How Elon Bought Twitter
April 28, 2022
The broken systems that enabled the purchase.
The Roosevelt Rundown features our top stories of the week.
How the Twitter Takeover Happened
Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter could transform the platform in unforeseeable ways.
What we know for certain: The systems that enabled the takeover are broken.
“The board should have considered the interest of stakeholders like employees and users in evaluating the long-term value of the company,” Roosevelt Fellow Lenore Palladino told the New York Times this week. “We need to fundamentally change the approach to corporate governance.”
We must also blame a tax code that allowed for one man to amass $250 billion and make this kind of offer in the first place.
“Now imagine a top-end wealth tax had been in place—curbing the economic power of these billionaires and in turn their incentives to influence our mediascape,” Roosevelt Director of Corporate Power Niko Lusiani tweeted.
We can do more than imagine. As Ari Glogower, David Gamage, and Kitty Richards have written, a wealth tax is constitutional.
A Step Toward Cancellation
President Biden has now committed to making a decision about student debt cancellation in the next couple of weeks.
The answer should be clear, as Roosevelt’s Alí Bustamante and the Student Debt Crisis Center’s Cody Hounanian argue in The Nation.
“The American economic recovery is not complete. Student debt relief and permanent debt cancellation are pivotal steps toward making America more prosperous and equitable,” they write.
“It’s time to build on the lessons of the two-year student loan payment pause and lock in the social and economic benefits of debt-free education for good.”
Learn more in “Student Debt Cancellation IS Progressive: Cancellation as a Tool to Address Racial and Economic Inequity.”
Robert Kuttner and Heather McGhee in Conversation
Yesterday, Roosevelt hosted a virtual launch for American Prospect co-founder Robert Kuttner’s new book, Going Big: FDR’s Legacy, Biden’s New Deal, and the Struggle to Save Democracy.
The conversation between Kuttner and The Sum of Us author Heather McGhee included a Q&A that covered audience questions about student debt cancellation, race-forward politics, and the role of social movements in the fight for democracy.
“The Roosevelt Institute of course is the perfect place to have this discussion. The book’s subtitle begins with the words ‘Roosevelt’s legacy,’ and we are all dependent on Roosevelt’s legacy,” said Kuttner.
What We’re Reading
How Do We Build Black Wealth? Understanding the Limits of Black Capitalism [feat. Roosevelt’s Darrick Hamilton, William “Sandy” Darity Jr., and Mehrsa Baradaran] – Nonprofit Quarterly
Revealed: Top US Corporations Raising Prices on Americans Even as Profits Surge [feat. Roosevelt Fellow Lindsay Owens] – The Guardian