MetaFilter posts tagged with regulation

Toxic Waters

homunculus — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 08:58:17 -0800

Toxic Waters: A series about the worsening pollution in American waters and regulators' response.

If Paul Krugman Was So Right

kliuless — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:00:24 -0800

How Did Economists Get It So Wrong? - The Great Recession was the result not only of lax regulation in Washington and reckless risk-taking on Wall Street but also of faulty theorizing in academia. Can economists learn from their mistakes? (via mr & ev) bonus :P

Government as Risk Manager
Keynesian reforms could stop us falling into more economic foxholes
On the "Course" to a New Normal
"Because I Said So..."
Too much of a very good thing
U.K. Wants Bank Buffers, Not Bonuses
Making Greed Good
Greed & The Other Seven Deadly Sins
White House to Propose Big Reserves at Banks
It's not the regulators, it's the politicians
The systemic threat posed by megabanks
Shrinking banks
All Those Arrows
Fool's Gold
The Value Every Business Needs to Create Now
What good is finance?
What Is Finance, Really?
The Nature of Modern Finance
Can We Afford Health Care Reform? We Can't Afford Not to Do It.
Why Paying for Health Care Reform Is Difficult and Essential
Health Care Lie #493: Rationing
Examining the Public Option in Health Care Reform
The Divisions in the White House Over Health-Care Reform - "hinge on Sen. Olympia Snowe"
What Leverage Do Republicans Have on Olympia Snowe?
Health Insurers vs. Big Corn? - "[If] health insurers can no longer pick and choose their clients, and throw sick people out, they will develop a much stronger interest in prevention, which is to say, in changing the way America feeds itself. When health insurers realize they will make thousands more in profits for every case of type II diabetes they can prevent, they will develop a strong interest in things like corn subsidies, local food systems, farmer's markets, school lunch, public health campaigns about soda, etc."
The Rotten Core - "Late empires are known for several things: a self-obsessed, self-serving governing class, small over-reaching wars that bankrupt the Treasury, debt that balloons until retreat from global power becomes not a choice but a necessity, and a polity unable to address reasonably any of these questions - or how the increasing corruption of the media enables them all."
$9 trillion -- what, me worry?
Obama on Bernanke - "his 'bold, persistent experimentation' has brought our economy back"

that is all!

A Banking System We Can Trust

kliuless — Sun, 03 May 2009 06:03:30 -0800

Limited Purpose Banking -- for lending, investing, etc. -- Turn all financial firms into mutual funds: "All mutual funds would break the buck with one exception: cash mutual funds. These funds would strictly hold cash and be valued at $1 per share. Owners of these funds would write checks against their balances and never have to worry about a bank run. Fractional reserve banking and the FDIC would be history." [previously] also see The Credit Crisis and Cycle Proof Regulation, Raghuram Rajan (cf. 1 2 3 4) on preventing/regulating 'cyclical euphoria' among financial institutions... and btw Fixing bankrupt systems is just the beginning, viz.

Add Math to Bush Administration Failings

netbros — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 06:48:12 -0800

Dems eye midnight regulations reversal. Congressional Democrats are eyeing a little-known, Clinton-era law as a way to reverse Bush administration midnight regulations — even ones that have already taken effect. “Fortunately, [the White House] made a mistake,” said a top Senate Democratic aide. Last May, White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten instructed federal agency heads to make sure any new regulations were finalized by Nov. 1. The memo didn’t spell it out, but the thinking behind the directive was obvious. As Myron Ebell of the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute put it: “We’re not going to make the same mistakes the Clinton administration did.” It could take Obama years to undo climate rules finalized more than 60 days before he takes office — the advantage the White House sought by getting them done by Nov. 1. But that strategy doesn’t account for the Congressional Review Act of 1996.

Photoshopping Community @ Flickr

Toekneesan — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 10:09:16 -0800

"The amount of time it would take for the community to self-regulate -- I don't think it could sustain itself in the meantime. Anyway, I can't think of any successful online community where the nice, quiet, reasonable voices defeat the loud, angry ones on their own." —Ruling the global masses, one image at a time. The art of moderation as practiced by Heather Champ, Director of Community at Flickr. Flickr's Community Guidelines

EPIC FAIL: The Astroturf is always greener on the other side.

