News Release
CEI Commends Trump Nominee to Oversee Housing Finance Agency
President Trump has nominated economist Mark Calabria to head the agency in charge of supervising government-sponsored mortgage loan buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The…
Inside ARM
BREAKING: Senate Confirms Kraninger As Next Director Of BCFP
Inside ARM cited CEI’s Senior Fellow John Berlau on Kathy Kraninger confirmation. Today, the Senate voted on and confirmed Kathy Kraninger as the…
News Release
CEI Hopes New Director of Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Will Continue Tough-But-Fair Approach to Regulation
Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow John Berlau praised today’s Senate confirmation of President Trump’s nominee to head the powerful Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP)…
Breitbart
CFPB Nominee Kathleen Kraninger Clears Cloture Hurdle In Senate
Breitbart cited CEI’s Senior Fellow John Berlau and Policy Analyst Daniel Press on Kathleen Kraninger nomination. The vote was strictly along party lines,…
IA InsideARM
Senate Vote On Kraninger To Lead BCFP Expected Tomorrow
IA InsideARM cited CEI’s Senior Fellow John Berlau and Policy Analyst Daniel Press on BCFP nominee Kathleen Kraninger. As insideARM reported earlier,…
News Release
Senate Should Confirm Trump Nominee for Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection: CEI Statements
This week, the United States Senate is expected to vote on President Trump’s nominee to head the powerful Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. CEI financial…
Blog
Lame Duck Session Should Undo Crippling Rules on Middle-Class Investors and Entrepreneurs
Next year, with Congress divided once again, bipartisan legislation will be the order of the day. Indeed for passage of both chambers, it will be…
USA Today
Tesla Shareholders, Not the Government, Should Hold the CEO Leash
Depending on whom you talk to, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is either the next Henry Ford or the next P.T. Barnum. Musk’s explosive tweets reverberate…
ACA International
Plaintiffs in BCFP Constitutionality Case File Petition for Consideration with U.S. Supreme Court
ACA International cited CEI’s Senior Fellow John Berlau on Constitutionality Lawsuit against CFPB. Three groups, including State National Bank of Big Spring, Texas, are asking…
News Release
Ten Year Anniversary of Financial Crisis and Nothing Has Improved
It’s been 10 years since investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy as of September 15, marking the epicenter of the infamous 2008 financial crisis.
Blog
Supreme Court Should Decide if Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Is Unconstitutional
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute is asking the Supreme Court to hear the lawsuit we filed challenging the constitutionality of the Bureau of Consumer Financial…
News Release
Supreme Court Asked to Hear Challenge to Constitutionality of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The State National Bank of Big Spring, Texas, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), and the 60 Plus Association on September 6 petitioned the United States…
Forbes
Let Middle-Class Investors Join the ‘Accredited’ Club
With the increasing focus on inequality and cronyism on both Left and Right, one would think that politicians and bureaucrats would rush to get rid…
Blog
Confirm Kraninger, Rein in Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection
Today, the Senate Banking Committee will likely vote to send the nomination of Kathleen Kraninger for director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection to…
News Release
CEI Endorses Trump Nominee for Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection
Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow John Berlau expressed CEI’s support for President Trump’s nominee to head the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection:…
Blog
Elizabeth Warren’s Hypocrisy on Financial Regulation: Part 1
As far as politicians’ transgressions go, I usually don’t get that riled up about hypocrisy. In the course of voting on and debating so many…
Blog
Securities and Exchange Commission Bests Labor Department ‘Fiduciary Rule,’ But Still Adds Red Tape
In March, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals killed the Obama administration’s “fiduciary rule,” a prime example of the “bureaucrats know best” type of…
Blog
Federal Charters May Remove Interest Rate Uncertainty for Fintech Firms
The July 31 policy statement by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announcing that it will now grant “special purpose national…
Blog
In U.S. and Australia, Payment Card Price Controls Create Many Unhappy Returns
Eight years ago this month, the Democrat-controlled House and Senate passed and President Barack Obama signed into law the so-called Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and…
News Release
House Bipartisan JOBS Act 3.0 Act Will Cut Red Tape for Investors, Small Companies
