Showing posts with label eat the rich. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eat the rich. Show all posts

Monday, August 17, 2026

Trump-appointed regulator OKs banking license for Trump-linked crypto firm

Trump-appointed regulator OKs banking license for Trump-linked crypto firm

 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/08/14/trump-world-liberty-bank-charter-crypto-01038464

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Trump-appointed regulator OKs banking license for Trump-linked crypto firm

The decision would give new powers and federal credibility to a venture in which the president and his family retain a substantial financial interest.

By Michael Stratford and Declan Harty

08/14/2026 05:06 PM EDT|Updated: 08/14/2026 07:17 PM EDT

The Trump administration has granted preliminary approval for a cryptocurrency venture backed by President Donald Trump’s family to operate a federally chartered trust bank, over the protests of Democrats who decried the decision as riddled with conflicts of interest.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the bank regulatory arm of the Treasury Department, said in a letter on Friday that it was conditionally approving World Liberty Trust Co.’s application for a trust bank charter. The company must still meet additional requirements before it receives final approval, the regulator said.

The decision stands to give new powers and federal credibility to a venture in which Trump and his family retain a substantial financial interest. It’s also among the most direct official actions that the administration has taken involving the president’s private finances.

World Liberty Trust Co. President and Chairman Zach Witkoff said the charter will allow the company to manage its USD1 stablecoin, a crypto token whose value is pegged to $1, under the OCC’s watch.

“USD1 grew because institutions trust how it operates, and confidence at enterprise scale deserves the backing of federal supervision,” Witkoff, the son of Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said in a statement. “We welcome continuous scrutiny from Federal regulators for many years to come.”

While Washington has been in knots over the steady drumbeat of news that Trump-linked businesses are expanding during his second term, the World Liberty application stood out to many.

Some Democrats and ethics watchdogs argued that the bid was one of the clearest examples of the conflicts of interest that administration officials face as they weigh the wishes of Trump family-backed companies. And they were quick to bash the OCC’s approval.

“This is the most brazen act of self-dealing our financial system has ever seen — and Congress cannot allow it to stand,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee.

Warren and other Democrats unveiled legislation on Friday that would prohibit regulators from approving banks that are owned or controlled by the president or the president’s family, vice president, members of Congress or other top government officials.

A Democratic Senate aide said the Banking Committee would likely probe the OCC’s approval of the World Liberty bank charter next year if Democrats regain control of Congress.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington CEO Donald Sherman called the OCC’s approval “the most egregious example to date of the President’s businesses profiting from his government job.”

“The President continues to boost the crypto market at the expense of everyday Americans who are wondering what happened to the money in their own bank accounts,” he said.

World Liberty, in advance of the approval, had rejected the conflict allegations — saying Trump is not involved in managing the company and that none of its leaders or employees work for the federal government. The White House has similarly said Trump has no involvement in business deals that would implicate his official responsibilities.

Trump and his family nevertheless retain a substantial financial stake in World Liberty Financial. DT Marks DEFI LLC, an entity affiliated with Trump and members of his family, owns about 38 percent of the holding company that controls World Liberty Financial, according to the company’s website. The entity and Trump family members also hold 22.5 billion of World Liberty’s governance tokens.

Trump disclosed nearly $600 million in income from World Liberty token and equity sales in 2025, a major piece of the $1.4 billion of crypto-related earnings he raked in. He has said he does not manage his financial interests, which are overseen by his children.

The approval doesn’t allow World Liberty to open a traditional bank, but rather a national trust bank — a limited-purpose institution that would not make loans or accept federally insured deposits. It’s the latest in a string of such approvals for crypto firms under Trump’s OCC. Others who have received similar green lights include Circle, Ripple and Coinbase.

The charter still provides significant legal and financial advantages. It’ll allow World Liberty to issue and redeem its USD1 stablecoin directly, manage the reserves backing it and offer digital asset custody services without relying on an intermediary. The company could also operate across state lines more easily without having to answer to individual state regulators.

Federal supervision could also bolster World Liberty’s credibility with customers and investors and help expand the use of USD1.

“This is not World Liberty trying to become Chase or Bank of America. This is World Liberty trying to become like Circle,” the crypto giant, said Austin Campbell, a crypto adviser and professor at New York University. The newly acquired charter, Campbell added, “is a regulatory wrapper to be able to hold these things in the way required under U.S. law to do business with both retail and the big boys.”

The decision to approve World Liberty Trust Co. had put Comptroller Jonathan Gould, a Trump appointee, in the extraordinary position of deciding whether to grant federal banking privileges to a business tied to the president’s family.