Skygazer — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:07:09 -0800

Rusty Shackleford over at right-wing anti-Muslim jihad blog The Jawa Report has posted that the Obama campaign, in an effort to portray Sarah Palin a member of the secessionist Alaska Independence Party, is engaged in a smear campaign through the use of viral video and astroturf techniques on You Tube. Shackleford claims the narrator of the smear video has worked previously on ads put out by the Obama campaign. And that “This same voice-over artist has worked extensively with [Obama campaign manager] David Axelrod's PR firm, which has a history of engaging in "phony grassroots efforts.” Shackleford also posits that the haste with which the individual who posted the video on You Tube, “eswinner,” or Ethan S. Winner, an executive for the public relations firm Winner & Assoc., removed the video proves an Obama campaign cover up in the works and that Winner & Assoc. were most likely paid by Axelrod to execute an Astroturf smear campaign against Sarah Palin. Axelrod's PR firm had a brief relationship with Winner & Assoc. from a Detroit Mayor's initiative they worked in separate capacities in 1996. Winner and Assoc, work predominately for big oil and utility companies, but also handle political campaigns and initiatives throught a subsidiary: Winner & Mandabach. Shackleford, although he presents the piece as having a high probability of being correct, admits, as his legal team advises him to, that much of it is "conjecture" and "speculation," Yet in his eagerness to expose Obama as a lowdown Chicago style political operator, he fails to discover, until he reads it here, that there is, indeed, an individual with a suspicious and compelling tie to the Winner & Assoc. public relations firm. That person is Sen. John McCain. In 2002 John McCain worked for Winner & Mandabach, a subsidiary of Winner & Assoc., to convince the people of Arizona to vote “YES” on proposition 202. One of three competing Indian gaming initiatives supported by the 17 Tribes coalition of Arizona. The 17 tribes hired Winner & Mandabach to see to it that there proposition was the one that would become law. McCain was brought in by Winner & Mandabach as a third-party player to lend his name and support to ads and mailings. The proposition was opposed by Arizona Christian groups and denied the state of Arizona $300 million dollars in annual taxes annually or imposing greater oversight and regulation. What compensation was made available to McCain for his services? “While candidates, PACs and party committees are held accountable for political funds, Indian tribes file nothing. … Disclosure only comes from those who file reports indicating they received donations from a tribe. … [T]here is no way to double check the accuracy of the reports.” McCain was twice chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, in 1995–1997 and 2005–2007. (On a side note for those who know of him, Prop 202 was also supported by human rights violator and denier of constitutional rights Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio (Previously on Metafilter.)

IndyMac Bank seized by federal regulators

Asherah — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:25:52 -0800

The FDIC has taken control of IndyMac Bank This is being described as the second largest bank failure in US history. If you are a current customer with funds on deposit, here's what you need to do.

Monsanto Milk

homunculus — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:00:33 -0800

Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear. "Monsanto already dominates America’s food chain with its genetically modified seeds. Now it has targeted milk production. Just as frightening as the corporation’s tactics–ruthless legal battles against small farmers–is its decades-long history of toxic contamination."

Many of World’s Poor Suffer in Pain

homunculus — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 13:15:36 -0800

Drugs Banned, Many of World’s Poor Suffer in Pain "Millions of people die in pain because they cannot get morphine, which is legal for medical use in most nations." [Via TalkLeft.]

The Myth of the Rational Voter

stammer — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 21:52:16 -0800

Why are American voters reluctant to support free market policies when professional economists have achieved near-consensus? Bryan Caplan of the Cato Institute investigates. (pdf)

"Pro-environmental nations experience better economic outcomes on several measures, controlling for other factors, than nations with lax environmental policies."

Firas — Sat, 19 May 2007 11:36:16 -0800

Environmentalism, globalization and national economies, 1980-2000 [Schofer and Granados in Social Forces, Dec 06] Triple-punch! (1) "We find no impact of environmentalism on foreign investment and trade. Firms and investment do not appear to be fleeing countries with strong environmental standards." (2) "While it is common to assume that environmentalism targets industry, the agricultural sector may be [negatively] affected more significantly." (2) "[S]ociologists influenced by world-system theory [posit that] the relationship between environmentalism and growth could be spurious: environmentalism does not cause growth, but rather coincides with the economic success of core nations. However, broader results do not support this."

Last chance for Southeast Louisiana

homunculus — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 21:15:22 -0800

Last Chance. "It took the Mississippi River 6,000 years to build the Louisiana coast. It took man (and natural disasters) 75 years to destroy it. Experts agree we have 10 years to act before the problem is too big to solve." [Via First Draft.]

The politics of chemical security

homunculus — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 13:43:00 -0800

The Next Attack. "Terrorists in Iraq are becoming proficient at blowing up oil refineries. Similar plants in a handful of American cities represent our greatest vulnerability. We could easily be making them less dangerous. But we’re not." And one of the key players in keeping things that way happens to be Dick Cheney’s son-in-law.

This link contains sex, drugs, and violence. Parental Guidance is Suggested.

rzklkng — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 05:48:56 -0800

The "a" in '[a href=' is for ADVISORY. Given that the social conservatives are eager to spend their waning mandate (and to be fair, hyper-PC liberals too) and extend out the nannystate to Cable TV, satellite, (which isn't entirely a bad thing) and videogames, is it too soon to work about the implications for the internet, and possible requirements and censorship? Blogger Sean Gleason suggests pictorial icons rating each link as to it's content. And of course, you could always make your own.

