Paulson’s Plan, International Competition and New Leadership at FTC
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s plan to reform oversight of financial markets sparks intense debate.
U.S. capital markets lose ground to international competitors.
President Bush appoints William Kovacic to head the Federal Trade Commission.
1. POLITICS
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s plan to reform oversight of financial markets sparks intense debate.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Center for Entrepreneurship Director John Berlau on why deregulation can help tame economic volatility:
“Cycles of innovation spur many inventions and technologies that will survive a boom and a bust and better everyone’s lives. Yet these cycles also undoubtedly cause pain that is often spread unevenly. While there will always be some dislocation in a dynamic economy, volatility can be much reduced through the introduction of what we should call a second stage of deregulation. Let us deregulate private risk management, as we have risk-taking, for ordinary investors as well as hedge-fund fat cats.”
2. LEGAL
U.S. capital markets lose ground to international competitors.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Special Projects Fellow Hans Bader on what’s causing the decline:
“Lawsuits aren’t the only reason capital is fleeing America for better investment opportunities elsewhere. Another reason is the devastatingly costly Sarbanes-Oxley law Congress passed in 2002 in the wake of the Enron bankruptcy. That law’s burdensome bureaucratic requirements and regulations have cost the stock market $1.4 trillion in value, and imposed an additional $35 billion in annual compliance costs on American business, while doing nothing to prevent another Enron, as recent mortgage losses at Countrywide Financial show.”
3. BUSINESS
President Bush appoints William Kovacic to head the Federal Trade Commission.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Gregory Conko on the wisdom of the appointment:
“Kovacic has served as one of five members of the Commission since January 2006, and was confirmed by the Senate to that post. So, despite the Democratic controlled Senate’s on-going reluctance to confirm Bush Administration appointees, Kovacic will not need to be confirmed again in order to rise to the chairman’s position…Despite naming often disappointing people to head various other federal agencies, Kovacic’s appointment extends President Bush’s streak of appointing genuinely superb FTC chairmen to three in a row. This is also the second time Bush has named a former George Mason School of Law professor to chair the agency.”
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