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Treasury: CFPB’s Arbitration Rule Falls Short
The Department of the Treasury has released its analysis of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Arbitration Rule, which bans the use of…
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Overcoming Regulatory Barriers to Serving the Underserved
How many people are pushed to the fringes of the banking system by Dodd-Frank regulations? How will the CFPB's new regulations prevent the underserved from…
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Bank Regulator Report: ‘Arbitration Rule’ on Credit Cards Will Raise Costs on Consumers
A new report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency refutes the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s argument that its Arbitration Rule will have…
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One Solution to the CFPB’s Problems: Pass the Financial CHOICE Act
My new paper, The Case against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Unconstitutionally Structured and Harmful to Consumers, which is out today, makes the case…
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Rideshare Drivers’ Future at Stake in Seattle
Recent events represent an existential threat to ridesharing in Seattle, and put drivers, passengers, and communities at risk of serious harm.
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Rethinking the Commerce Department
If government is ever to stop growing, the supporters of limited government will need to provide a successful example of how it can be rolled…
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Rethinking the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Federal deposit insurance creates a systemic problem of moral hazard.
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Congressional Leaders Call on Agency Heads to Repudiate Operation Choke Point
Five House committee and subcommittee chairmen today called on the heads of the executive branch agencies most closely connected with Operation Choke Point to repudiate…
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Finance Regulators Reject All Critiques, Plow Ahead with Arbitration Rule
CEI will continue to work to overturn the CFPB's arbitration rule and restore the ability of consumers to enter into arbitration agreements, saving them time…
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CFPB Director Shows Contempt for Congress – President Trump Should Fire Him
Add another one to the long list of reasons why President Trump should fire Richard Cordray, the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
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Treasury Report Good First Step towards Financial Reform
CEI welcomes many of the recommendations and looks forward to the further three reports in the series.
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Capitalism for the Little Guy
One of the single greatest achievements in human history has been playing out almost unnoticed over the past few decades.
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The Clear Case for Restructuring the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The Financial CHOICE Act would go a long way towards righting the wrongs inflicted on American financial consumers by this erroneously-named agency.
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There is No Consumer – or Small Business – Case for the Durbin Amendment
Two new studies demonstrate that there is no consumer case for keeping the Durbin Amendment, and neither is there a small business case for doing…
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European Populism Is Nationalist Conservatism
As European conservative governments deploy authority and ignore economic forces, it is likely that the problems facing their nations will intensify rather than decrease.
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A ’21st Century Glass-Steagall’ Would Be Bad for the Financial System
A UK-style "ring-fencing" plan for banking regulation would be a bad idea.
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Congress Should Reject CFPB Prepaid Card Rule
One reason why the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has engendered such controversy is because it was set up on a false premise. As I…
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United Kingdom Invokes Article 50 to Leave the European Union
In a historic moment, British Prime Minister Theresa May today invoked Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, which formally starts the process…
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Time to Repeal the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act
FATCA amounts to a fine levied by the U.S. on any of its citizens who have the temerity to live abroad.
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Better than Expected Jobs Report Suggests Employer Optimism
It is very early days for the new administration, but there may be signs that employers are reacting to its deregulatory agenda.
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Congress Should Overturn New Restrictions on Prepaid Debit Cards
Congress should act to stop the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from making financial transactions more difficult for people without bank accounts.
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Deregulate to Speed Recovery from ‘Creative Destruction’ of Trade and Innovation
Government regulation limits the ability of individuals and businesses to recover from normal economic setbacks.
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Financial Regulation Executive Order a Step in the Right Direction
A new White House executive order aims to redesign how financial institutions are regulated by the federal government.
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Encouraging Job Report Suggests Deregulation Will Get America Back to Work
New employment numbers suggest that employers are starting to respond to the promise of substantial deregulation by the new administration.
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Trump Moves on Trade: TPP and NAFTA
The decisions to end the failed TPP experiment and perhaps pull the plug on NAFTA may not be the disaster for free trade they seem…
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Congress Needs to Fix America’s Broken Financial System
Whole forests have been cut down to print the books written about the financial crisis of 2007/8 and America’s response to it.
