Derek Thompson

So there again, you have the promise of freeze the utility increase in the front with the promise of expanding supply in the back.

If you couldn't tell, that is Mariah Carey.

I'm John Caramonica, one of the critics behind the New York Times' 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters Project.

We interviewed some of the songwriters on our list, including Taylor Swift, who hasn't sat for a video like this in a long time.

These are not ordinary conversations.

You're going to watch these videos and learn about intimate approaches to craft in ways that you rarely have access to.

Okay, Jay-Z's teenage notebooks.

I need to see those.

Watch all the video interviews for free and check out the entire 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters Project at nytimes.com slash 30greatest or in the app.

And let us know if you agree with our picks.

I want to say something really clearly.

I think the people who focus on corporate power being the most significant problem in America have some very good ideas.

I also think, frankly, that we just heard from Elizabeth Warren, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in a way, is like kind of a very abundancy agency.

Oh, great.

Maybe I'm just totally ripping off her point here because I read it months ago.

But I think she's right.

I mean, it consolidated what used to be entirely dispersed regulatory authority in the government in order to bring it to bear to help consumers against corporate power.

That strikes me as exactly what we were talking about when it comes to state capacity and your line, which you repeated so much on our book tour about deregulating government, getting government out of its own way, getting government to work fast.

faster and better for the public.

CFPB seems like an absolute unalloyed triumph in that respect.