Gould had rejected calls to pause the review or recuse himself. And he declined a request by Democrats to share the full, unredacted application submitted by World Liberty. “We process applications in a fair and evenhanded manner,” he told lawmakers in February.

Stephen Lybarger, the top OCC official overseeing bank chartering and a longtime career official of the agency, wrote in the approval letter on Friday that the agency followed “established policies and procedures” in evaluating World Liberty’s application.

“The Comptroller and staff acted consistently with their statutory duties and ethical obligations with respect to the Application,” Lybarger wrote. “Career OCC staff reviewed the application for consistency with the statutory, regulatory, and policy requirements and factors for approval of a de novo application.”

The OCC declined to comment further. The agency consulted with career government ethics officials as it evaluated the World Liberty application, according to a person familiar with the process.

 

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Monday, July 27, 2026

GOP triggered by Mamdani making the ultrarich pay up

 

GOP triggered by Mamdani making the ultrarich pay up

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/7/27/800074734/news/republicans-triggered-mamdani-tax-on-rich/ 

GOP triggered by Mamdani making the ultrarich pay up

by Oliver Willis
Staff
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New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani listens as President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, shown last November.AP

Republicans are lashing out at New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani after he announced the city had taken a significant step forward in securing millions in taxes owed by the city’s ultrawealthy residents.

Mamdani said on Thursday that notices had been sent out informing owners of second homes worth $5 million or more that the pied-à-terre tax put in place by the state’s Democrats is coming soon.

Under current law, the properties are undertaxed, and plans are to apply the money that will be raised to help address New York’s budget deficit.

“The best city in the world deserves the best parks, libraries, and schools in the world. That’s only possible when we all pay our fair share,” Mamdani wrote.

An April estimate from the New York City comptroller analyzed the tax and found that it could provide as much as $510 million annually if fully implemented.

Despite the help the money could provide to the city, and the fact of it coming from extremely wealthy residents who can easily afford the additional cost, Republicans reacted angrily to Mamdani’s statement.

Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah accused Mamdani of seeing voters’ money as a “slush fund” (very few residents will be affected by the law), said the mayor “loves Karl Marx,” and even whined about him using “French words like ‘pied-à-terre’ to disguise new, confiscatory taxes he wants to impose to redistribute wealth.”

FILE - Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, speaks during the confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, shown in January 2025.AP

Sen. Rick Scott, Republican of Florida, fumed that the announcement proved Mamdani is a “career politician who never created a single job and lives off the government dole.”

Ashley Moody, Scott’s fellow Florida Republican senator, wrote, “Socialism – Florida’s best real estate agent.”

Republican Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida tried to tie Mamdani to Democrat David Jolly, who, like Donalds, is running in the Florida gubernatorial race, arguing that “ you can trust the Radical Left will raise your taxes.”

President Donald Trump previously complained about the proposed tax, falsely alleging in April that the policy showed Mamdani was “DESTROYING New York.”

The Republican complaints fall in line with the party’s renewed strategy of attacking socialism, a ploy the party has adopted yet again in an election year. Republicans, faced with a daunting electoral environment, an angry electorate, and an unpopular Trump presidency, are hoping that resurrecting a left-wing boogeyman will help the party’s eroding support.

Republicans arguing against a tax that will affect only a very small portion of the public yet benefit the majority also echoes the themes of the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” they passed last year in Congress. That legislation keeps taxes for the ultrarich low while cutting funding for vital programs meant to assist the middle and working class, like Medicaid.

As has often been the case, the Republican stance is out of step with the public at large.

An April poll from Siena University showed that 54% of the state’s voters supported a tax hike on New York City residents making over $1 million, while support was even higher among voters within the city itself, at 62%.

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  1. Comment by Out There.

    Rick Scott has zero room to talk most of his money came from ripping off Medicare. That's the problem with the wealthy It's all fine and dandy when they're getting our tax dollars to put in their pocket. Different story with their tax dollars are going to help us.

  2. Comment by mungley.

    The GQP message "Keep the pedophile defenders in power, or rich people might have to pay their fair share in taxes."

  3. Comment by RightHeaded.

    Um, hello Mike Lee? Aren't all taxes "confiscatory"? Just a meaningless word added to make it all seem more sinister. Might as well just call them "tax-y taxes." And of course, Republicans' real problem with the law is that they are too stupid to deal with French words.

  4. Comment by javax2.

    The ads republicans in NW Arkansas are the most insane stuff imaginable. Commie plots made in China kinda shit. Not one iota of policy from republicans but fear mongering to the level that ought to be laughable but who the fuck knows anymore.

