Many things that were believed in the 1990s turned out to be wrong: from transition economics, to deregulation of the financial sector, to privatization of pensions, to "trade leading to peace".
Hard to think of a decade that was so wrong.
47
344
1K
6
36
142
The more I read about renewable energy the more I realize addressing climate change is principally a matter of politics, not technology
8
21
148
Good piece by
@zachdcarter
on the economist Joan Robinson. Two critical points in it:
- Employer power is the norm
- Breaking up large firms and other antitrust measures, while valuable, are no substitute for unions (and, I'd add, a federal job guarantee)
6
38
149
Antitrust is a funny field: lawyers and scholars who lobby for large corporations (often making lots of money pushing things like mergers and acquisitions) love posturing as "neutral experts," while they disparage those on the other side as "activists."
10
28
150
Adding a few more elite lawyers to the Supreme Court is vastly inferior to stripping the federal judiciary of jurisdiction over a wide range of matters
3
14
144
Enthusiastic libertarian defenses of Pfizer's COVID vaccine profits are a good reminder that these supposed "enemies of the state" love government action (such as patent protection for publicly supported research) that concentrates power and wealth among a privileged few
1
28
142
Big win for workers in D.C. The mayor signs the broadest ban on non-competes so far, one that protects the vast majority of workers in the district.
D.C. is set to outlaw employee noncompete contracts, after Mayor Bowser signed D.C. Council's proposal (pending 30-day congressional review). It's a step beyond states' recent efforts at stopping employers from imposing noncompetes on low-wage workers
1
17
40
2
23
144
Guest worker programs bind immigrants to employers and are supported by big business interests that want captive workforces. All immigrants should have full labor and employment rights on day one in the United States.
If Bernie become labor secretary, kiss the H-2A, H-2B, H-1B, L-1, J-1, and other visas goodbye.
88
57
284
1
22
139
One of many lessons from Texas electricity fiasco:
Don't force people to comparison shop for essential services. It is burdensome, makes life even more complicated, and creates another playground for deceptive, high-pressure marketers.
2
22
138
What unifies the "tech" sector is violating public policy as a competitive method
Amazon: Avoided collecting sales taxes
Facebook and Google: Built surveillance dragnets that disregard norms against spying
Uber: Flouted labor and employment laws and municipal cab regs
3
26
142
Speaking from my CFPB and antitrust experience, the liberal affinity for complexity is very real and an important obstacle to good governance
4
18
139
Centrists during Obama admin: Without Congress on board, the president can't do any of the good things lefties want. Learn about the American system of government!
Centrists during Biden admin: Okay maybe he can, but those good things are actually bad.
2
23
133
Epic v. Google is a reminder of why big businesses and their allies have been fighting for decades to weaken antitrust law's powerful private right of action and to limit jury trials. Both provide essential checks on corporate prerogatives.
5
21
137
I would add that being a Big Law attorney (in many fields) is quite easy today because the law is stacked in favor of powerful corporations. In contrast, being a successful plaintiffs' attorney or state enforcer requires real creativity and talent.
0
11
134
Working with RealPage, landlords collusively raised rents and accepted lower occupancy rates in their apartment buildings. Sounds bad for the public!
4
51
138
Conservative "antimonopolists": Big Tech's decision to suspend certain accounts and apps is an outrage and must be addressed. Challenging corporate prerogatives outside this context, however, is communism.
3
29
127
Imagine believing the distribution of income is the product of metaphysical concepts such as "technology" or the "marginal productivity of labor" and not the product of who has power.
4
28
126
"A considerable body of research concludes that most mergers do not create value for anyone, except perhaps the investment bankers that negotiated the deal." - Professor Melissa Schilling
AT&T's $200 billion merger spree promised a universe of innovation, but instead we saw:
47,000 layoffs
higher prices for consumers and competitors
7 million lost customers in just three years
a huge loss on a sale of acquired assets
good job all around
2
44
119
3
37
125
The neoliberalism of the Carter administration is still very underappreciated. I just read articles by Alfred Kahn (head of the Civil Aeronautics Board under Carter) in which he warned about "grossly monopolistic wages" and wished for the death of the "public utility concept."
9
16
125
"The government should not pick winners and losers" is easily one of the silliest lines in econ discourse. A government (left, center, or right) does exactly that and nothing else.
3
25
122
In this very good article, Brett Christophers explains how the Obama administration not only failed to assist distressed homeowners but also facilitated the transfer of their properties to private equity firms like Blackstone
5
63
184