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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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.
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Good Riddance to Finance Regulator Richard Cordray
The resignation of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray is long overdue.
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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.
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Fat-Cat Attorneys’ Bogus Arguments on Arbitration Rule
Fat cat class-action attorneys and their apologists are getting desperate.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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…
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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…
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Financial Choice Act Advances National Small Business Week
As National Small Business Week is unfolding, the House Financial Services Committee is now marking up a bill to lend small businesses a helping hand.
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Help Stop Obamacare for Your IRA and 401(k)
While Congress is battling over repeal of Obamacare, President Donald Trump is setting a course to repeal a regulation that the Obama administration pushed through…
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Mnuchin Must Bring Transparency to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Recently-confirmed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin must do everything he can to reverse the extreme secrecy practiced by the Obama Treasury Department.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren Tries to Silence Fiduciary Rule Critics
Sen. Elizabeth Warren has frequently resorted to intimidation to effectively silence those with views which she disagrees. This is particularly true for critics of the…
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Smart Move for White House to Push Back on Fiduciary Rule, Dodd-Frank
President Trump’s forthcoming executive actions—expected to halt the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule and call for review of Dodd-Frank regulations—will greatly benefit middle-class investors, entrepreneurs,…
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Congress Should Eliminate SEC Rule that Discloses Company Information to Foreign Governments
Congress should pass a joint resolution of disapproval and block the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rule relating to ‘‘Disclosure of Payments by Resource Extraction Issuers.”…
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Coalition Defends Reform of Credit Union Lending Rules
A dozen conservative and free-market groups have signed onto a coalition letter to preserve deregulation of credit union lending.
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Clayton Must Work for Both Small and Large Investors at SEC
Jay Clayton, and anyone who goes on to serve on the Commission, must advance the interests of both Main Street investors and entrepreneurs trying to…
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Treasury Nominee Mnuchin Promising on Volcker Rule and Fannie and Freddie
Steven Mnuchin would bring to the Treasury Department valuable experience managing entrepreneurial ventures and company turnarounds. He has expressed some encouraging sentiments on housing policy…
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New Credit Union Deregulation Helps Consumers and Entrepreneurs
In my Forbes column last week, I wrote about how America’s credit unions faced massive new regulatory burdens from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
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How Financial CHOICE Act Rescues Unbanked Americans
If the New York State Department of Labor is really concerned about unbanked employees being hit with fees, it should lend its support to the…
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‘Crexit’ Votes Will Help U.S. Entrepreneurs and Investors
In yet another blow against the Brexit chicken littles, not only have the large British companies comprising the FTSE 100 gained back all the losses…
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Investors Got into Fiduciary Rule Conversation Months before John Oliver Joined in
“Fiduciary Rule Goes Prime Time,” reads the headline of a recent cover story of the magazine Investment News. The story argues that after political comic…
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CEI Support for Rep. McHenry’s “Fix Crowdfunding Act”
Today, the House Financial Services Committee will likely be voting on Rep. Patrick McHenry’s Fix Crowdfunding Act, a much-needed expansion of the bipartisan Jumpstart Our…
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Crowdfunding Rules: Four Years Late and Millions Short
Today, Monday, May 16, more than four years and one month after Congress passed and President Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act…
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CEI Supports Vote to Block Labor Department’s Fiduciary Rule
Today, Congress has the opportunity to block the costly "Fiduciary Rule."…
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Who Died and Made Dodd-Frank Regulators Gods?
Meet the new deities. They apparently sit on the Financial Stability Oversight Council and other regulatory agencies, especially those created by the Dodd-Frank banking “reform”…
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Final Fiduciary Rule: Dave Ramsey May Get Relief, But the Rest of Us Don’t
While the final rule may have been less severe, it still won’t keep middle-class savers from losing access to brokers and insurance agents.
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Obama Unveils Fiduciary Rule this Week, Putting Middle Class Investors in a Bind
Today, the Labor Department plans to unveil new regulatory restrictions on 401(k)s and IRAs. That means less access to financial advice and fewer options for…
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Berlau at SXSW: Let’s Cut Red Tape Strangling Uberization of Finance
AUSTIN, TX—President Obama traveled here to the ongoing South by Southwest festival from Washington, D.C., and so did I. In his March 11 presentation, he …
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How George Washington Propelled First Great Disruptive Technology
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Don’t Put Eco-Finance Measures in Energy Bill
Cronyism and boondoggles in an energy bill is nothing new in the U.S. Congress. But this week, senators of both parties are taking the process…
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UK Brewery Success Shows Lost Freedom in U.S.
