Episodes

On this week's Stansberry Investor Hour, Dan and Corey welcome Brody Mullins to the show. Brody is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and author of the new book The Wolves of K Street. He joins the podcast to share insights from his two-plus decades spent investigating the Washington political scene.

Brody kicks off the show by discussing his history reporting on antitrust regulation. He notes that recently, both major political parties in D.C. have become less friendly to Big Tech companies and are using antitrust regulation to slow their growth. After, Brody talks a bit about how he got started in journalism, the importance of holding those in power accountable, and why he has dedicated his life to investigating companies...

Every time you write a story, it's sort of a mystery. You're sort of trying to figure out what does a company want, what's it trying to do to get it, who are they buying off, who are they influencing, how are they playing the game... My job is to go after big, important people, institutions, companies, and figures.

Next, Brody shares some details about his book. He points out that for most of this country's history, companies had very little influence in Washington. Things only changed in the 1970s once the economy cratered and stagflation hit. Then, companies began to lobby in order to twist regulations and gain an advantage in the market. Brody also explains lobbying in simple terms, including how lobbyists raise money for members of Congress. He argues that legal loopholes and undisclosed funds to influence constituents have made companies nearly untouchable...

Labor unions essentially don't exist in terms of a powerful interest in D.C. the way they used to in the 1950s and 1970s. So companies now are not lobbying against consumer groups or against labor unions or against environmentalists because all those groups don't have any power. That's why they're lobbying against themselves now. It's sort of company against company... The problem is that when policymakers or lawmakers or staff try to make policy, the only people influencing them are companies these days. There's no other side.

Finally, Brody discusses why there's still hope for the American people to fight back. He explains that negative public perception about these big, powerful corporations (such as Amazon and Google parent Alphabet) has influenced antitrust regulators to begin taking action. He also talks about insider trading among members of Congress and emphasizes that all of these conflicts of interest are nonpartisan...

It's not Republicans or Democrats. It's both. And it's being driven by corporate America and the interests of the lobbyists they want. Lobbyists in Washington... don't care whether Republicans are in power or Democrats are in power. They want to be friends with both of them. They give campaign money to both of them. They support the election of both of them. They have friends in both parties so that they win no matter [which party] wins.