Category Archives: Regulations and regulators

Seventeen Ways to Think About the Finance Curse

A recap of the issues surrounding the Finance Curse, the advanced economy economy analogy of the resource curse.

Protecting Yourself from Amazon Violating Your Air Rights and Privacy by Drone Trespassing

In the unlikely event the Amazon drone delivery service gets to be anything other than for show, some ideas for how to protect your rights.

FANGMAN Stocks Crushed by Potential “Unprecedented, Wide-Ranging Probe” into Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon

The authorities have come to realize that monopolists like Google and Amazon aren’t good for the health of the economy or even (despite their tech sheen) “innovation”.

Ecological Importance and Human Rights Be Damned, Trump Admin Says Fossil Fuel Pillaging in Arctic Refuge Coming Soon

Interior administration official promises to offer fossil fuel leases for sale in 2019 to allow drilling in previously pristine Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to commence.

Glyphosate Use Surges in Midwest, Lawsuits Mount: What Will the Supremes Say?

Glyposphate use increases throughout the Midwest, and Bayer loses its third Roundup case. The company appears confident that higher US courts will reverse pro-plaintiff verdicts.

Trump Admin’s Latest Rail Safety Rollback Sets up Industry to Make Its Own Rules

Trump administration continues to follow the self-regulation gospel – this time in the area of rail safety. This case study in corporate capture of American regulation is yet another area where the accidents are just waiting to happen.

Lawmakers Push To Stop Surprise ER Billing

The legislative war to end balance billing moves forward in California.

How Trump’s ‘America First’ Trade Strategy Is Accelerating America’s Decline

Why Trump ‘s narrowly nationalistic trade agenda, combined with his nostalgia for a 1950s style economy, will undermine U.S. economic prosperity and U.S. global hegemony.

FAA Won’t Say When Boeing 737 Max Might Fly Again; Foreign Regulators Uppity

The FAA is a big casualty of the Boeing 737 Max debacle.

Documenting the Train Wreck: Atmospheric CO2 Is Now Higher Than Ever in Human History, and Rising

CO2 levels have crossed a threshold that ought to be causing alarms, yet the finding was just another news story. What can be done to cut through the climage complacency?

Bankruptcy: An Option for Taxi Drivers Crushed by Medallion Loans?

Contrary to what the NYT asserts, taxi drivers who can get competent legal advice might find bankruptcy allows them to escape onerous medallion loan burdens – and keep their medallions.

FDA Allowed Medtronic to Shield Info on Heart Device Failures

Medtronic allowed to report in secret the failures of its heart device – concealing information from patients, their doctors, and consumer advocates.

EPA Changes Math to Allow Burning of More Coal

EPA proposes methodology change to allow states to opt to burn more coal.

Plastic and Climate Change: The Hidden Costs of a Plastic Planet

New CIEL study documents how plastic proliferation threatens the climate on a global scale.

Gregory Travis and Marshall Auerback: Anatomy of a Disaster – Why Boeing Should Never Make Another Airplane, Again

Is Boeing itself on a crash course?