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News Release
CFPB budget woes underscore fundamental problems with bureau’s set up
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) may run out of money soon, according to news reports. The bureau has been controversial from the start due…
Blog
Katie Porter’s exchange with CFPB’s Kraninger revisited amid new revelations
A recently surfaced clip of former Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) has sparked a firestorm online. In a newly revealed 2021 video revealed published by…
Blog
The week in regulations: Poultry improvement and painful scars
The federal government shut down on Wednesday. Thursday’s Federal Register had 60 final regulations; normal is about 10. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth flew in hundreds…
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Blog
Bank Regulatory Relief in Time for White House ‘Deregulation Day’
Happy Deregulation Day! Today, the Trump administration is celebrating the benefits of an America liberated from red tape. As I mentioned in a blog…
Blog
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…
Blog
What White House ‘Deregulation Day’ Can Do for Finance and Banking
On Monday the Trump Administration is launching the first ever Deregulation Day, highlighting the benefits of an America liberated from bureaucracy.
Blog
Senate Introduces Regulatory Relief for Regional Banks
Removing burdensome restrictions on regional and community banks will ensure financial stability while helping local communities prosper.
Blog
Nine Years on from the Financial Crisis and We’re No Safer
The real cause of the 2007-08 financial crisis was overwhelmingly the product of government intervention.
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
Bailout Mentality Persists in International Banking Despite Reform Attempts
Europe, in an effort to ensure that the next banking crisis would not end in a taxpayer bailout, created bail-in rules and started performing stress…
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,…
Foundation for Economic Education
Economic Freedom Is the Best Weapon Against Poverty
Over the past few decades, hundreds of millions of people have risen out of poverty to grow into a powerful global middle class. This unprecedented…
Blog
Sen. Reed’s Harmful and Foolish Opposition to Arbitration in Consumer Finance Disputes
Sen. Reed and his allies are using hard cases to put the interests of trial lawyers above the interests of a free people.
Wall Street Journal
Where Was CFPB While Wells Fargo Plundered?
F. Paul Bland asserts (Letters, Sept. 12) that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule is necessary to avoid “immunity” for Wells Fargo for…
Investor's Business Daily
How Can We Fix The CFPB? Shut It Down
Investor’s Business Daily covers the release of The Case against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by Iain Murray. Regulation: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s very…
Blog
CEI Comments: Volcker Rule Has Failed to Make Financial System More Stable
CEI submitted comments on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) proposed revision to the Volcker Rule, a federal regulation that bans…
Blog
Might Australian Financial Regulators Finally Embrace Greater Competition?
Over the past few weeks, I have been rather critical of the state of financial regulation in Australia. A banking scandal earlier this month revealed…
The Daily Caller
Elizabeth Warren’s Consumer Protection Agency Should Be ‘Abolished,’ Says Think Tank
The Daily Caller covers the release of “The Case against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.” Consumers are being harmed by the same federal…
National Review Online
The Government Shouldn’t Collect Private Financial Information from America’s Poor
National Review covers a new rule by the CFPB in which they collect personal financial data. One area of agreement, in principle at least,…
Blog
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…
InsideSources
Three Early Lessons From the Equifax Hack
InsideSources covers the Equifax breach and Jim Harper‘s response to it. It’s been almost two weeks since Equifax reported the hack of 143…
Blog
Debit Cards Fee Limits Have Big Impact on Payday Loans and Overdraft Charges
Seven years on from the inception of the Durbin Amendment, it has pushed nearly a million consumers out of formal financial services by raising the…
Blog
Poll: Americans Don’t Trust Big Bank Regulators
Bank regulators should foster an environment of financial competition, where institutions compete on the merits of their products and bear their own risks, instead of…
Blog
Ending the Myth of ‘Too Much’ Bank Competition
It’s time to let the idea that too much competition is bad for financial stability finally die.
Blog
Congress Moves on Financial Reform Bills
Nearly a decade on from the 2007-08 financial crisis, it is clear that the federal regulatory regime is not working.