On Tuesday evening, President Obama will give his final State of the Union address. In evaluating the state of the U.S., it’s useful to look…
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2015 – The Year of Equity Crowdfunding
As 2015 comes to a close, it’s time for year-end retrospectives, in which the past year is proclaimed the “year of” something. So in that…
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Omnibus: No Financial Reg Relief, Dangerous GSE Provision, But a Little CFPB Sunshine
My Competitive Enterprise Institute colleagues and I have made the case for members of Congress to use the omnibus spending bill as an exercise…
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Omnibus with Significant Reg Relief May Be Worth Supporting
As the year-end omnibus spending bill is about to be unveiled, there will be a scramble to examine its provisions. In many policy areas, my…
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Will DOL’s “Fiduciary Rule” Silence Dave Ramsey?
It is indeed sad that 40 percent of millennials favor the government banning speech that some deem offensive, according to a recent Pew poll. Even…
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CFPB’s Database Should Be Bipartisan Privacy Concern
The behemoth Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) played a big role in Tuesday night’s GOP presidential debate on Fox Business, both during the commercials and…
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Freddie Mac’s Loss Shows Need to Protect Taxpayers from GSE Raids
I wish baseball great Yogi Berra were still here—upon the release of Freddie Mac’s new quarterly report showing a sudden Q3 loss—so he could offer…
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Equity Crowdfunding at Last, But Still Incomplete
More than three years after the JOBS Act was signed into law by President Obama, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today will finally vote…
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CEI at Money20/20
I’m here on the Las Vegas Strip at Money20/20, a trade show and forum in the area of FinTech—a term used to describe a…
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33 Groups Call on Congress to Defund Portfolio Attack by Labor Department
Today, a coalition letter signed by leaders of 33 leaders of free-market and conservative public policy organizations urges Congress to defund the Department of…
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Warren Bullies Not Just Litan But Consumers
Elizabeth Warren “drew blood,” writes Washington Post reporter Tom Hamburger. “Elizabeth Warren Claims Another Scalp,” reads the headline of an excellent piece by John Fund at National Review…
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CEI’s Coalition Letter to Prevent New Bailouts of Fannie and Freddie
As the Dodd-Frank “financial reform” celebrated its fifth anniversary this summer, just about every financial business—as well as many nonfinancial firms—have come under its thumb.
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Savers Oppose “Fiduciary Rule” Sold by Labor Department as “Protecting” Them
“A fundamental shift in Wall Street culture” is what the Department of Labor is aiming for with the “fiduciary rule.” That’s what DOL Deputy Assistant…
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Mount Vernon Cheers: A Song to Commemorate “I, Whiskey”
Our Indiegogo campaign for CEI’s new documentary “I Whiskey” is closing soon. So far, we have raised almost $75,000, but it’s not over yet.
