Free Republic

Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, has summoned some of the nation's top executives to Capitol Hill to defend their assessment that the new national health care reform law will cost their companies hundreds of millions of dollars in health insurance expenses. Waxman is also demanding that the executives give lawmakers internal company documents related to health care finances -- a move one committee Republicans describes as "an attempt to intimidate and silence opponents of the Democrats' flawed health care reform legislation." In filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the companies -- so...

WASHINGTON -- Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd was spitting nails Tuesday at the Bush administration, blaming its deregulatory philosophy for fostering abuses that have put financial markets in crisis. "It's important to note that these events that we talked about are not natural disasters. They happened, in my view, because of mismanagement and deregulation that occurred on basically an eight-year-old coffee break by the administration," Dodd said during a press conference in the U.S. Capitol. The Connecticut senator briefed reporters Tuesday on what steps he is taking to address what he described as a deepening economic crisis that at...

When Congress comes back from its August recess in September, one of the quiet controversies lurking in the wings will move to center stage as Democrats resume their campaign to slash funding for the Office of Labor Management Standards in the Department of Labor. While this may sound like typical Washington insiders baseball, the function and operations of OLMS are anything but inconsequential — monitoring the financial disclosure compliance of labor unions. Because OLMS has been the Bush administration's chief tool for ramping up union financial accountability standards, it appeared in the Democrats' crosshairs even before their new majority in...

Audit Trail recently sat down with 2008 Presidential Candidate Ron Paul, R-TX, to get his views on Sarbanes-Oxley 5 Years Later, as one of only three members of congress at the time to vote against the bill. Audit Trail: It has been five years since the passage of Sarbanes-Oxley. Has your initial position on the legislation changed, or do you still believe it was an overreaction to a real problem? Ron Paul: The damage inflicted on American businesses and capitol markets by Sarbanes-Oxley has strengthened my conviction that this legislation should be repealed. In 2000, nine of every ten dollars...

New York Times Co. (NYT) Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and other members of the family that controls the newspaper publisher held talks with a trusted financial adviser about taking the company private, according to a report on the Web site of BusinessWeek magazine.

It’s Location, Location, Location in the Sarbox Aftermath The clear winner here is not America. By Mallory Factor ------------------------------------------- America used to boast the most hospitable business climate in the world. Recently, though, U.S. businesses have lost their edge, giving a slight advantage to foreign financial hubs. On July 11, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) affirmed that it drew 50 international initial public offerings (IPOs) from 15 different countries in the first half of 2006. Compare that to the combined 15 international IPOs offered on the Nasdaq and New York Stock Exhange in the similar period. At the root of...

Three US congressmen are pushing for an amendment to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), the law designed to make executives more accountable, in a bid to water down the regulations for medium-sized companies. Gregory Meeks, a Democrat, has joined Republicans Tom Feeney and Pete Sessions to introduce an amendment to the Act that would exempt companies with a market value of less than $700m (£377m) or annual revenue of less than $125m and fewer than 1,500 shareholders from having to comply with the regulations. The unusual cross-party move comes just days after Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, the two top executives...

...[I]nvestigators have uncovered even more accounting "irregularities" -- including overvaluation of assets, attempts to hide derivatives losses and the possible improper use of tax credits.... Which brings us to Mr. Oxley, the House Financial Services Chairman who is pressing a "reform" for Fannie and its sibling, Freddie Mac, that fails to address their core financial risks. His bill does nothing to reduce their huge portfolios of mortgage-backed securities (MBSs) and the derivatives they use to hedge those portfolios. Reducing their MBSs would dent their profitability. But a meltdown in their black-box hedging operations could have far worse consequences, and the...

The UN’s leadership needs comprehensive and urgent reform following a failure of management in Iraq’s oil-for-food programme, the Volcker inquiry is expected to say this week. “The main conclusions are unambiguous,” says a copy of the committee’s summary, seen in advance by the Financial Times. “The organisation requires stronger executive leadership, thoroughgoing administrative reform, and more reliable controls and auditing.” The report says “ethical lapses” and weakness in the programme’s management were “symptomatic of systematic problems in the UN administration generally”. It warns that the UN’s ability to do its job depends on its maintaining an image of competence, honesty...

The doughty band of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reformers isn't beaten yet. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby plans to mark up a bill this week to protect taxpayers against the risky business of these "government-sponsored enterprises," and the question is whether he can coax enough skittish Republicans to pass it. The Alabama Senator's proposal is a quantum improvement over the non-reform that passed the House Financial Services Committee earlier this year. In particular, it would force Fan and Fred to reduce their portfolios of mortgage-backed securities, a source of great profit for the companies but also of significant...

For the list of worst Congressional legislation ever, we have a new candidate: last month's debacle in the House Financial Services Committee on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In the name of reforming these "government-sponsored" mortgage giants, the Members voted to make them even more financially dangerous, while grabbing a chunk of their profits for political payola to boot. Chairman Mike Oxley and friends voted to create a new "affordable housing fund" to the tune of $600 million or more a year. Already facing deserved criticism for being under-capitalized, Fannie and Freddie would have to dole out 5% of their...

In the first weeks of 2004, just when nearly all figures indicated the economy finally was moving full-speed ahead, the government released a job-growth report that many took as disappointing. Just 1,000 new jobs had been netted in the month of December, according to the Department of Labor's survey of nonfarm payrolls. The news wasn't all bad. The mass layoffs had all but stopped, and employment appeared to have stabilized, with the unemployment rate at 5.7 percent being the lowest level in 14 months. In a recovery, employment is considered by most economists to be a "lagging indicator," and new-jobs...

Anyone aware of a move to roll back or repeal the onerous Sarbanes-Oxley reporting requirements? Can anyone point to estimates of the cost to US business of these requirements? I searched FR, and found precious little discussion of Sarbanes-Oxley, though I suspect many Freepers are suffering it's effects. I suspect the complaints about this bill will escalate to a roar after the first round of mandatory reporting is completed.