Federal Times
Report Calls for Drastic Workforce Cuts at Regulatory Agencies
Federal Times covers CEI’s publication Shrinking Government Bureaucracy. The non-profit Competitive Enterprise Institute is all about shrinking government. In a newly released report…
Blog
The Equifax Breach and Regulation
In the Equifax breach, regulation is a likely contributor to the problem. It is probably not a good solution.
Blog
Why Should Millennials Want to Shrink Government Bureaucracy?
Free markets and limited government are for every generation.
Forbes
IRS Responds To Privacy, Other Challenges In Bitcoin Records Fight
Forbes covers the amicus brief filed in Coinbase v. United States. The federal government fired back last week as answered opposition to its…
RealClear Markets
Janet Yellen Says All the Wrong Things About Dodd-Frank
In possibly her last visit as Chairwoman to the Federal Reserve’s annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo., Janet Yellen decided to go out with a…
Blog
5 Ways ‘Consumer Protection’ Hurts Consumers
Financial regulation does not have to be a zero-sum trade-off between consumers and businesses.
Blog
Fix Payday Loans with More Competition
Last week, I wrote about the devastating impact that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) new regulation on short-term, small-dollar loans could have upon…
News Release
Fed Chair Yellen Off the Mark in Dodd-Frank Comments
At the Federal Reserve’s annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on August 25, 2017, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen made some tedious claims on the…
Compliance Week
Killing the SEC and Other Plans to Redraft Regulatory Agencies
Compliance Week covers CEI’s reccomendations for reorganization to the SEC and other agencies from Shrinking Government Bureaucracy. Occasionally daydream about razing Washington’s regulatory agencies…
Blog
President’s Summer Policy Update
When it comes to the institutions of capitalism, the advance of human welfare, and liberty, we are here because we love the work.
Blog
Federal Payday Loan Rule Would Devastate Vulnerable Consumers
It is clear then that the CFPB has no legitimate basis for regulating most payday loans out of existence.
CoinDesk
The IRS Has Been Using Bitcoin Tracking Software Since 2015
CoinDesk covers CEI’s amicus brief filing in United States v. Coinbase. The Internal Revenue Service is using bitcoin transaction tracing tools developed by…
National Review Online
Operation Choke Point is Over – Perhaps
Supporters of the rule of law will be overjoyed to hear that the Department of Justice has officially closed down Operation Choke Point. 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.
Reason
Goodbye and Good Riddance to Operation Choke Point
Reason covers Iain Murray’s work on Operation Choke Point. A financial dragnet that ensnared porn stars, gun dealers, payday lenders, and other politically…
Blog
Rethinking the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Federal deposit insurance creates a systemic problem of moral hazard.
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…
Washington Examiner
‘Drain the swamp?’ Start with the CFPB
As you muck around the D.C. swamp, there are plenty of dank crevices its denizens inhabit. Those habitats will need to be cleared away if…
Blog
Easing the Volcker Rule Would Be Good, Abolishing it Would Be Better
The Volcker Rule vowed to promote safety and soundness in the financial services industry by banning certain kinds of commercial banks trading, but has not…
Blog
Bitcoin Reserve Proposed for Australian Central Bank
The Australian Parliament may soon consider adding Bitcoin to the currency reserve holdings of the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Blog
Volcker Rule Harms Financial Stability and Economic Growth
The Volcker Rule’s definition is rather ambiguous, and gives little clarity as to how both regulators and banks should conduct their business.
Blog
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…
Blog
Regulators Mull Changes to ‘Volcker Rule’ on Bank Investments
Given that the Volcker Rule’s future hangs in the balance, it is important to review its short history, perverse effects, and what the best options…
Blog
For the Sake of Financial Privacy, IRS Subpoena of Coinbase Should Go
Our brief in United States v. Coinbase might have a lot to say about what the future of financial privacy looks like.
Investor's Business Daily
Glass-Steagall Held Back Main Street Banks and Their Customers
A strange-bedfellows mix of Democrats and Republicans have called for resurrecting the Glass-Steagall Act, a Depression-era law that separated commercial and investment banking. For…