The House of Representatives is preparing to vote on a $1 trillion package of agriculture subsidies and welfare benefits that exemplifies warped federal policy. Within its 575 pages, the proposed Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act includes massive spending on food stamps, a bumper crop of insurance subsidies, and …
Many Americans are understandably unsettled by news reports about the National Security Agency’s widespread monitoring of telephone and Internet traffic. Attracting far less attention is the rampant snooping of a more personalized nature carried out daily by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The two-year-old agency created by the Dodd–Frank …
What you are about to read is not satire or parody. The farm bill pending in the U.S. House of Representatives authorizes a new tax on rocks. Seriously. The House Agriculture Committee, in its infinite wisdom, has actually approved an amendment to the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act …
Congress is considering the renewal of massive agriculture subsidies that proponents characterize as a crucial “safety net” for struggling family farms. In fact, most of the taxpayer support is actually pocketed by the well-to-do, including former President Jimmy Carter, the current Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and …
Regulatory costs skyrocketed in the first term of the Obama Administration, which added nearly $70 billion to the already excessive annual burden of government do’s and don’ts. Virtually every aspect of Americans’ lives is controlled to a varying extent by regulation, including how we light our homes, wash our clothes, …
The Obama Administration is reportedly pushing banks to increase mortgage lending to people with relatively weak credit in hopes of boosting home sales. But the very same policy under Presidents Clinton and Bush contributed mightily to the housing bubble that ultimately devastated millions of families in mortgage default. Credit is …
New York City Mayor Nanny Michael Bloomberg got a well-deserved legal spanking of his own today from a state court judge ruling against his imperial ban on the sale of large-size sodas and other sweetened drinks. The prohibition was due to take effect on Tuesday. New York Supreme Court Judge Milton …
President Obama assured the nation in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday that the housing market is “healing,” although mortgage credit remains extremely tight. But that’s not too surprising considering that banks have been forced to shell out $2 billion for a government-mandated paper chase. The case in …
Two recent reports document anew the failure of federal agencies to meet the extensive rulemaking requirements of the Dodd–Frank statute. The regulatory backlog highlights how unworkable the law is for both bureaucrats and businesses. As of February 1, a total of 63 percent of the rulemaking deadlines have been missed, …
Not many people know the meaning of “swap” (as in a financial hedge, not flea market). Only the most sophisticated investors actually understand the complexities of buffering risk by exchanging cash flows. Under Dodd–Frank, however, federal regulators have been tasked with assuming control of this market, in which hundreds of …
