Fatal Fraud? More Big Dollar Settlements by For-Profit Hospices
Non-terminal patients are being routed to hospices in a form of Medicare fraud, and the results can be deadly to their health.
Read more...Category Archives: Regulations and regulators
Michael Hudson on Parasitic Financial Capitalism
An interview with Michael Hudson on his latest book, Killing the Host, which focuses on the destruction wrought by financial capitalism.
Read more...Market Liquidity in Liquid Markets: Pitfalls and Trends
Market liquidity is all about smooth and rapid executions of large transactions. But why is it hard to keep big markets liquid? This column looks at liquidity in fixed-income markets, assesses new trends (as well as the EU’s new market instrument rules), and makes recommendations to policymakers to avoid illiquidity – a timely reminder that the social costs of illiquidity should not be underestimated.
Read more...Glencore, Commodities Traders, and Systemic Risk
Mega commodities trader Glencore and its big peers are looking wobbly. How worried should you be?
Read more...A Physician Substantially Tied to the Pharmaceutical Industry Nominated to Run the FDA
Yves here. As Roy Poses stresses, the media has underreported on the conflicts of interest at work in this FDA nomination. Be sure to read the very long list of Big Pharma names that have supported Dr. Richard Cardiff’s research and provided grants and speaking fees.
Read more...Gaius Publius: Will Senator Whitehouse Renew His Call for RICO Prosecution of Climate-Denying Companies like Exxon?
Did climate change denialists like Exxon coordinate their activities, as Big Tobacco did to foster doubt about smoking’s role in lung cancer? If so, what would it take for RICO prosecutions to occur?
Read more...VW Scandal Bad News For Diesel
The ramifications for the diesel industry as its reputation as cleaner fuel comes under scrutiny.
Read more...IBM Lobbyist Planted Question From USTR Official at a 2013 Public Hearing
A couple weeks back, the Electronic Frontier Foundation released 124 pages of emails obtained in a FOIA request, asking for any communications between officials at the U.S. Trade Representative’s office and corporate lobbyists. The emails are mostly requests to set up meetings or share information between USTR leadership and representatives from either trade associations (The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Telecommunications Industry Association, Coalition of Services Industries, etc) or corporations directly (Cigna, General Electric, Liberty Mutual Insurance, MasterCard, AT&T, etc).
But Steve Stewart, Director of Market Access and Trade for IBM Governmental Programs – in other words, IBM’s in-house lobbying shop – takes this relationship-building a step further. He enlisted USTR to help him get his company’s narrative out.
Read more...SEC’s Mary Jo White Plots to Oust Effective Accounting Regulator, in Face of Escalating Criticism Over Conflicts
The evidence that SEC Chairman Mary Jo White needs to go becomes more overwhelming with every passing day.
Read more...Will Banks “Cough Up Executives” in the Treasury Bid-Rigging Scandal?
The Department of Justice may face an early test of its long-overdue policy change, that the government will seek to prosecute individuals, including executives, in a simmering Treasury bid-rigging scandal
Read more...Lehman Anniversary: A Reminder That the SEC Needs Someone a Lot Better Than Mary Jo White as Chairman
It is time for Mary Jo White to go.
Read more...Perry Mehrling: What Does Repo Do? And Can We Do Without It?
Repo is the system that failed during the financial crisis, leading the Fed to ride to banks’ rescue. Is repo any safer now?
Read more...Why Are Fannie and Freddie Raising Their Foreclosure Timeline?
One of the major fallacies skillfully employed by the lending industry since the foreclosure crisis is that the meddling defense attorneys and pro se litigants were clogging the courts with their dilatory motions and challenges, unnecessarily prolonging the foreclosure process, creating neighborhood blight and costing homeowners billions in property values by preventing “market clearing.” This […]
Read more...Nomura Wins Sad-Sack Bank of the Week After Overpaying on Court Loss to FHFA, Having Bond Traders Indicted
So yesterday was a bad day if you were a Japanese bank with stubborn executives.
Read more...The End of the Deferred Prosecution Agreement?
From the Wall Street Journal comes news of an intriguing case that would give judges much more leeway in overruling a hapless Justice Department and their light-touch deals with corporations.
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