Tonantzin Carmona

Even in ‘business-friendly’ states, federal policy shocks are hurting Latino-owned firms | Brookings Texas, Florida, and North Carolina are so-called “business-friendly” states worth watching because they sit at the intersection of rapid growth, demographic dependence, and policy volatility.

Latino entrepreneurs are bellwethers of economic stress, including in 'business-friendly' states like TX, FL, and NC. New report: www.brookings.edu/articles/eve...

"ICE OUT" on Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis, as seen from my flight leaving MSP airport

Brian Shearer and Adam Levitin—two of the biggest brains in consumer finance land—have been going back and forth on the proposed 10% credit card interest rate cap. It’s a policy debate that’s both wonky and worth your time. Here’s a little thread. 1/9

Crypto won’t fix America’s affordability crisis An economy that already feels precarious does not need more ways for households to absorb financial risk

Congress is fast-tracking crypto — not fixing the real economy.

New op-ed in Fast Company: www.fastcompany.com/91474218/cry...

How ICE raids and tariffs can hurt Hispanic business in South Florida “Support your local businesses because they contribute to the community as well as give back to the community.”

“Support your local businesses because they contribute to the community as well as give back to the community.”

🪙 With the recent adoption of a federal #stablecoin law and more #crypto regulations on the horizon, what does this all mean for consumers?

Hear our panel of experts dig into the future of these financial markets.
#CryptoRegulation #CFAFSC

“Just because the status quo isn’t working, doesn’t mean that #crypto is the solution” #GeniusAct #CFAFSC

- Tonantzin Carmona, @brookings.edu

I want you to understand what it is like to live in Chicago during this time. Every day my phone buzzes. It is a neighborhood group: four people were kidnapped at the corner drugstore. A friend a mile away sends a Slack message: she was at the scene when masked men assaulted and abducted two people on the street. A plumber working on my pipes is distraught, and I find out that two of his employees were kidnapped that morning. A week later it happens again. An email arrives. Agents with guns have chased a teacher into the school where she works. They did not have a warrant. They dragged her away, ignoring her and her colleagues’ pleas to show proof of her documentation. That evening I stand a few feet from the parents of Rayito de Sol and listen to them describe, with anguish, how good Ms. Diana was to their children. What it is like to have strangers with guns traumatize your kids. For a teacher to hide a three-year-old child for fear they might be killed. How their relatives will no longer leave the house. I hear the pain and fury in their voices, and I wonder who will be next. Understand what it is to pray in Chicago.

“I want you to understand what it is like to live in Chicago during this time.”

aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...

Stabilizing Latino entrepreneurs amid federal policy volatility | Brookings This report traces how policy volatility erodes stability, how geography shapes exposure to these shocks, and what states, cities, philanthropy, and the private sector can do to respond.

Latino entrepreneurs are driving America’s small-business boom—but facing “policy-made crises” from tariffs, raids, and program cuts.

New @brookings.edu report out today: Stabilizing Latino entrepreneurs amid federal policy volatility
www.brookings.edu/articles/sta...

Image featuring a classical architecture building with columns, overlaid with a text quote from Elizabeth Wilkins of the Roosevelt Institute, "In Building a More Effective, Responsive Government: Lessons Learned from the Biden-Harris Administration, former Biden-Harris senior officials Hannah Garden-Monheit and Tresa Joseph draw from the insights, recommendations, and candor of more than 45 former public servants and tell a broader story we can’t forget: The problems with these institutions did not start with Donald Trump or Elon Musk, worse as they now are. These problems are, in part, what results from decades of bipartisan neglect, disinvestment, and deference to markets."

NEW 📰: Building a more effective government that moves beyond the status quo requires honest reflection.

Drawing on interviews with more than 45 former senior Biden officials, our latest report offers 161 practical recommendations for better governance.
https://bit.ly/4312Zid

The real scandal of the Argentina bailout The biggest economic news story right now is the Trump Administration’s bailout of the right-wing Milei government in Argentina.

The real scandal of the Argentina bailout
open.substack.com/pub/bharatra...

"I was struck by the detail that CNN documented at least a dozen potential fraud cases tied to a single ATM. That’s an indication not just that one ATM has a problem, but that these cases of fraud are rampant in the US," writes Zachary B. Wolf. | Analysis https://cnn.it/475HHko

Down and Out on the Crypto Frontier In Wyoming, the Delaware of cryptocurrency, industry players celebrated their fortunes and said everyone will benefit. But workers haven’t seen it.

Crypto cowboys have taken over Wyoming, and “the regulators are so happy to be captured.” Workers have gotten nothing, while crypto advocates ramble about how the real value of crypto is “potentially its uselessness.” From @whitneycwimbish.bsky.social: trib.al/AhD93ZM

The Federal Reserve’s Neglected History of Racial segregation Recent events regarding Lisa Cook’s attempted firing by Donald Trump have convinced me to do a premium series on the history of racial segregation and the Federal Reserve. This is for a few reasons. F...

NEW @crisesnotes.bsky.social PIECE: With the attempted firing of Lisa Cook by Donald Trump, the first Black woman appointed to the Federal Reserve Board, I think its important to examine the @federalreserve.gov's history of Racial Segregation. This is a long one

www.crisesnotes.com/the-federal-...