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives will likely pass by a substantial margin a legislative package — backed by both House Financial Services Committee Chairman…
Blog
Trump Reorg Plan One Step Forward, Two Steps Back on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
My colleagues Trey Kovacs and Iain Murray and, in Forbes, Wayne Crews, give mixed reviews to President Trump’s long-awaited executive branch reorganization…
The Washington Examiner
Judge Protects Us from ‘Protection’ Bureau
As the Senate prepares for what should be a contentious confirmation hearing for President Trump’s nominee to head the powerful Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection…
Washington Examiner
Judge protects us from ‘protection’ bureau
As the Senate prepares for what should be a contentious confirmation hearing for President Trump’s nominee to head the powerful Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection…
News Release
CEI Urges Senate To Press CFPB Nominee on Stopping Regulatory Abuse
Over the past weekend, President Trump nominated Kathy Kraninger, an associate director at the Office of Management and Budget, to head the Bureau of Consumer…
Blog
Last Chance for the 115th: Unshackle Middle-Class Investors and Entrepreneurs
Congress and President Trump recently gave Main Street banks and credit unions some much-need but still modest relief from the mountains of red tape stemming…
News Release
Dodd-Frank Volcker Rule Rollback Will Help Entrepreneurs, Investors
The Federal Reserve Board is expected today to start rolling back the Volcker Rule, a controversial Dodd-Frank provision that prohibits federally insured commercial banks from…
The New York Times
Congress Approves First Big Dodd-Frank Rollback
The New York Times cited CEI’s John Berlau on the limitations of current deregulatory reforms in disassembling the Dodd-Frank Act, which burdens consumers, investors, and…
Reason
Congress Just Voted to Repeal a Few Bits of Dodd-Frank
Reason cited John Berlau on the boon to small banks in being able to provide financial relief to Americans that is occuring with deregulation of…
News Release
CEI Commends House Passage of Modest Banking Reforms, Urges Congress to Go Further
Today, the House considered and passed The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act aimed at scaling back a few bad Dodd-Frank bank regulations. CEI Senior Fellow…
Blog
Cut Red Tape So Middle-Class Investors Can Soar with Next Amazon
Today is the 21st anniversary of the initial public offering of a little company called Amazon. Yes, today Amazon is a behemoth, a supposed…
Blog
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Targets True Rights Violations with Wells Fargo Fine
After being attacked repeatedly for supposedly being soft on Wall Street and the “big banks,” Acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Mick Mulvaney was part…
News Release
CFPB $1 Billion Fine Against Wells Fargo Shows Regulator Power in Trump Era
On news today that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC) will impose a combined fine of $1…
News Release
Senate Votes Down Unfair CFPB Auto Lending Rule
CEI praised the Senate today for voting down the Obama-era Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule that unfairly penalized auto lenders for any unintentional disparate impact…
News Release
SEC to Propose Investor Fiduciary Rule
In the wake of a court ruling against a controversial Obama-era Labor Department rule expanding liability for investment advice, the Securities and Exchange Commission today…
Marketplace Radio
AUDIO: John Berlau Discusses Accountability at the CFPB with American Public Media’s Marketplace
John Berlau, Senior Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, joined American Public Media’s Marketplace, to discuss how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can be…
The Wall Street Journal
Cryptocurrency: Does Fed Want to Imitate Venezuela?
John Berlau writes a letter-to-the-editor to The Wall Street Journal about the dangers of the U.S. government issuing its own digital currency. After Kevin Warsh…
Forbes
Let’s Keep Cryptocurrency Mines Running in Human Achievement Hour & Every Hour
On Saturday, March 24th, from 8:30 to 9:30 PM in their local time zones, some people will turn off their lights as part of an…
Sacramento Bee
Kudlow’s Skills will Keep US Economy Rolling in Fast Lane
Just as baseball season approaches, President Donald Trump hits it out of the park with his appointment of economist Larry Kudlow to head the White…
News Release
Court Rules Against Obama Fiduciary Rule in a Victory for Middle Class Investors
On news that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals late Thursday struck down the Obama Labor Department's controversial fiduciary rule, Competitive Enterprise Institute financial policy…
News Release
CEI Commends Senate for Passing Bipartisan Dodd-Frank Reform Bill
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) commends the U.S. Senate on passage of Sen. Crapo's S. 2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act.
