That's the name of this report from the Institute of Medicine (eds. Lawrence Gostin and Gillian Buckley). The Food and Drug Administration and similar regulatory agencies around the world seek to protect consumers by approving drugs only if they are reasonably safe and effective for their intended uses. But that objective is undermined when bad […]
by Jeff Sovern You can read Senator Rubio's speech here. Here's the key language: "a major cause of our recent downturn was a housing crisis created by reckless government policies." He doesn't specify the policies, but he's probably referring to the old, thoroughly debunked, claim that the CRA caused the subprime crisis, something the Republican presidential […]
Victimized by Credit Reports. An excerpt: Given the evidence, it is imperative that the federal government do more to make the credit-reporting process transparent and to protect consumers from errors that can drive up their borrowing costs and cause them to be denied jobs or be turned away by landlords. * * * * * […]
In a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Massachusetts Secretary William Galvin is asking the SEC to consider a ban on binding pre-dispute arbitration clauses in investor advisor contracts, citing a survey that found them prevalent in contracts between investment advisers and their clients. In the alternative, Galvin asks that the SEC undertake […]
As the New York Times pointed out (as we noted yesterday), Republicans have continued to oppose the work (and existence) of the CFPB. So I was a little surprised to hear Republican Sen. Marco Rubio's State of the Union response last night include this exhortation: "Today, many graduates face massive student debt. We must give […]
This report — entitled Dangerous Liasons — published on Monday by the Project on Government Oversight strongly suggests that the Securities and Exchange Commission has been compromised in its duty to protect the public by the influence exerted by former SEC employees now in private industry. Here is the report's overview (some of which continues […]
That's the topic of this sobering article by Michael Fletcher. The econony bottom out about four years ago, but official unemployment rates — which don't count the millions who have given up looking for work — are still really high. That rate is 9.2% in North Carolina, and yet, because of what legislators claim is […]
Quietly Killing a Consumer Watchdog. Excerpt: The consumer bureau has taken seriously its mandate to protect the public from the kinds of abuses that helped lead to the 2009 recession, and it has not been intimidated by the financial industry’s army of lobbyists. That’s what worries Republicans. They can’t prevent the bureau from regulating their […]
The symposium is scheduled for Feb. 28, 2013, 9:30 AM – 6:30 PM, at the UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON SCHOOL OF LAW (registration by Feb. 26). The announcement states: Mandatory disclosure is a popular form of regulation. From privacy to healthcare, politics to “payola,” laws requiring disclosure have proliferated in recent decades. This symposium features panel discussions by top scholars […]