The House Financial Services Committee yesterday OK’d a key part of Barney Frank’s agenda for reform of the financial industry yesterday, voting to 31-27 to adopt his plan for so-called “too-big-to-fail” banks. The measure has been widely touted as providing a way to avoid future budget-busting bailouts of the industry. …
Don’t look now, but there’s no independent Inspector General at the Federal Housing Finance Agency — which is responsible for overseeing federally-run finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. As reported in the Huffington Post of all places, the former Inspector General, Ed Kelley was relieved of his duties in …
Should the federal government regulate what blogger’s blog? Yes, said the Federal Trade Commission yesterday — at least when it comes to product endorsements. At issue were the FTC’s guidelines concerning the use of endorsements in advertising. These guidelines, among other things, require paid endorsers of products to disclose their …
Is the Internet in clear and present danger? Yes, say proponents of neutrality regulation of the Internet. In a speech last month calling for FCC neutrality regulation, Chairman Julius Genachowski stopped short of quoting Oliver Wendell Holmes, but did all he could to paint a dire picture of the Internet’s …
Declaring access to the Internet to be like “running water or the light bulb,” FCC chairman Julius Genachowski declared today that it should be regulated. Specifically, he announced that the Commission will be voting next month on a proposal to impose so-called “net neutrality” regulation on Internet service providers such …
Does the Federal Communications Commission have a “speech czar”? That was the question before Julius Genachowski yesterday, as he testified for the first time before Congress as FCC chairman. At issue was the appointment of ex-journalist Mark Lloyd to be the agency’s “chief diversity officer,” a position quickly dubbed “the …
