Weekly Rewind: 1/16/26
Sen. Warren Calls on Democrats to Embrace Populism in Fiery Speech, and more.
By Kainoa Lowman
Welcome back to the The Economic Populist’s Weekly Rewind. Every Friday, we’ll briefly recap the week’s biggest news, updates, and developments in the fight against corporate power.
Here’s what to know this week
Sen. Warren Calls on Democrats to Embrace Populism in Fiery Speech
On Monday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren made waves with a speech in Washington DC she said she hopes will “lay the foundation for how Democrats run in 2026”—and, presumably, 2028.
Her message: go all-in on full-throated economic populism, and tune out the billionaire donors and their allies in DC who would get in the way.
“Democrats weren’t always just the default option when the other guys were worse,” Warren said. “Once, we were trusted by working people to fight for their interests.”
“I understand the temptation—in this moment of national crisis—to sand down our edges to avoid offending anyone, especially the rich and powerful who might finance our candidates,” she continued:
“But we can’t win unless we rebuild trust. And we can’t rebuild trust by excommunicating Biden administration law enforcers who, for the first time in decades, actually fought to hold corporations accountable for driving up prices [this refers to a billionaire-led effort during the 2024 election to get Kamala Harris to fire FTC Chair Lina Khan if she won]. We can’t rebuild trust by calling up Elon Musk when he tussles with Trump and offering him whatever he wants if he’ll come back to our side and kick in a few nickels to our candidates. We can’t rebuild trust by staying silent about abuses of corporate power and tax fairness simply to avoid offending the delicate sensibilities of the already-rich and powerful.”Predictably, the speech drew backlash from billionaires and their allies in Democratic politics. Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn co-founder and Democratic megadonor who led the charge to remove Khan from a potential Harris administration, said on X/Twitter that “[Warren’s] politics shrinks the tent. We need a bigger, smarter coalition that can beat Trump and deliver.”
Hoffman must not have listened to the speech, however, as it directly addresses this argument that aligning with the ruling class will “grow the tent” of Democratic voters. To the contrary, Warren argues that “these people push Democrats to embrace candidates who will slow-walk popular economic policies,” such as enforcing the law against corporate predation and raising the minimum wage. “When Democrats water down their economic platform to appeal to wealthy donors, whether the transaction is explicit or subtle, we squander trust with working people and the money just isn’t worth it.”
Moreover, Warren’s actions in Congress provide a clear model of how to actually govern in a way that expands the tent, not just talk the talk. Her Road to Housing bill appeals to multiple factions of the party, including the “Abundance” movement, as a way to address housing costs through reducing anticompetitive regulations and increased supply. She played a key role in creating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the wake of the financial crisis, which was recognized as highly cost-efficient and effective before the Trump administration effectively destroyed it this year. And most importantly, Warren has never shrunk from naming names and calling out corporate predators and their allies, as she did this week, when their interests conflict with those of voters.
Mamdani Admin Takes on Delivery App Labor Law Violations at Uber, Doordash, and Beyond
On Thursday, the Zohran Mamdani administration’s New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection sued Motoclick, a platform that connects delivery drivers to restaurants, for “egregiously violating” city labor laws. The suit alleges that MotoClick charged drivers $10 fees for canceled orders, and deducted the entire cost of refunded orders from workers’ pay. Touting the arrival of “a new era of accountability,” the DCWP also filed a personal suit against Motoclick’s CEO.
“Other predatory apps should be on notice,” said DCWP Commissioner Samuel Levine in a release. “If you scam your workers, we will hold you and your executives accountable.” Levine also announced that DWCAP executed a “compliance blitz” against the major consumer-facing food delivery apps, sending them warnings to adhere to new city laws taking effect later this month related to driver pay and working conditions.
Both of these actions are part of a larger worker and consumer protection blitz Levine is spearheading in the first days of Mamdani’s term. Last week, the Department launched an initiative to crack down on “junk fee” pricing and “subscription traps” (where companies make it hard to cancel an online subscription). As we noted in our coverage, both of these policies are inherited from the Lina Khan-led Federal Trade Commission, where Levine served as consumer protection chief.
“I want to be very public that there’s a new cop on the beat,” Levine told the New York Times.
Quick Hits
Director of State and Local Policy Pat Garofalo spoke with NBC News about the use of NDAs to hide the impacts of data centers from local communities. Garofalo also put out a new piece on the blowback against such deals on his Substack, Boondoggle.
For The States Forum, Sr. Fellow Marissa Gillett wrote about how intervention in utility rate cases can help bring electricity prices down.
Global merger and acquisition volume increased 44% year-over-year in 2025.
Spotify announced it will raise subscription prices in February.
Sr. Fellow for Airlines and Travel Bill McGee has a new piece in The American Prospect on how the government shutdown has exacerbated longstanding airline safety issues.
President Trump released the outline of a new healthcare plan. The plan strikes some populist notes, but as Sr. Policy Analyst for Healthcare Emma Freer noted, it “is mostly a repackaging of old ideas.”
Luxury retailer Saks Global filed for bankruptcy, largely due to an inability to meet debt obligations incurred by the company’s acquisition of Neiman Marcus.
ICYMI: The Economic Populist put up two great pieces earlier this week: a reported article on the NYC nurse’s strike against a Big Medicine conglomerate, and an explainer of how the Trump administration’s reversal of a CFPB rule is allowing big banks to crush finance apps like Venmo with bogus fees.