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Democratic Judges Green-Light CEI’s Challenge to Dodd-Frank
Just days after President Obama touted the supposed achievements of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law on its fifth birthday, a unanimous judicial panel—including an Obama…
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Not Dodd-Frank, Not Glass-Steagall, But Real Competition to End TBTF
Progressives cheered Hillary Clinton last week when she said policy makers need to “go beyond Dodd-Frank.” She didn’t rule out repeal of some sections, but most…
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The Right to Choose Your Investment Partner
The following is an abridged and revised version of my keynote address to the FinTech Global Expo at the San Diego Convention Center on May 29,…
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Johnson-Crapo’s Reemergence Ruins Reg Relief Bill
Last year, an overhaul of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac called Johnson-Crapo—named after then Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) and Ranking Member Mike…
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Dodd-Frank’s Thousands of Commandments and Near-Zero Benefits
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Labor Department “Fiduciary Rule” Threatens to Eviscerate JOBS Act Gains for Investors, Entrepreneurs
Three years ago, President Barack Obama signed into law the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, modestly but significantly liberalizing securities markets for investors and…
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Gruber’s Disciples Gunning for Your IRA and 401(k)
Is Jonathan Gruber, the MIT economist who seemingly dropped out of public view after he was caught on camera bragging how he and other Obamacare…
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Least Transparent Administration Closes Records on Fannie and Freddie
This Sunshine Week, the administration that swept into office promising to be the “most transparent” in history was just judged by a major news service…
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Remembering M. Stanton Evans
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How Department of Labor’s “Fiduciary” Rule Could Cripple IRA Choices
Last week, President Obama called on the Department of Labor to “update the rules and requirements that retirement advisors put the best interests of their…
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Harvard Study Confirms Dodd-Frank’s Harm to Main Street
Literally since the day the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was signed into law by President Obama, my Competitive Enterprise Institute colleagues…
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Main Street Fights Dodd-Frank’s Chipping Away at the Constitution
“Wall Street Chips Away at Dodd-Frank,” blared a recent front-page headline in The New York Times about bipartisan measures that have passed the U.S. House of Representatives…
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Supreme Court Refuses to Make Dodd-Frank More Draconian
Today, the Supreme Court lifted a cloud of uncertainty that had been hanging over consumers, community banks, and credit unions by refusing to take…
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Obama Should Help Borrowers by Shedding Dodd-Frank, Not Pumping FHA
“If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” So said Ronald Reagan in 1986. Reagan was describing the unintended effects of…
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Lame Duck Quacks Needed Dodd-Frank Relief
Waaaah! That’s the sound of former House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) crying about stinging, bipartisan rebukes to his legacy of the Dodd-Frank…
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Liberals and Conservatives Challenge Overreach of Dodd-Frank’s FSOC on MetLife
As CEI brings suit before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals tomorrow challenging the constitutionality of unaccountable bureaucracies created by the Dodd-Frank “financial reform” law…
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Crowdfunding Is Entrepreneurship’s History and its Future
In America and around the world, aspiring entrepreneurs are meeting their colleagues and their mentors in official and unofficial sessions of Global Entrepreneurship Week. Created…
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Gruber’s “Speakola” Virus and Pelosi’s Selective Memory
Obamacare supporters say that when deciding King v. Burwell and the related Halbig v. Burwell, challenges to the law that the Competitive Enterprise Institute helped fund and coordinate,…
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CFPBs Prepaid Debit Card Rules Will Harm Low-Income Consumers
Today’s action by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to issue unprecedented burdens on providers of prepaid debit cards shows why the bureau needs to be held…
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The Economist: Interchange Fee Caps Benefit Large Retailers at Consumer Expense
Surprise! Price controls lead to unintended consequences—including transfers of wealth to parties who lobbied for those controls. That’s the actual – and unsurprising – result…
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See Me at San Francisco Crowdfund Banking and Lending Summit
My colleague Wayne Crews’ Forbes column Monday explained “How Entrepreneurs Can Speak Out About the Cost of Regulation,” but noted sadly that “businesses that never form…
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For Fannie and Freddie Reform, Transparency Is a Must
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You’re a SIFI, Charlie Brown
“Good grief!” That’s what the Charlie Brown, star of comic strip Peanuts and cartoon spokesman for the MetLife insurance firm, might say about the government’s…
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Eric Holder Avenges Investor Fraud by Taking from Defrauded Investors
“Bank of America failed to make accurate and complete disclosure to investors and its illegal conduct kept investors in the dark,” declared a government official…
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Subprime Auto Concerns Caused by Government Intervention
Should we worry about a crisis in subprime auto loans? That question has been asked in the financial media lately. My answer is yes, with…
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Dodd-Frank Is Obamacare for Non-Health Insurance
“If you like your life, home, and auto insurance, you can keep them.” President Obama didn’t make this promise when he signed into law the…
