The Capitol Forum Podcast

Daniel Sherwood, Energy Team Editor at the Capitol Forum, and his colleague Sharon Kelly discuss their investigation into the Natural Gas Liquids market, where they found indications that dominant producers in Appalachia are encouraging each other to keep prices high by producing less.

Lisa Epstein and Vikas Kumar from the Capitol Forum’s corporate investigations team discuss their reporting on the aggressive marketing tactics and sales strategies of Signify Health on the eve of its proposed $8 Billion acquisition by CVS.

Dr. Caffarra is a world-renowned competition economist with over two decades of experience. She’s served as a top advisor and expert before the European Commission and has provided guidance to multiple companies and agencies on mergers, conduct cases and regulatory issues. In this episode of Second Request, Dr. Caffarra dives into the latest in European antitrust regulation and enforcement and voices concerns about the influence of economists on competition. 

Gilad Edelman is a senior writer for WIRED, covering the intersection of tech, politics, and law. Before that, he was executive editor of the Washington Monthly. He has a degree from Yale Law School.His recent article, “The Weak Argument Jeopardizing Tech Antitrust Legislation” is having an outsized impact on the conversation happening on Capitol Hill.

Niko Lusiani is the co-author of the Roosevelt Institute’s recently published paper, “Prices, Profits, and Power: An Analysis of 2021 Firm-Level Markups.How to understand and respond to inflation has become one of the central debates of this economic recovery. In “Prices, Profits, and Power: An Analysis of 2021 Firm-Level Markups,” Roosevelt’s Director of Macroeconomic Analysis, Mike Konczal, and Director of Corporate Power Niko Lusiani, conduct original research to show that we need an all-of-government administrative, regulatory, and legislative approach to tackling inflation that includes demand, supply, and market power interventions.

U.S. Representative Buddy Carter is a pharmacist by trade and a lifelong resident of the First District of Georgia, which he represents. He recently wrote a letter to the FTC calling for an investigation into the ways Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) spike consumer drug prices and reduce access to life saving drugs.He discusses the monopoly problems that PBMs present and what the FTC and Congress can do to stop anticompetitive conduct in the industry and protect independent pharmacies.

Moe Tkacik is a Senior Fellow at the American Economic Liberties Project.  She’s a former journalist who has worked for the Wall Street Journal and Time, and she discusses the supply chain crisis behind the Baby Formula shortage and possible solutions to the problem. 

Maurice Stucke is the Douglas A. Blaze Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Tennessee and recently wrote Breaking Away: How to Regain Control Over Our Data, Privacy, and Autonomy.Breaking Away sounds a warning call alerting readers that their privacy and autonomy concerns are indeed warranted, and the remedies deserve far greater attention than they have received from our leading policymakers and experts to date. Through the various prisms of economic theory, market data, policy, and law, the book offers a clear and accessible insight into how a few powerful firms - Google, Apple, Facebook (Meta), and Amazon - have used the same anticompetitive playbook and manipulated the current legal regime for their gain at our collective expense.While much has been written about these four companies' power, far less has been said about addressing their risks. In looking at the proposals to date, however, policymakers and scholars have not fully addressed three fundamental issues: First, will more competition necessarily promote our privacy and well-being? Second, who owns the personal data, and is that even the right question? Third, what are the policy implications if personal data is non-rivalrous?

His recent report, “To Stem the Tide of Rural Decline, Stop the Bank Merger Wave” is making its own waves in the antitrust community as regulators look to revamp the banking merger guidelines. Basel shares with us how big the merger wave has been since the 1980s, why it happened, the effect it’s had on farmers, entrepreneurs, and rural communities, and his solution for fixing the problem.

Josh Kosman has been covering the financial industry for twenty-five years. He is a reporter for the New York Post, a former editor at Mergermarket.com and a former senior writer for The Deal and Buyouts Newsletter. Josh also literally wrote the book on private equity – his The Buyout of America: How Private Equity is Destroying Jobs and Killing the American Economy, published in 2009, made a big political impact at the time, with Obama advisor David Axelrod reportedly using it as the basis for his attacks on Mitt Romney during the 2012 presidential campaign.Private equity and mergers. The FTC and DOJ are, according to Capitol Forum reporting, taking a harder stance on private equity firms as potential divestiture buyers for assets companies are proposing to sell in their attempts to cure anticompetitive mergers.Private equity and rising interest rates. Josh’s website details how “Moody’s in May 2020 reported that two-thirds of the companies with the lowest debt ratings” were private equity-owned. “Standard & Poor’s in February 2020 reported $1.5 trillion in speculative-grade US corporate debt matures through 2024…Roughly 60 percent of the money has been borrowed by private equity firm-owned companies. With interest rates rising this poses a big risk.” Josh adds.Private equity’s political power. Josh is also expert on private equity’s political influence, and has written about Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s (D-AZ) support for the industry and President Joe Biden’s ties to Carlyle Group Co-Founder David Rubenstein.