News Release
CEI Commends Trump’s Choice of Larry Kudlow for Top Economic Post
President Trump is expected to name Larry Kudlow as director of the National Economic Council this week. CEI experts commend Trump for selecting an adviser with…
Newsmax
Mulvaney Must End CFPB’s Big Brother Role
Just after Thanksgiving, when the drama of the dueling directors began at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), I told The Washington Examiner that the new…
News Release
Sen. Crapo’s Dodd-Frank Reform Bill: Important, Commonsense Step Toward Relief for Small Banks
This week, the U.S. Senate is expected to vote on Senator Mike Crapo’s bipartisan Dodd-Frank reform bill, “Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act”…
Blog
Implement AEI-Heritage-R Street GSE Plan AND Honor Shareholder Contracts
It is welcome news that our friends from the American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation, and the R Street Institute put forth a plan this week…
The Washington Examiner
CFPB’s ‘NSA-like’ surveillance in limbo with leadership tussle
The Washington Examiner quoted John Berlau in the need for regulatory reform and the need to eliminate the cache of consumer data which the CFPB…
Newsmax
Understand Innovative ‘Blockchain’ Before Condemning It
Since 2018 began, the prices of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies had been tumbling, in large part due to real or perceived threats of crackdowns from…
Valuewalk
Time To End The GSE Conservatorship
When other financial institutions that received TARP funds paid back what they owed to the U.S. Treasury in full, the government relinquished its ownership stake…
News Release
House to Vote on Plan to Cut Red Tape for Small, Fast-Growing Companies
The House is expected to vote Wednesday on a plan to help small companies with big ambitions. The Fostering Innovation Act of 2017 (H.R. 1645)…
News Release
Trump Budget Seeks More Accountability for Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
President Trump’s 2019 budget plan, released today, has some big changes in mind for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), aiming to bring much-needed accountability and…
Blog
SEC Chairman Jay Clayton’s Comments on Cryptocurrencies Are Cause for Concern
Recent comments by SEC Chairman Jay Claytonmay signal an increasingly heavy-handed regulatory approach toward cryptocurrencies. Such an approach could curb innovation and prove counterproductive in fighting…
Newsmax
Stop Stealth Capital Gains Tax Hike in Senate Bill
It’s crunch time on tax reform. The House passed a bill just before Thanksgiving. Now it’s the Senate’s turn. A good tax reform bill would…
Newsmax
Dear President Trump, Please Fire CFPB’s Cordray — Now
On Oct. 30, 2017 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Richard Cordray released a letter to President Donald Trump in which Cordray urged the…
The American Spectator
Good Riddance to Finance Regulator Richard Cordray
Blog
Trump Should Boost Bipartisan Access-to-Capital Bill in SOTU
If President Trump really wants to strike a note of bipartisanship in his State of the Union address, as well as promote measures to build…
Bloomberg
Business Groups Attack ‘America First’ Merger Review Bill
Breitbart
Potential Nomination of McWatters to Head Up the CFPB Hits a Rough Patch
Breitbart discusses possible Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) nominee Mark McWatters with John Berlau. The potential nomination of National Credit Union Adminstration Chairman (NCUA)…
News Release
House Financial Reform Plans Show Lawmakers Recognize Problems Caused by CFPB
This week, the House Financial Services Committee approved 15 bills on regulatory relief for community financial institutions, investment opportunities, access to financing for home buyers,…
One America News
VIDEO: John Berlau Discusses CFPB Slush Fund on One America News
One America News discusses Mick Mulvaney’s attempts to stop the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s slush fund with John Berlau. Watch the full…
Blog
End CFPB’s Collection of Americans’ Financial Data
Last week, when the drama of the dueling directors began at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), I told The Washington Examiner that the…
News Release
Report: Dodd-Frank Volcker Rule Punishes Main Street
Banking restrictions imposed by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law have caused big problems for banks nationwide, a new report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute…
Study
The Case against the Volcker Rule
View Full Document as PDF The 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act has severely restricted business and consumer access…
Blog
Senate Bill’s Stealth FIFO Capital Gains Hike Hinders Tax Reform
It’s crunch time on tax reform! The House passed a bill just before Thanksgiving. Now it’s the Senate’s turn. A good tax reform bill would…
The Washington Examiner
CFPB’s ‘NSA-Like’ Surveillance in Limbo with Leadership Tussle
The Washington Examiner discusses Mick Mulvaney’s appointment as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with John Berlau. The fight for control of…
Blog
Acting CFPB Director Mulvaney’s Bipartisan FinTech Work
Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney has long broken bread with folks he disagrees with to find common ground on policy.