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Alito’s Excellent Defense of “Corporate Personhood” in Hobby Lobby
The groundbreaking decision today in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, in which the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that Obamacare’s contraception mandate violates the religious freedom of two closely…
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Cantor’s Loss a Warning Shot to Supporters of Ex-Im Bank and Johnson-Crapo
Defying conventional wisdom as he often does, Pulitzer prize-winning pundit George F. Will disputed the notion that in the wake of the shocking primary loss…
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Maya Angelou, Herb Jeffries, and the Freedom to Prosper
Competitive Enterprise Institute President Lawson Bader has said, "What CEI does, on a daily basis and at its core, is to celebrate and defend…
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Dodd-Frank’s Durbin Amendment Drives Up Costs on Memorial Day and Every Day
Over the Memorial Day weekend, the Big Retail lobby created a dubious driving distraction. The Merchants Payments Coalition, whose members include retail giants like Walmart and…
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Johnson-Crapo Is Fannie and Freddie on Steroids
Today, after delays and much opposition from many quarters on different grounds, the Johnson-Crapo housing finance overhaul is set to be voted on by the…
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Johnson-Crapo Delayed; CEI-Coordinated Coalition Letter Cited as a Factor
Today, in a surprise move, the Senate Banking Committee postponed the vote it had been set to mark up for Johnson-Crapo. Reports vary as…
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First Ever Constitutional Ruling against Dodd-Frank Voids Destructive “Conflict Minerals” Section
Today’s ruling of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that Dodd-Frank’s "conflict minerals" disclosure mandate violates the First Amendment is the first time ever a court has…
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How Matt Drudge (and Other Obamacare Victims) Can Escape the “Liberty Tax”
Former Competitive Enterprise Institute Research Associate Michael Mayfield provided invaluable assistance with this post. Matt Drudge's widely discussed…
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Draconian Dodd-Frank Durbin Debit Controls Need Not Be More Destructive, Court Rules
As the weather finally turns to spring, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals today blew a nice cool breeze of common sense. A bipartisan three-judge…
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Johnson-Crapo Is Phony Fannie-Freddie Reform
Ever since the phrase appeared in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet," and its variations, have…
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Obama and Camp’s “Carried Interest” Canard Adds Cost and Complexity to Code
Once again, according to a White House summary of his 2015 budget to be unveiled later today, President Obama will call for "closing loopholes"…
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GW’s Entrepreneurship and Crowdfunding Barriers to Today’s Revolutionary Entrepreneurs
Happy Washington’s birthday, everyone! Although the holiday was on Monday, George Washington’s actual date of birth is tomorrow, February 22, in the year 1732. And…
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No Obamaloans at the Post Office!
While Sen. Elizabeth Warren may proudly brand herself a populist, in her latest crusade, she is casting her lot with fat cats. Warren wants to…
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Target, Retailers Use Dodd-Frank to Skimp on Data Security
Chutzpah, thy name is the National Retail Federation! In the wake of the recent credit and debit card breach at Target that may have compromised…
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“Wall Street” Regs Devastate Main Street Banks and Credit Unions
Again and again, when regulators implement a new Dodd-Frank regulation aimed at "Wall Street," it is Main Street banks and credit unions that are forced…
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The Great Italian Auto Bailout — Courtesy of U.S. Taxpayers
At the beginning of 2014, Detroit may be bankrupt, but they're cheering the five-year-old U.S. auto bailout in Italy. That's because after being the beneficiary…
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Target Breach — Are Dodd-Frank “Swipe Fee” Price Controls to Blame?
Target wants you to know it is oh-so-sorry for any inconvenience its data SNAFU (as OpenMarket is a family blog, please look up the…
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Volcker Rule Overshoots Wall Street to Hit Utah
You might think after the disastrous debut of HealthCare.gov and thousands of insurance cancellations, those who call themselves progressives might just have a little humility…
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The Volcker Winter Storm — Bad Rule, Worse Implementation
On a snowy day in Washington, several federal agencies packed some mean regulatory snowballs that will most likely overshoot their supposed destination of Wall Street…
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Government “Study” on Internet Tax Hides Harmful Small Business Effects
Under presidents of both parties, the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy has produced quality independent studies on the harmful tax and regulatory burden on…
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Twitter, the JOBS Act, and the Return to IPO Normalcy
The headline read that the company's initial public offering price is "high," and "so is its valuation." The accompanying story explained that the latest tech…
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Mel Watt Fails Taxpayer, Privacy, and Transparency Tests
Former Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C., failed his procedural confirmation vote today to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees the government housing entities Fannie…
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Don’t Let FTC Shut Down Legit Credit Repair Services
Next to the infamous Healthcare.gov, the website that featured the most bugs of the last month was FTC.gov, the site of the Federal Trade Commission. During…
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Shut Down Fannie and Freddie Permanently
Cross-posted from Newsbusters.org “U.S. Government Shutdown Threatening Housing Recovery,” screams the Oct. 2 headline of a shutdown scare screed in Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Wade…