The next time a cashier asks “paper or plastic?” think of Abbie Schoenwetter. He spent more than six years in federal confinement for shipping lobster in plastic instead of cardboard. There’s no American law against doing so. But thanks to a vague, overly broad, and otherwise unjust federal criminal law, …
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 …
Three House committees have added up the total hours of burden that Obamacare’s regulations will cost Americans: over 127 million hours per year of paperwork. Federal law requires agencies to estimate the paperwork burden created by rules and regulations, so the estimates for hours of burden come from the Obama …
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 …
Members of Congress—who are about to debate raising the debt ceiling tomorrow—should have paid attention yesterday. The President was very clear that he sees no urgency about reducing the debt and cutting the deficit. In fact, in his second inaugural address, President Barack Obama was honest about his intentions to …
Author Christopher Horner joined the Bloggers Briefing this week to discuss his new book, The Liberal War on Transparency, and how citizen journalists can use the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to hold the government accountable. “You’ve got Issa oversight, and you’ve got you oversight—FOIA and state open records laws,” …
Lisa Jackson will retire from her position as head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this month as the most prolific regulator of her class of Obama administrators. This is not a distinction to be coveted. Under Jackson’s leadership, the EPA has issued 1,824 regulations. For context, the Department of …
