There is a further issue to the regulation of proxy voting, even more significant than the question of whether proxy advisors should be regulated. That is the question of the extent to which the US government itself attempted to sway the proxy process on politically charged ESG issues.  

The SEC's rulemaking agenda for Spring 2025 is almost wholly transformed from what it was in Fall 2024.  

Among the items dropped: (i) as to issuers of securities: Enhancement of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors, (ii) as to broker-dealers and crypto market participants: Amendments to the Definition of Exchange, and Regulation Best Execution; and (iii) as to advisers: a trio of obligations: Enhanced Disclosures of ESG Practices, Cybersecurity Risk…

The economic question: do price caps on overdraft fees benefit low income consumers because they are saved money or are they injured because the cap discourages banks from serving them? Too often politicians or regulators lead the charge against services (such as payday lending) for the low-income consumer arguing that they are over-priced, but the results of their rules are to discourage providing services for the low income consumer.  

There does not seem to be an underlying logic to the amount of fines that FINRA imposes on individuals. This case is not an instance of a broker attempting to steal from a client, nor is there any indication that the clients lost money. The fine amount was $10,000. By contrast, there were two news stories last week that concerned excessive trading by brokers on the accounts of senior citizens. Both were clear instances of theft through brokerage commission, and both involved material…