Center for Economic and Policy Research Co-Director Eileen Appelbaum appears to have strong objections to both the sale of stock to private investors and to public companies buying back their own stock. It should be apparent that no one will invest in a company unless they can eventually get money back out of the company; presumably, investors are looking to take out more money than they put in. Accordingly, Ms. Appelbaum may want to consider whether her proposals might have unintended…

The reports suggest that the upward trend in nonbank lending will continue. There are a variety of reasons for this; e.g., banks are subject to much heavier regulation and regulatory costs, and nonbank lenders reduced their own costs significantly through use of technology, to name a couple.

In light of that trend, the question for regulators and legislators is how to respond. They could (i) decrease regulation of banks that are viewed as unduly costly and that make banks less…

The SEC should be careful not to suggest that ESG investing is inherently a good strategy. Even a quick internet search on the topic suggests that viewpoints on the past investment success of ESG funds differ markedly. Further, past performance is no guarantee of future results. The SEC should take care not to put itself in the business of providing strategic investment advice.

The SEC just adopted Regulation Best Interest, which imposes a significant suitability obligation (and related potential legal liability) on a broker-dealer that sells securities to the most sophisticated natural persons; e.g., Warren Buffett. It is therefore not at all surprising that small investors are not given a chance to invest in private placements because it is too expensive to deal with such investors as compared to larger investors. See .

One can either have rules that…