    If dark money is paying for this shit in deep red country I'd hate to be in a swing state when the ad money really gets to flowing. It's gonna get real swampy.

  5. Comment by ProfessorAlbee.

    I strongly favor aggressive wealth redistribution as a punitive measure against those corporations that deliberately seek to 'corner the market' through economically unscrupulous means.

  6. Comment by Digler.

    The GOP are masters of getting people who won't even have the money to bury themselves to support the ultra wealthy. The GOP uses their media enterprises which are owned by billionaires to convince those with no money to back them. They've created an entire army of stooge voters using that strategy.

    Pitiful.

  7. Comment by bopamole.

    Let all the republicans cry and when they do...see how many regular people LOVE this...and keep going forward.

  8. Comment by CitizenJoe.

    Long-term, we (all people, sentient beings, and ecosystems on Earth) must have a progressive tax on both the wealth and income of people. The need for this has been outlined by Piketty and many others.

    Implementation will come through the success of leaders like Mamdani.

    It will not be easy, and none of us will live to see its final success.

    It's gonna be a hard, hard, hard rain gonna fall.

  9. Comment by Things Come Undone.

    "President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 included funds to modernize the Internal Revenue Service, including to expand the agency’s resources for cracking down on wealthy individuals making more than $400,000 annually who do not pay what they owe each year in taxes. Already the effort is paying dividends.

    The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service announced on July 11 that their efforts to collect past-due revenue from the highest earners have brought in more than $1 billion. "

    https://pennsylvaniaindependent.com/politics/irs-crackdown-wealthy-tax-cheats-billion-dollars-revenue-3/

    New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's popularity I hope will encourage Democrats to grow a Spine and run on one of Biden's best ideas. We can call it the this will help pay for the War to distract us from the Epstein Files Bill.

    That and we threaten to shut down the government if the GOP does not help pass the bill. The GOP will laugh we hit them in two ways all states must pay at least 90% of the amount of taxes they get from the Federal Government back to the Federal Government or lose an amount equal of federal funding the next year to pay it back.

    We will call it the end welfare for Red States bill everyone must pay their fair share. Billionaires who moved to Red States to avoid taxes will be screwed. :)

    Next Elizabeth Warren's Ultra Millionaire tax gets a vote in the House and Senate.

    "Our tax code focuses on taxing income, but a family’s wealth is also an important measure of how much it has benefitted from the economy and its ability to pay taxes. And judged against wealth, our tax system asks the rich to pay a lot less than everyone else. According to Saez and Zucman, the families in the top 0.1% are projected to owe 3.2% of their wealth in federal, state, and local taxes this year, while the bottom 99% are projected to owe 7.2%."

    "That’s why we need a tax on wealth. The Ultra-Millionaire Tax taxes the wealth of the richest Americans. It applies only to households with a net worth of $50 million or more—roughly the wealthiest 75,000 households, or the top 0.1%. Households would pay an annual 2% tax on every dollar of net worth above $50 million and a 6% tax on every dollar of net worth above $1 billion. Because wealth is so concentrated, this small tax on roughly 75,000 households will bring in $3.75 trillion in revenue over a ten-year period.

    "Note: Elizabeth originally proposed a wealth tax of 2% on wealth between $50 million and $1 billion, and a 3% tax on wealth above $1 billion. On November 1, 2019, Elizabeth proposed an additional 3% surtax on wealth over $1 billion - bringing the total annual rate to 6% on every dollar over $1 billion - which generates an additional $1 trillion in revenue"

    https://elizabethwarren.com/plans/ultra-millionaire-tax

    New taxes are unpopular but so is cutting government services and tariffs taxing the rich however is not unpopular. As Zohran Mamdani has shown the money just needs to be spent wisely and the effects of the spending need to be reach regular people as quickly as possible.

    The Pennsylvania Independent
    IRS crackdown on wealthy tax cheats nets $1 billion in revenue
    The Inflation Reduction Act’s IRS modernization is already yielding results.

  10. Comment by twingrace.

    This came up under *cbastion*'s diary about it, that this isn't a "Mamdani" law or a "New York CITY" law. This is a New York STATE law that came through Gov. Hochel's office.

    This can be found at a New York Times link buried 2 layers deep in this diary. (Warning: paywall, but even the first sentence makes it clear.)

    https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/nyregion/hochul-taxes-budget-ny.html

    This should have been spelled out in the diary.

    And what I think is at least as newsworthy is that Republicans are not screaming "Communists!" about ALBANY. (Capital of New York.) They know just how ridiculous THAT would make them look.

    Mamdani is just implementing the law, like an Executor DOES, for the people in his polity. (He's also making good political bank with it, but that's because he's SMART and empathetic.)