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How Ridesharing Platforms Help the Economy
We have been saying for a while that ridesharing platforms like Lyft are different from traditional transportation firms, not just in the technology they use,…
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Five Ways CFPB Regulations Harm the Middle Class
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was set up in 2010 to “make consumer financial markets work for consumers, responsible providers, and the economy as…
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The Future of Work
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Reasons to be Thankful: The CFPB is Accountable
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The UK Uber Ruling and Two-Sided Markets
One of the things that the UK Employment Tribunal’s recent ruling (that people who use the Uber platform should be employees of the company)…
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Uber and the Market Price
I have an article today up at the Foundation for Economic Education that looks at the UK’s employment tribunal ruling that Uber drivers are employees…
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ACLU Blasts Federal Bank Regulators for Unconstitutional Power Grab
Unaccountable agencies unsurprisingly behave in an unaccountable manner. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was recently found by a Federal court to be so unaccountable…
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Back Freedom in the Czech Republic
Here at CEI we are big fans of Czech classical liberals. We published former Czech President Vaclav Klaus’s excellent book on environmental policy,…
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Mr. Robot and the Future of Money
Last week, the cult USA channel TV show Mr. Robot showed once again why it is required viewing for anyone interested in technology.
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Wells Fargo and the Principal-Agent Problem
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has celebrated the $100 million fine it has imposed on San Francisco bank Wells Fargo for its employees’ improper handling…
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Financial CHOICE Act, Replacement for Dodd-Frank, Passes Out of Committee
The House Financial Services Committee today approved the Financial CHOICE Act (FCA) 30-26 largely along party lines.
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Work Is Changing, Employment Regulation Needs to Change Too
For many people, the 9 to 5, office- or factory-based, corporate job that Dolly Parton lamented in the 1980s is a thing of the past.
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Brexit: A Liberal Britain?
There is a great risk in Brexit Britain.
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Brexit: What’s Next for Trade?
At the moment, Britain is still a member of the European Union, and therefore its trade arrangements are subject to the terms of the EU’s…
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Brexit: What Next?
In our new and revised version of Cutting the Gordian Knot: A Roadmap for British Exit from the European Union, Rory Broomfield and I set…
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International Tribunal Gets Its First Big Test
The news that the Permanent Court of Arbitration acting in conjunction with the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) have ruled against…
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Opportunities for the Environmental Entrepreneur
I had the honor to chair a panel and speak at the 10th ICREI conference in France on environmental issues last week. This year’s conference…
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Interchange Debate Rears Its Head in Canada
The debate over the effects of interchange fees (the charges a bank levies on a merchant when one its customers uses a credit or debit…
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Happy Magna Carta Day
801 years ago today in a peaceful meadow in England occurred the first act of the American Revolution.
