Bad ideas never seem to die. But the proposal to create a national infrastructure bank to federally fund transportation and infrastructure projects with taxpayer dollars is one such idea that President Obama and lawmakers in the 113th Congress should put to rest. A recent Politico article noted that the departure …
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has imposed yet more regulation on the mortgage market, as required by the Dodd–Frank statute. The latest set of requirements and restrictions focuses on mortgage servicers, those who are hired by lenders to collect payments and manage other administrative aspects of home loans. Bureau …
It seems that no aspect of American life can escape government regulation. In the past year, regulators drafted rules that addressed everything from caloric intake to dishwasher efficiency. Most of these rules increase the cost of living, others hinder job creation, and many erode freedom. Not all regulations are unwarranted, …
Instagram, the popular photo-sharing and social-networking service acquired this year by Facebook, faces a strong public backlash over a newly proposed terms of service agreement that allows your photos to be sold to outside businesses without either compensation or consent. This move, while certainly savvy from the profit perspective, caused …
The states of Michigan, Oklahoma, and South Carolina have sued the Obama Administration in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia over provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act that allow the government to seize financial institutions. Several private organizations joined in the legal complaint, to challenge also the constitutionality …
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is a veritable wellspring of costly dictates and regulatory excess. Among the dozens of pending regulations it has concocted is a 1,099-page proposal to streamline the mortgage process. Yes, you read that right: 1,099 pages to “streamline” the home loan experience. And get this: …
Two House committees have scheduled hearings on President Obama’s unconstitutional appointments of four federal officials earlier this month. On Tuesday, the financial services panel of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee will examine the role that Richard Cordray will play at the helm of the newly created Consumer Financial Protection …
Calling the president’s illegal non-recess appointments “an escalation in a pattern of contempt for the elected representatives of the American people,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, dismissed a Justice Department memo on Thursday that sought to lend retroactive constitutional weight to the president’s move. Grassley …
President Obama’s stunning appointments of Richard Cordray to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and of three more bureaucrats to the National Labor Relations Board has been described by many observers as a serious blow to the Constitution and the separation of powers. In addition to the strong Constitutional argument against …
