Though these proposed rules are arguably less burdensome than the original proposed rules, it is doubtful that anyone will want to operate under them, no matter how long the SEC may take to review them.

SEC Chair White and CFTC Chair Massad said almost nothing about the most controversial aspect of FSOC's authority: its ability to regulate non-bank financial institutions. Further, little or nothing in the written testimony of the other FSOC voting members seemed to endorse the regulatory power granted to FSOC over non-banks or the manner in which the FSOC operates. Notably, the tone of the witnesses seemed flat and their statements were largely limited to descriptions of the FSOC, or praise…

This is a case that the government should not retry. The essence of the case is this: (i) what duty the trader owed the institutional customers in disclosing his cost of acquiring the positions and the source of those positions, (ii) whether the institutional customers should have believed what he told them, and (iii) whether the information he provided about the cost should have been relevant to the trading decision. The expert witness for the defense, whose testimony was excluded, would…

This is an incredibly rational concept: tailoring regulation in order to (i) reduce the burdens on the regulated and (ii) conserve the resources of the regulator.