Category Archives: Regulations and regulators

Brexit Becoming More Unpopular as Yet More Warts, Like VAT Administration, Come Into Focus

The latest Brexit updates aren’t very cheery.

Do Fewer Settlements by Pharmaceutical Companies Mean Even Less Accountability for Their Execs?

Drug company settlements with the Feds, which never were very tough to begin with, are also becoming less frequent.

Planet or Plastic

Planet or Plastic: more than individual solutions will be necessary to solve the problem. This is not a left/right issue.

Payday Lending Rule Survives…For Now

Congress has failed to use Congressional Review Act procedures to scupper the payday lending rule. Pending CFPB and court challenges may still doom the measure.

Bill Black: Trump Admin Halts Investigation of For-Profit Colleges

Bill Black discusses Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s decision to stop investigating for-profit colleges and educational institutions for fraudulent practices.

California Hospital Giant Sutter Health Target of Anti-Trust Suit, Legislation for High Prices. Will It Set a National Precedent?

Will California officials succeed in curbing aggressive pricing by hospital network Sutter Health? Could these efforts set a precedent for other markets?

Yet More Brexit Idiocy: Cabinet Thinks Begging to Stay in Customs Union Will Solve Irish Border Problem

The UK is now trying to marry up two unworkable Brexit ideas and call it a solution.

Bill Black: Fair Seas and Following Wind John McCain

A missive from Bill Black to Senator McCain.

Update: CalPERS Chief Financial Officer Charles Asubonten Now Not Presenting at Board Meeting Today

A bit of evidence suggests that Charles Asubonten may be on his way out of CalPERS.

Trump Vows (Again) To Lower Drug Prices But Skeptics Doubt Much Will Change

Why Trump’s drug price plan is unlikely to accomplish much.

Election-Rigging, CalPERS-Style: How Voting by Phone Was Designed to Favor Incumbent, Suppress Support for Challenger

CalPERS not only looks to have tried to throw the phone voting in a runoff election last year in favor of the incumbent, but it is acting awfully guilty by refusing to cough up records and data.

Airbnb Turns to Brussels for Help as Anti-Tourist Backlash Intensifies in Europe

Airbnb is on the run in Europe and desperate to find allies.

SEC Gives Private Equity Firm Welsh Carson a Wet Noodle Lashing Over Purchasing Kickback Abuse

More SEC enforcement theater on the private equity front.

Warren Buffett’s Mortgage Companies Engage in Alleged Discrimination Against Minority Borrowers, Violating Fair Housing Act

An investigative report suggests that Berkshire Hathaway’s mortgage lending operation discriminates against minority borrowers.

Colorado River: The Water War That Will Decide the Fate of 1 in 8 Americans

Water wars loom on the horizon, arising from overuse for generations of the Colorado River, which carved the Grand Canyon and serves as the main water source for much of the American West.