Category Archives: Regulations and regulators

How $14 Billion Private Equity Firm Abraaj Went Bust

The remarkable tale of the biggest private equity fund insolvency evah, Abraaj.

Is the Tide Turning on Regulating Facebook and Google?

The time is overdue to Do Something about Facebook and Google.

Nobel Prizes in Economics, Awarded and Withheld (Climate Change Politics Edition)

How the Swedish Riksbank just put its finger on the scales of the climate change debate in a big way.

Bankers’ Liability and Risk Taking

Why limited liability for banks is not such a hot idea.

Brexit Derivatives Risk: Did the City Overplay Its £38 Trillion Hand?

Novating UK derivatives contracts entered into by EU clearinghouse members is a ginormous mess, particularly in a Brexit crashout. But how serious a mess?

Waste Watch: US Dumps Plastic Rubbish in Southeast Asia

Now that China has banned imports of plastic waste for recycling, US plastic waste exports to southeast Asia surge.

Costing the Country: Britain’s Finance Curse

More discussion of the downside of having too much finance.

DOJ Sues to Overturn California Net Neutrality Law

Trump’s DoJ yesterday filed a lawsuit to overturn California’s net neutrality law, signed by Governor Jerry Brown earlier during the day.

The Fracking Industry’s Water Nightmare: Injection Wells Damage Production Wells, Rising Disposal Costs Will Increase Industry Losses

The fracking industry’s wastewater disposal is an unrecognized production and economic problem that is going from bad to worse.

SEC Sues Elon Musk for Fraud, Seek to Bar Him Permanently from Executive, Board Role in a Public Company

Elon Musk put himself in the SEC’s crosshairs.

Why Dodd-Frank Is a Protection Racket for Banks

How Dodd-Frank left banks’ massive lending and safety-net subsidies intact.

Hard-Brexit Lobbyists Demand UK Roll-Back Environmental Standards to Strike Free Trade Deals with India, China and US

Another ugly but far-from-secret element of what was in store with a Glorious Brexit.

SEC Enforcement Wanes on Trump’s Watch

SEC co-director of enforcement Stephanie Avakian delivered a speech in Dallas last week defending the agency’s enforcement record, as the number of cases brought and amount of fines collected both continue to drop.

The Spider’s Web: Britain’s Second Empire

How Britain’s system of offshore finance and tax havens developed and preserved the UK’s role as the largest player in international finance.

Post Crisis Measures Have Failed to Tame Derivatives Risks

Derivatives remain an untamed systemic risk.