Founder, KVD Strategies. Senior Fellow, Economic Liberties and Berkeley. Horned Frog for Life. Fighting corporate power and solving crossword puzzles every day.
Washington, DC
Joined November 2009
- Tweets1.7K
- Following665
- Followers1.4K
- Likes2.6K
Pinned Tweet
Private equity turned neighborhood kids' sports into a luxury product. Community leagues out. Elite travel teams in. Profit and predation teaching kids and parents that casual play isn't an option. And youth sports is only for those who can afford it.
Folks said this was impossible. They're 1099s and can be replaced. Turns out the skeptics were wrong here, just like they're wrong about collective bargaining in college sports.
Congratulations, DCC!
Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders unionize, will begin collective bargaining dallasnews.com/sports/cowboy… via @dallasnews
I've spent the last year researching private equity's takeover of youth sports. It's a $40 billion for-profit industry, bigger than the NFL and college football combined.
We just launched a survey to better understand the impact on families. Please click here to share your story: lnkd.in/ePGw2yap
Youth sports is more expensive than ever and the participation gap between low and high income families continues to widen.
Now, we're collecting stories from the real people who have experienced this first hand.
Tell your story here: earful.us/c/youth-sports
Katie Van Dyck retweeted
Youth sports is more expensive than ever and the participation gap between low and high income families continues to widen.
Now, we're collecting stories from the real people who have experienced this first hand.
Tell your story here: earful.us/c/youth-sports
Katie Van Dyck retweeted
Private equity has transformed youth sports into a $40 billion for-profit industry.
Now, the participation gap between lower and higher income families is growing and families that do participate are stuck with high costs and unexpected fees.
That's why we're collecting stories from those who experienced it firsthand.
Share your story here: earful.us/c/youth-sports
Katie Van Dyck retweeted
One of the saddest facts about the East Potomac situation is that it was being renovated - Trump’s problem is that it wasn’t being renovated by himself.
The National Links Trust was raising private contributions, making much needed repairs, and had a world class golf architect lined up to do the upgrades for free.
Those plans preserved the historic character, maintained affordability, and protected public access to the rest of the park.
Would trees have come down? Yes. Would land be moved? Yes
Would there be the uproar there is now? Absolutely not.
If Trump had really cared about the people this impacted he would have worked with the NLT to expedite their plan. But he didn’t. And he doesn’t.
This is not about giving the people a world class public course. It’s about giving himself a 17th.
Katie Van Dyck retweeted
Vance: The media and the Democrats in the state of Ohio are obsessed because Vivek Ramaswamy had the audacity to run a TV commercial which calls it out like it is and calls Amy Acton a liar.
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
The ad features Amy Acton's estranged mother disputing Acton's account of childhood homelessness, rape and abuse. Both 1978 Mahoning County court records and Acton's brother, Phillip Stearns, corroborate her account of living in a tent and abuse.
wyso.org/2026-10-20/amy…
He undoubtedly knows these are fake. Just some old fashioned fear mongering to pair with the Bo French race baiting.
khou.com/article/news/politi…
The leading advocate for the Protect College Sports Act. The man funding the Save College Sports commercials. Endorsing the most racist GOP candidate in recent memory.
Katie Van Dyck retweeted
"Surveillance pricing functions like a hidden tax on the entire economy."
Surveillance pricing can make prices higher and less predictable, harming consumers and local businesses. @Pat_Garofalo testifies before the DC City Council on the need to ban it.
Katie Van Dyck retweeted
Private equity investors and other companies increasingly control youth sports leagues. No kid should be shut out of sports because of price gouging or greed. xitter.cf/MorePerfectUS/status/2…
Katie Van Dyck retweeted
“Isn’t that illegal?”
That's the main question former federal prosecutor Leo J. Wise has been hearing over and over from people as the Trump administration continues its corruption course.
For @TheAtlantic, Wise lays out how the Supreme Court legalized this behavior.
Leo Wise—one of the most accomplished white collar prosecutors in the country—tells it straight.
Today’s Trump corruption is the end result of Supreme Court decisions shielding dirty politicians for decades.
theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/1…
Great piece by Leo Wise in @TheAtlantic on how the Supreme Court has legalized what any common-sense reader would say is corruption.
Last Friday, my kids and I witnessed the Eastern Market scooter crash that killed Talib Shakir. Two riders hit each other, and neither was wearing a helmet. Mr. Shakir's head hit the curb. He suffered horrific head trauma. I sprinted to the fire station for help while someone else called 911. From what I saw, I think he was killed instantly. I've had a week to reflect. 🧵
washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/…
7/ A lot of people are arguing against helmet laws. My response:
No safety device is foolproof. People wearing seatbelts still die in high-speed wrecks. People ignore seatbelt laws. We require them anyway because they dramatically reduce traffic deaths, up to 60% for SUVs. Helmet laws are no different. They cut serious head injuries by 55%.
If the worry is that people will stop using bike and scooter share, the answer isn't making dangerous riding easier. And it's definitely not sacrificing public health and safety to protect the profits of Lime and Lyft, which runs Capital Bikeshare. It's making helmets cheap and accessible and forcing these companies to innovate for the public good.
I promise you they can if we hold their feet to the fire.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3017…
Katie Van Dyck retweeted
Seems like the push to get Waymo into DC is premature.
The DC Council should take a real look at SFO. For the safety of DC Residents, let’s hit the brakes. We already face obstacles navigating city streets and an over-burdened 911 system. DC Firefighters have no training on how to handle Waymos.
sfstandard.com/2026/07/10/wa…
Katie Van Dyck retweeted
Yikes. Calls to mind the AT&T/Time Warner merger a court (and DOJ) cleared back in the 2010s: both anticompetitive and also value-destructive for the combined firm itself.
variety.com/2026/film/news/s…
Katie Van Dyck retweeted
Like a good neoliberal with blinders against the prospect that some companies might be profiteering--or coordinating their pricing tacitly or explicitly--Andrew Ross Sorkin leads off his newsletter complaining about the excessive margins earned by chipmakers but disclaiming any possibility of gouging. Most definitely a chip shortage!
5/ In the interest of transparency, I have a scooter. It tops out at 15 mph. I always wear a helmet. I crashed it this summer when I clipped a curb. It was scary. My head hit the sidewalk. But I was wearing a helmet and walked away with scrapes and bruises.