Blog
Good Riddance to Finance Regulator Richard Cordray
The resignation of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray is long overdue.
News Release
CEI Urges Swift Action on CFPB Problems as Director Richard Cordray Resigns
The CFPB under Cordray’s tenure has failed consumers.
Blog
Property Rights of Fannie and Freddie Shareholders—Including Small Investors—Must Be Respected
Private investors should never be guaranteed any type of government bailout. At the same time, they should not have their property and contract rights violated.
News Release
Report: Taxpayers in Danger of Massive Mortgage Bailout
Looming problems mean taxpayers are unfairly on the hook for yet another 2008-style mortgage bailout.
Study
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Still Endanger U.S. Economy
View Full Document as PDF Nearly a decade since the housing bust of 2008 sent the U.S. economy into a tailspin, much…
Bloomberg BNA
Business Groups Attack ‘America First’ Merger Review Bill
Bloomberg BNA discusses the United States Foreign Investment Review Act of 2017 with John Berlau. Senate legislation to increase scrutiny of mergers proposed by…
News Release
CFPB Payday Loan Rule Hurts Consumers in Urgent Need: Statement by CEI expert
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today unveiled its long-awaited rule against short term “payday” loans. CEI Senior Fellow John Berlau criticized the new rule,…
Reason
Defenders of the CFPB’s Newest Financial Regulation Are Ignoring Crucial Facts
Reason discusses the anti-arbitration rule in regards to the Equifax breach with John Berlau. In the wake of the Equifax breach, in which hackers…
Blog
Fat-Cat Attorneys’ Bogus Arguments on Arbitration Rule
Fat cat class-action attorneys and their apologists are getting desperate.
The American Spectator
Why Trump Must Fire Obama Holdover Cordray
In the private sector and during his short time as president, Donald J. Trump has never been shy about firing subordinates. Yet some powerful Obama…
The Hill
Disappointments Aside, Sessions Has Been on a Winning Streak for Trump Supporters
The Hill covers the upcoming DOJ decision on the structure and constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. For someone who, like me,…
Study
Shrinking Government Bureaucracy
View Full Document as PDF Shrinking Government Bureaucracy is a series of policy proposals by Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) experts to rein in…
Blog
Yes, Federal Arbitration Rule Will Harm ‘Little Guys’
The Senate to follow the House’s lead and pass a Congressional Review Act resolution to block the Arbitration Rule.
Blog
Rethinking the Securities and Exchange Commission
The Securities and Exchange Commission be abolished and its authority to punish securities fraud be transferred to the Federal Trade Commission.
Legal Newsline
DOL Looks to Delay Fiduciary Rule until 2019
Legal Newsline discusses the delayed implementation of the fiduciary rule with John Berlau. The U.S. Department of Labor is looking to push back…
Study
Rethinking the Securities and Exchange Commission
View Full Document as PDF The nation’s securities laws and the very existence of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are premised…
CNBC
Investor-Protection Rule is Here to Stay … For Now
CNBC quotes CEI’s John Berlau on the announcement of a delay in implementing the disasterous Fiduciary Rule: While opponents are cheering the delay,…
Forbes
Why Hasn’t Trump Fired CFPB’s Cordray?