The concurrence relegates the interests of U. S. citizens and individuals with legal status to a single sentence, positing that the Government will free these individuals as soon as they show they are legally in the United States. Ante, at 8 (opinion of KAVANAUGH, J.). That blinks reality. Two plaintiffs in this very case tried to explain that they are U. S. citizens; one was then pushed against a fence with his arms twisted behind his back, and the other was taken away from his job to a warehouse for further questioning. More fundamentally, it is the Government’s burden to prove that it has reasonable suspicion to stop someone. The concurrence improperly shifts the burden onto an entire class of citizens to carry enough documentation to prove that they deserve to walk freely. The Constitution does not permit the creation of such a second-class citizenship status.

Justice Sotomayor, not mincing words, also says that today's decision will lead to the "creation of [] a second-class citizenship status" for Latinos, who now will have the burden to "carry enough documentation to prove that they deserve to walk freely."

🚨The Supreme Court today gives Trump a license to engage in racial profiling, with Justice Kavanaugh writing in concurrence to expressly endorse ICE and Border Patrol targeting any Latinos they observe in Los Angeles speaking Spanish and then demanding their papers.

A picture of Olivia Newton-John with the caption "Let's Get Skeptical"

"Let's Get Skeptical," the final chapter of Fintech Dystopia, has dropped
fintechdystopia.com/chapters/cha...
Covering
- How much the abundance agenda and VC output suck
- Silicon Valley subsidies we can take away
- How to laugh our way into Silicon Valley skepticism
- A plan to actually fix finance

If you'd like to know the many, many reasons why this is not fine, I wrote a book chapter about the many ways in which blockchains are terrible:

fintechdystopia.com/chapters/cha...

Crypto: Everyone Is Along for the Ride, Even if It Ends Badly The Trump administration has taken the guardrails off crypto, and Bitcoin prices are soaring. The next crash will hurt the economy and wider financial system.

The guardrails are coming off — and crypto is heading straight into the financial system. Quoted in this week’s Barron’s cover story. www.barrons.com/articles/bit...

Inequality, Part VII: Crypto A perfect merger of predation and corruption

I usually stay cool even when writing about outrages. But for some reason the story of how crypto bought the government really makes me angry paulkrugman.substack.com/p/inequality...

a cartoon of a unicorn with a rainbow coming out of its tail Alt: a cartoon of a unicorn pooping glitter manure, because the fintech industry's promises to democratize finance are often very glitter manure-y

Chapter 2 of Fintech Dystopia has dropped, wherein I explain that lots of fintech is about exploiting legal loopholes and vulnerable people.

Here's the link: fintechdystopia.com/chapters/cha...

And here's your gif of the week:

Understanding and regulating crypto harms Podcast Episode · TechTank · 06/30/2025 · 46m

Just did a podcast on crypto—not the shiny stuff, the risky stuff. Scams, shadow deposits, and why it matters for real people. Listen here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/u...

‘Forest fire’: Corporate America’s bitcoin buying spree fuels concern Critics warn that hoovering up digital assets could backfire whenever the volatile crypto markets take a turn for the worse.

‘Forest fire’: Corporate America’s bitcoin buying spree fuels concern

Critics warn that hoovering up digital assets could backfire whenever the volatile crypto markets take a turn for the worse.

🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

The BIS really does not like stablecoins, warning they perform pooly as money - rpt by Martin Arnold www.ft.com/content/0beb...

Why Passing the Stablecoin GENIUS Act Might Not Be So Smart Critics say enacting the pro-crypto legislation will make the financial system less safe and less stable—and further enrich Donald Trump.

The Stablecoin GENIUS Act may bring crypto into the mainstream financial system. “Since the Trump family is now a player in stablecoins, it potentially stands to benefit greatly from an expansion in their use,” @johncassidysays.bsky.social writes.

Inequality, Part IV: Oligarchs The rise of mega-fortunes

"Most of today’s superrich owe their wealth to their ownership stakes in companies that are de facto monopolies thanks to network effects," writes @pkrugman.bsky.social. paulkrugman.substack.com/p/inequality...

In the White House Trump held his $40 million birthday boy military parade on June 14, and apparently offset the cost at least somewhat with contributions from the likes of Coinbase. This didn’t exactly sit well with some of the increasingly rare breed of crypto believers who still champion the technology’s early anti-establishment values. “What Coinbase did by sponsoring this army parade feels like an insult to everything our industry stands for. Crypto emerged from ideals of decentralization, individual sovereignty, and freedom from oppressive state control—not to funnel resources into institutions whose core purpose involves violence and ending lives,” wrote one crypto enthusiast.10 Another wrote, “I entered the crypto world in 2017 to stand against late stage capitalism...not help crypto bros fund it.”11 Megan Knab, CEO of a crypto payroll company, responded to the sponsorship by eulogizing the industry’s cypherpunk roots in a CoinDesk op-ed, where she wrote: “The ethos of crypto—the cypherpunk values that got us here—is being diluted, co-opted, and in some cases, directly betrayed.”12

A large stage for the military parade, with “US Army” at the top, and banners showing the Coinbase logo behind

Newsletter: Coinbase’s sponsorship of Trump’s military parade angered some in the crypto world, who described the move as “an insult to everything our industry stands for”. But this is only the latest example of crypto companies aligning with state power.

www.citationneeded.news/issue-86/

Crypto’s Big Legislative Win A reasonable “stablecoin” bill—or a Trojan Horse of industry wishes?

The GENIUS act has passed the senate. Here’s our recent show on it, with @profhilaryallen.bsky.social slate.com/podcasts/wha...

what i argued back in december is that the election gave us all some clarity about what crypto is actually for www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...