Food and drug regulation history — read about it, and then watch a cool video

In this essay, the Food and Drug Administration takes you into what the agency calls its "history vault" — where it stores evidence of drugs and devices that demanded — but didn't always get — proper regulation. (The vault contains more than 10,000 artifacts.) Some examples: a sample of Elixir Sulfanilamide, a 1937 wonder drug that was formulated with […]

Self-driving cars, transportation network companies (such as Uber), liability, and insurance

Jacob Walpert has written Carpooling Liability?: Applying Tort Law Principles to the Joint Emergence of Self-Driving Automobiles and Transportation Network Companies. Here's the abstract: Self-driving automobiles have emerged as the future of vehicular travel, but this innovation is not developing in isolation. Simultaneously, the popularity of transportation network companies functioning as ride-hailing and ride-sharing services have […]

More on the Sterling sexual harassment case

Yesterday, I posted about Drew Harwell's powerful article on allegations of widespread sexual harassment against Sterling Jewelers (the corporate conglomerate behind the chains known as Galleria of Jewelry and Kay Jewelers). My post explained that because the case was in arbitration (on account of a pre-dispute mandatory arbitration clause foisted on Sterling's employees), not in court, the […]

Does Dodd-Frank undermine borrowing by businesses?

That's the issue taken up by journalist Jim Puzzanghera in Trump says businesses can't borrow because of Dodd-Frank. The numbers tell another story. Here's an excerpt: [A] main reason for dismantling Dodd-Frank often cited by Trump and critics of the law — that its slew of tougher financial regulations have significantly restricted bank lending — isn’t borne out by the data. Since […]

The EPA’s views on climate change

I was curious whether the Environmental Protection Agency's website on climate change had been modified since January 20. Perhaps it has been in some respects, but the site looks to still reflect the prior administration's views. "Climate change" is the third listed "popular topic" on the agency's website. The climate change homepage includes data that you […]

CFPB Director Cordray’s CNBC Interview

Here.  Excerpt: [John] Harwood: The Wall Street Journal wrote an editorial, said your agency is lawless. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, who is an independent-minded senator, refers to you as King Richard. People say, "He's a dictator." What do you say? Cordray: First of all, I think it's completely ill-founded. There's never specifics in those kinds […]

WSJ: Key GOP Lawmaker: Commission Could Be Compromise in CFPB Overhaul

Remember how House Financial Services Committee Chair Jeb Hensarling said last month that he wanted to change the CFPB's structure to one headed by a single director reporting to the president?  Well, now the WSJ is reporting that Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer of Missouri, chair of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer […]

Paul Bland in HuffPo: House GOP’s Bill to Eliminate Nearly All Class Actions Would Encourage More Ponzi Schemes & Other Corporate Cheating

Here.  Excerpt: [E]nter Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-Corporate Lobbyist Heaven), with his ironically titled “Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act,” which passed through the House Judiciary Committee two weeks ago. Its passage was a remarkable feat of avoiding public notice or debate, with Goodlatte ramming through the legislation in the middle of the night, voting down […]