    • Reply by A Noah Count.

      Oh, come on, you don't REALLY expect Republicans to be truthful about any of it, do you?

  11. Comment by CyberMindGrrl.

    And yet again the Republican Party proves they are for the OLIGARCHS, not the PEOPLE. They will go to the fucking mat to prevent the wealthy from paying their fair share while the entire tax burden rests on the shrinking middle class.

    • Reply by Whatsnuts.

      Oligarchs are just modern day robber barons.

    • Reply by A Noah Count.

      The oligarchs of today are little different than the way oligarchs have been throughout human history: greedy social parasites who take all they can get, and give back as little as they possible can, their preference being giving back nothing.

    • Reply by Whatsnuts.

      I think more people understand the words, "robber baron", than "oligarchs".

    • Reply by A Noah Count.

      Okay, call them "robber barons" instead.

      The basic premise holds, nonetheless.

  12. Comment by LeirsinnDave.

    What's interesting in all this, to me at least, is that the attacks on Mamdani come from Republican politicians from places like Utah and Florida. You know these people don't give a rat's ass about New York City. What this tells us is that they are *scared* of Mamdani, scared of the possibility that what he represents can threaten their *national* grip on power. And no, I don't mean communism, or Islam... but real progressive politics, real focus on rebalancing our politics and economics to serve the people, not just the 1%. The Mike Lees and Rick Scotts know that they are exploiting the rest of us; and they are coming to understand that WE know that, too.

    • Reply by carstonio.

      While they maybe scared of him, a simpler explanation is that they see him as useful for racist scaremongering.

  13. Comment by Notmatterid.

    cool

    no more "trickle down econ" as we start enterin' - if we're lucky - "flush down economics"

    • Reply by Whatsnuts.

      Trickle down economics has never been anything but trickle up poverty. I call it financial slavery. More and more loan shark companies pop up everyday.

  14. Comment by thanxamillion.

    I agree with Mike Lee, using French to describe or name a policy is bad politics. The same goes for using Latin, Spanish, Chinese or any other language than English.

    • Reply by LeirsinnDave.

      Absolutely. We have to recognize that voters are ignorant, and make damn certain that nothing we do challenges that ignorance in any way. LCD, baby!

    • Reply by LeirsinnDave.

      [Discounting, for purposes of this argument, that the voters we're apparently worried about may well not be able to cope with English either, at least if it's pitched above the 2nd-grade level...]

  15. Comment by sfg1.

    its the old puritan / religious belief that god rewards those who are rich. puke. they think cuz they have $$$ the are entitled to special treatment

    • Reply by Whatsnuts.

      They got rich by overvaluing themselves and undervaluing everyone else.

  16. Comment by necturus.

    [“Socialism – Florida’s best real estate agent.”]

    Climate change -- guaranteed to drown that Florida real estate under rising seas.

    • Reply by pythonS.

      Yup. They can pay a little more in taxes and help everyone, or pay a lot more for home insurance and benefit a few ultra-rich jerks like themselves. Decisions, decisions.

  17. Comment by Things Come Undone.

    I wonder what a nationwide poll would show? Or just a poll of the Red States keep New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani name out of the poll he has been demonized by Fox News and is a foreigner so racism effects polling just poll the idea.

    Collect taxes owed by the ultrawealthy residents of whatever state the people reading the poll live in.

    Tell the people reading the poll

    “The best state in the world deserves the best parks, libraries, and schools in the world. That’s only possible when we all pay our fair share,"

  18. Comment by bootleg.

    The tricks my brain plays on me: At first glance I read the headline of this article as saying the exact opposite of the article's content. My brain inserted two commas - "GOP, triggered by Mamdani, making the ultrarich pay up"

    • Reply by cassidy3.

      Oh if only! Ha!

    • Reply by Bob Friend.

      I read it that way too.

  19. Comment by Ralphdog.

    Rick Scott is of course obscenely wealthy. According to published information Sen. Mike Lee appears to be not particularly wealthy, but his numbers seem very suspiciously low for someone who has been a sitting Senator for many years now.

    • Reply by Whatsnuts.

      He probably off shores most of it like Trump is doing.

    • Reply by TomFromNJ.

      Lee is also looking more and more like Joe McCarthy.

    • Reply by xulon.

      Scott defrauded Medicare to the tune of $9 Billion. Talk about public dole.

    • Reply by Guianaman.

      He got rich ripping off Medicare with the medical company he ran.

  20. Comment by Whatsnuts.

    Mamdani is just saying out loud what most people think. Time to put an end to the robber barons.

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