Category Archives: Regulations and regulators

CFPB Issues Payday Lending Rule: Will it Hold, as the Empire Will Strike Back

How big a victory is the CFPB’s new payday lending rule for consumers of financial services? And will it hold– as the industry fights back.

EU Dashes UK Fantasy of Talking About “Future Relationship,” Meaning Trade, Soon

Yet another Brexit fantasy bites this dust, this one the much-ballyhooed “future relationship” talks.

Sneaky Trump Scheme Guarantees Profits of Coal and Nuclear Power Plant Owners

Trump’s latest giveaway: a massive subsidy to coal and nuclear plant operators via unnecessary and costly electricity backup requirements.

Biometric ID Fairy: A Misguided Response to the Equifax Mess that Will Only Enrich Cybersecurity Grifters and Strengthen the Surveillance State

Surrendering biometric information and fancy technology provide no panacea for the problems revealed by the Equifax hack.

CalPERS Can’t Even Figure Out How to Count Ballots in Accordance With Its Own Election Regulation, Let Alone Comply With California Law

CalPERS keeps digging its election hole even deeper.

Fast Fashion: Magical Shift in Consumption Patterns Will Save the Planet?

Forbes thinks that emerging markets consumers might save the planet from fast fashion folly. Ahem. I’m not so sure.

UN Calls for Crackdown on Illicit Wildlife Trafficking

UN resolution calls for use of financial investigation techniques, among other measures, to crack down on illicit wildlife trafficking.

CalPERS Board Candidate Margaret Brown Objects to Unconstitutional, Non-Secret, Insecure, Unauditable Election; Vendor Handling Phone and Internet Voting Criticized for Incompetence, Exaggerating Security of On-Line Voting

CalPERS’ election procedures would embarrass any self-respecting banana republic.

Occupy the SEC Calls Out Regulator’s Absurd Push to Neuter Volcker Rule

Occupy SEC calls out OCC nonsense on need to reform– gut– the Volcker Rule’s proprietary trading limits for TBTF banks. Will anyone listen?

Cybersecurity Ain’t the Only Game in Town: The Scams Multiply

Cybersecurity is much in today’s news, but it’s not the only source of scams– which are much more omnipresent than in the past.

Hack of SEC May Have Yielded Illicit Trading Gains

SEC joins Equifax in reporting its own cybersecurity breach. Failure to safeguard information is not a problem unique to the private sector.

California Rewrites the GOP’s Climate Playbook

Some California Republican legislators are breaking ranks and beginning to embrace modest pro-regulatory positions on climate change.

Bill Black: Massachusetts First to Sue Equifax Over Massive Hack

Several government agencies and at least 34 state attorneys general have opened probes into the Equifax data-breach scandal–‘the gift that keeps on giving,’ says Bill Black.

Google Betting Big on Being Able to Overturn EU Antitrust Decision; Effectively Thumbs Its Nose at Compliance

Google got hit with a huge EU fine and faces even bigger charges for non-compliance. So why is it playing hardball?

Who Is Behind FDA-Weakening Bill Based on False Premise That It Restricts Access to Experimental Drugs for the Terminally Ill?

A look at some of the forces out to undermine the FDA.