Weekend Must Reads
Washington,
May 4, 2013 -
George Will: Courts and Congress give Obama adult supervision
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.), chairman of the Financial Services Committee, has told Richard Cordray not to bother. This is part of the recent evidence that government is getting some adult supervision.
Barack Obama used a recess appointment to make Cordray director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But a federal circuit court has declared unconstitutional three other recess appointments made the same day because the Senate was not in recess. So Hensarling has told Cordray not to testify before his committee: “Absent contrary guidance from the United States Supreme Court, you do not meet the statutory requirements of a validly serving director of the CFPB, and cannot be recognized as such.”
Competitive Enterprise Institute: Did Hensarling Force Obama’s Hand on “Recess” Appointments?
Chairman Hensarling’s action to block Richard Cordray from testifying on the CFPB’s semi-annual report may have forced the Obama administration’s hand in submitting a brief later in the week urging the Supreme Court to resolve the issue. What Chairman Hensarling was doing, in the words of columnist George Will, is give an out-of-control government some needed “adult supervision.” Judging by the White House’s reaction, Hensarling is succeeding.
Heritage: Red Tape Rising: Regulation in Obama’s First Term
Financial regulation dominated rulemaking in 2012, a direct result of the Dodd–Frank Act. Financial services regulators were responsible for 13 of the 25 new major rules issued. Far too often, the quality of cost analyses by regulatory agencies is substandard—particularly with respect to Dodd–Frank rulemaking. For example, some regulations issued by the SEC under the Act have been invalidated by the courts because of faulty cost-benefit analyses.
Reuters: Cheap money bankrolls Wall Street’s bet on housing
Las Vegas would seem a highly unlikely locale for a new housing bubble since the area’s jobless rate hovers near 10% and a healthy housing market depends on people having jobs. But the area is one of many mini-bubbles spawned by the Federal Reserve’s campaign to buttress growth with "quantitative easing," a wave of asset purchases that's pumping cheap money into the still-weak US economy.
Daily Caller: Dodd-Frank a total failure, bipartisan panel agrees
A mix of conservative and liberal speakers at an American Enterprise Institute discussion all agreed the 2010 law has utterly failed in its purpose of reducing the systemic risk posed by “Too Big to Fail” financial institutions.
New York Post: Sink QE! (the money-printing plan, that is)
The Federal Reserve made it official yesterday, saying it’s full steam ahead for the money-printing operation that is creating all sorts of financial dislocations without helping the economy grow very much.