Another day, another Trump administration official fired or threatened with firing. That’s what political news has seemed like for the past few weeks. But almost…
Financial Times
US to Delay Rule Requiring Retirement Advisers to Put Client Interests First
The Financial Times cites John Berlau’s take on the announcement of a delay in implementing the harmful Fiduciary Rule: The delay is “a…
News Release
Delay in Fiduciary Rule Compliance Deadline Praised by CEI’s John Berlau
The United States Department of Labor on Wednesday reportedly moved to delay the compliance deadline for the controversial, Obama-era fiduciary rule by 18…
Politico
New Glass-Steagall Report
Politico’s Morning Money covers John Berlau’s report, Why Wall Street Loves Glass-Steagall. Via CEI: “CEI has a new Glass-Steagall report on why policymakers…
News Release
Report: Return to Depression-Era Banking Law would Shatter Main Street Banks, Shrink Competition
A new report released today by the Competitive Enterprise Institute warns against efforts by Democrats and Republicans to resurrect the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, a…
Study
Why Wall Street Loves Glass-Steagall
View Full Document as PDF Debates over financial regulation often refer to “Wall Street” and “Main Street” as shorthand for, respectively, 1)…
Blog
Financial Regulators Should End ‘Too-Big-to-Fail’ Status
In the name of financial stability, federal regulators should at the very least hit the much-need pause button on the SIFI designation process.
Blog
Consumers Win as House Votes to Overturn Credit Card Arbitration Ban
The Senate must follow the House in passing this resolution of disapproval and in passing the Financial CHOICE Act to bring constitutional accountability to the…
Crowdfund Insider
“Sarbanes-Oxley Is Shutting Out Average Investors from the Early Growth Stages of the Next Cisco & Starbucks”
Crowdfund Insider covers John Berlau’s testimony on Sarbanes-Oxley before the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Securities, and Investment (Financial Services). … In…
The Hill
Warren’s Consumer ‘Protection’ Agency Sets Dangerous Precedent
The Hill discusses the CFPB’s arbitration rule with John Berlau. Sen. Elizabeth Warren‘s government-run-wild brain child is continuing its left-wing sprint into…
MarketWatch
Republicans Say Retail Investors Are Missing Out on the ‘Lottery Tickets’ of Private Firms Going Public
MarketWatch covers the congressional testimony of John Belau on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Congressional Republicans believe the cost of going public, and…
Comment
CEI’s John Berlau Testimony Before House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Securities and Investment
View full document as PDF Chairman Huizenga, Ranking Member Maloney, and honorable members of this subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity to…
News Release
CEI Criticizes New CFPB Ban on Consumer Arbitration Clauses
The Competitive Enterprise Institute today criticized a new rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) banning financial industry companies from using mandatory arbitration clauses to…
Newsmax
Passing Financial Choice Act Will Help FinTech Innovators
Earlier this month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Financial CHOICE Act along partisan lines with all Democrats present voting against it and all…
Blog
CHOICE Act Helps Sharing Economy and FinTech, but a Senate Bill May Harm It
Earlier this month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Financial CHOICE Act along partisan lines with all Democrats present voting against it and all…
American Public Media
AUDIO: John Berlau Discusses the Financial CHOICE Act on APM’s Marketplace
News Release
House-Passed Financial CHOICE Act Will Help Middle Class Investors, Consumers
Today, the House passed a plan aimed at scaling back some of the most harmful provisions of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law. CEI senior…
Reason
Alphabet Soup for the Soul: Some Organizations Represented Include Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, Americans for Tax Reform, American Legislative Exchange Council, Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation.
Reason discusses the CFPB and the Financia CHOICE Act with John Berlau. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s days as the federal government’s most…
The Hill
The GOP Must Fight Against the Durbin Amendment’s Price Controls
If there’s one thing House Republicans should stand united against, it’s draconian government price controls. When it comes to government policies interfering with market prices,…