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Huge Questions Remain in Brexit Debate
It is now looking as if the June 23rd vote on whether Britain will leave or remain in the European Union is too close to…
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House Plan to Replace Dodd-Frank Provides Long-Needed Alternative
On Wednesday, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling announced the main features of his comprehensive plan to replace Dodd-Frank, the flawed response to the…
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Affordable Energy Is Important to Conquering Poverty
When economists and politicians talk about income inequality, they rarely consider the effects of their policies on the poor, as my co-author Ryan Young has…
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Administration’s War on Work Reflected in Jobs Numbers
The administration and its allies are currently engaged in a regulatory onslaught on employers that can only be described as a war on work. Today’s…
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More on “Inequality”
In serendipitous timing, the Institute of Economic Affairs in London released a new study this week entitled “Never Mind The Gap: Why we…
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CFPB Moves to Cut Off Any Loans to People with Bad Credit
According to the federal government, people may have to live on the streets, but at least they aren’t being “exploited” by companies who are willing…
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Seattle Regulators Go After Rideshare Driver Privacy
Today, I have a column up at FEE.org on the need for classical liberals to make financial privacy as important an aspect of their…
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The Chilling Effect of Dark Matter
Here at CEI, we know all about the chilling effect of executive power. We also know quite a bit about the extent to which…
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Free Market Road Show: The Sharing Economy
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The Sharing Economy Is More than Just Uber
In an article for The New York Times, columnist Farhad Manjoo worries that the Uber model of app-based service companies has run its course. He points out…
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Questions for CFPB Director Richard Cordray
Tomorrow, Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will face questions from the House Financial Services Committee. Here are some of the questions…
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Australian Bank Devalues Rewards Scheme in Anticipation of Interchange Fee Cap
I fear I am beginning to sound like a broken record on the subject of payments card interchange fees, with the needle stuck on “We…
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White House Threatens Veto to Choke Point Reform Bill
As has been demonstrated time and again, this administration is opposed to any change in the law that will reduce its powers. We see this…
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Bill Aims to Stop Operation Choke Point Happening Again
Operation Choke Point is a major abuse of executive authority. As we have detailed over the last couple of years, Choke Point is an…
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Interchange Fee Warnings Coming True in EU
We have often warned about the negative effects of interchange fee regulation and specifically a cap on interchange fees. Last year we warned the European Parliament that…
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Lyft Drivers Remain Independent Contractors
A California class-action lawsuit against ridesharing company Lyft has been settled without trial. In the settlement, Lyft agreed to pay its drivers, their lawyers, and…
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Market Dominance Doesn’t Last; Regulation Shouldn’t Either
One of the justifications for heavy regulation of large companies is that they use market power to crush competition and maintain market dominance. Yet the…
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Three Economists Had the Answer to the President’s Questions
Last night at the State of the Union, the President asked three questions regarding domestic policy (I’ll leave the foreign policy question to others). They…
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The EU Faces Many Challenges in 2016
The EU is in a quiet crisis. For the first time it faces the prospect of a major economy leaving the EU voluntarily. Its internal…
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Promoting Economic Freedom in 2016
It was Marxists who wanted permanent revolution, but it is capitalists who have delivered it. The last 50 years have seen a sustained revolution in…
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A Fundamental Misunderstanding of Free Enterprise
Today, in The Guardian, columnist Zoe Williams repeats an idea often advanced by progressives, that entrepreneurial activity is dependent on the action of others, especially “government,”…
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Bureau of Labor Statistics Releases October Jobs Report
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Halloween Not So Scary for Parents
When it comes to Halloween these days, it seems that parents scare more easily than their children. For the past 15 years, I have checked…
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Back to the Future in Payments Technology
One of the things Back to the Future Part II almost got right about 2015 was how Biff paid for his cab ride—with a thumbprint. A lot…
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Fed Reacts to Job Reports, Why Doesn’t Department of Labor?
We had another jobs report below expectations this morning, coupled with a rare revision downwards of last month’s jobs report. This ends a summer of jobs…
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World Bank Increases Number of Poor
The World Bank is considering changing its definition of what constitutes extreme poverty, raising the level below which someone is treated as extremely poor from $1.25…
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Transparency in Card Fees: Where Does the Argument Stop?