Welcome to America, please sheath your pens and close your notebooks

dejah420 — Tue, 08 Jun 2004 10:14:14 -0800

British journalist strip searched and tossed in the pokey for the crime of not knowing about a never enforced 1952 law requiring "special" journalist visas. And she's not alone...according to Reporters with out Borders, the US has deported 15 reporters, 10 of those from LAX. Reporters must now provide a letter from their employer detailing their assignment, and the INS gets to decide who is allowed to report, and who isn't.

Telemarketers beware ...

MidasMulligan — Wed, 18 Dec 2002 09:56:18 -0800

FTC creates national ‘do not call’ list While there have been state lists for quite some time, and some organizations (like the DMA) maintain do-not-call lists requiring members to honor DNC requests, the FCC is now talking about a single, federal list that would require compliance from all telemarketers, and levy fines for non-compliance. Is this the end of telemarketing as we know it today?

fncll — Fri, 26 Jul 2002 10:01:06 -0800

Smoke 'em if you can get 'em? Philip Morris' decision to support FDA regulation of cigarettes has smoke coming from between my ears trying to figure it out. Good, bad, victims of the cigarette tax money-grab?

Sinner — Wed, 13 Mar 2002 08:46:05 -0800

Legally, is a computer more like a TV, a pen, a radio, a CD player or a shortwave radio (or a hat, a brooch or a pterodactyl)? "Last month the top executives of two of the most powerful media companies in the world traveled to Washington to testify before Congress about the most dangerous threat they face: the American consumer." As in most computer piracy discussions, this NYTimes article (reg. req'd) analogizes computers to existing technologies: "airplanes, telephones, watches and televisions." Isn't the problem that no existing precedent really fits? To me, a computer is at once a communications tool, an entertainment (audio and video) device, a content creator, a copier, and much, much more. The laws regulating each of those things vary significantly, and in some cases approach mutual exclusivity, and for good reason. How can one device satisfy all of them? (oh, and via blogdex)

bingo — Fri, 15 Feb 2002 13:38:37 -0800

Did Max Bickford get a v-chip implant? "...the FCC ruined television throughout the 1990s by allowing mega corporations and multinationals to gobble up TV networks and distribution outlets, including cable and satellite companies..." Now that the big corporations own the content, they obviously have the right to change it. It's capitalism, pure and simple, but it may also mean bad TV. Does the goverment have the right, responsiblity, or obligation to to re-regulate the industry, just so the quality of programming improves?

tranquileye — Thu, 02 Aug 2001 10:51:33 -0800

The problem isn't too much greed, but too much cowardly greed. "Spineless lenders, weak-kneed investors and meddling regulators intent on reducing risk pose a greater threat to the global economy than the volatile financial markets... 'The critic's image of the global financial markets as a giant casino is wrong," [writes British financial writer Daniel Ben-Ami], 'On the contrary, the modern financial markets are more often characterized by a fear of risk-taking than a reckless disregard for danger.'"

youthbc1 — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 00:07:28 -0800

Congress members urge hip-hop industry to self-regulate. I'm glad that when I was reading this headline, I wasn't drinking. I imagined Coca-cola all over my screen. I thought to myself: 'hip-hoppers are doing a good enough job regulating themselves, look at Biggie, Tupac, Freaky Tah, et al.' And Rep. Earl Hilliard, D-Ala., suggested a ratings system similar to the movie industry's. Oh yeah, we all know how well they work.

donkeymon — Tue, 08 May 2001 07:03:26 -0800

HR 1542, the so-called Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act, will do exactly the opposite of what its name implies, reducing Internet freedom and broadband deployment by eliminating many regulations designed to force the Bells into being more competitive, and also by outlawing voice over IP.

From the article: "This bill ... does nothing more than strip-mine the remaining competitive safeguards of the current law, green-lighting the Bells to bludgeon any remaining competitors into oblivion."

jjg — Wed, 10 Jan 2001 00:29:54 -0800

Author Caleb Carr argues in favor of government regulation of the Internet. He suggests that if we don't have government making the rules, the corporations will make them instead. (Yeah, it's a Salon link. You got a problem with that? Keep it to yourself.)

RakDaddy — Wed, 11 Oct 2000 10:19:09 -0800

Tell Congress you want Low Power Radio! There is a bill before the Senate that would gut the FCC's ability to license low power radio. Click the link to tell your reps that you think S3020, which prohibits LPR, should be voted down. We like free speech here, right? We like having the right to use our own airwaves, right? Click the link, type in your ZIP and spread some legislative love, babies.

ericost — Wed, 13 Sep 2000 15:46:10 -0800

FCC: Open up AOL’s messaging "Federal regulators could force America Online Inc. to open its popular instant-messaging service to rivals as a condition of approving its acquisition of Time Warner Inc." I think this is good news for instant messaging, but I'm never really comfortable with the government forcing such things. What do you think?