There are three ways banks that issue credit and debit cards can gain revenue from them: interest rates (in the case of credit cards) charged…
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Australian Reserve Bank Gets the Economics Wrong on Interchange Fees
A new report commissioned by the International Alliance for Electronic Payments, of which CEI is a member, finds that the Reserve Bank of Australia…
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NLRB’s Joint-Employer Ruling: Payback for Unions at Workers’ and Business’ Expense
In a radical new ruling, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) late last week threw all American franchise and contract businesses into a state of…
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The NLRB Declines Jurisdiction in College Athlete Unionization Case
The National Labor Relations Board has declined the opportunity to rule on whether or not college athletes are employees and can therefore be…
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The Administration Is about to Upend American Business Practices
It is probably the biggest change in American employment law since the National Labor Relations Act and its reform in the 1930s and ‘40s, but…
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CEI and Allies Submit Evidence to Australian Senate Inquiry on Credit Cards
Today, CEI and other members of the International Alliance for Electronic Payments joined the Australian Taxpayers Alliance in submitting evidence to an Australian Senate inquiry into credit…
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Financial Regulation and Payments Update: July 31, 2015
Last week saw the fifth anniversary of Dodd-Frank and there was a great deal of commentary from opponents of the act, not least from us…
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Dodd-Frank’s Dire Legacy: The Durbin Amendment
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UK Banks End Reward Programs in Anticipation of Interchange Fee Caps
File this one under “we told you so.” The Independent reports a scale-back in credit card reward programs in the United Kingdom: The…
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Operation Choke Point: The CFPB Is Now in Charge
I suggested at TheBlaze some weeks ago that even as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was stepping back from its involvement in Operation Choke Point, the…
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International Panel Outlines Problems with EU Interchange Fee Regulation
On March 17, an international panel of experts gathered in Brussels to discuss the proposed EU interchange fee regulations that are set to be approved…
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Human Achievement of the Day: Bitcoin
On the eve of the financial crisis of 2007-8, financial systems had grown extremely sophisticated, but were still essentially based on a model of trust.
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FDIC Retreats from Operation Choke Point
In a partial victory for all those campaigning against the abuse of power known as Operation Choke Point (see our comprehensive study here), the Federal…
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Rep. Leutkemeyer Moves to Choke off Operation Choke Point
The release this week of a new House Oversight and Government Reform Committee staff report into Operation Choke Point provides another opportunity to underline just how…
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Corporate Action against Disease Points Way to Resiliency Strategy for Developing World
In a piece at The Freeman today, I examine how corporations in the developing world have reacted to the threat to their workers from diseases such…
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The Long National Nightmare of Dodd-Frank Is Almost Over
One of the prime reasons for the continuing economic uncertainty that bedevils so many ordinary Americans is the presence in law of the Dodd-Frank Act…
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The Impending BitLicense and Premature Regulations
Last month, the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) announced its proposed regulations for businesses engaged in “Virtual Currency Business Activity.”The Department defines these businesses…
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Separation of Powers Survived Today by a One-Vote Margin
My colleagues over at GlobalWarming.org are already mulling over what today’s ruling in UARG v. EPA means for the future of American industry and energy production, but there’s…
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India Takes Action against Eco-Colonialism
In The Really Inconvenient Truths, I wrote about the environmentalist mantra I = PAT, where I is environmental impact, P is population, A is affluence,…
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Finance for the People
Over at The Freeman, I take a look at how technology has been democratizing access to capital, bringing news ways of raising money to people…
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Questions for Richard Cordray
This morning, Richard Cordray, head of the Consumer Financial Protection Board, testifies to a House Committee on the Board's semi-annual report. One of the Board's…
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Export-Import Bank Subsidizes the Western World
On its “About Us” page, the Export-Import Bank gives us its purported mission: “Ex-Im Bank does not compete with private sector lenders but provides…
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Bureaucrats Line Up to Regulate Bitcoin
The regulators are tasting blood around bitcoin, and like sharks they are positioning for the kill. The blood that they taste was not actually shed…
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Retailers Only Sell Half a Loaf in their Analysis of the Costs of Interchange Fees
In a comment on my American Spectator article on the deleterious effects of debit card interchange fees on American households, Sara Durr, Spokesperson for…
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The Administration’s Regulatory Uncertainty
Groups like the Center for American Progress are claiming that the possibility of another row over the budget and debt ceiling are creating “uncertainty”…
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We Didn’t Regulate Credit Cards, We Regulated People
That was the upshot of a panel I spoke at yesterday in New York at the Atlas Liberty Forum. It looked at the impact of…
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Contradictory Financial Regulations Cause Problems
It’s a case of “When Regulations Collide.” As we’ve seen in the energy field, contradictory regulations cost jobs as employers struggle to comply with…
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Scientific Literacy and a Storm in a Tea Party Cup
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Regulators and Justice
The federal government cajoled JP Morgan into acquiring Bear Stearns. Now they are punishing JP Morgan for crimes allegedly committed by Bear Stearns prior to…