The argument that these Executive Orders are applicable to the CFPB as an "executive agency," raises practical questions. Should the Orders apply retroactively to rules that were adopted by the CFPB already, since the CFPB should not have been operating as an independent agency? Should the CFPB perform a clean review of its prior rulemakings to conform them to the regulatory requirements to which the CFPB should have been subject?

On , Mr. Dudley has expressed his view that the "culture" of the financial industry is fundamentally flawed. On what basis does Mr. Dudley avow that ethical sins are more prevalent in the financial industry than in other industries or fields of human endeavor? Obviously, regulators should pursue financial institutions and professionals that break the law, but answering one's calling is quite different from claiming that those who work in the financial industry are likelier to be sinners…

Before they ask the OTC derivatives markets to spend tremendous amounts of money collecting and reporting this data, regulators should consider whether the end result will be useful. The government's actual need for much of the data it requires is not obvious.

Mr. Donohue predicts a future in which compliance expenses increase significantly. He does not acknowledge, however, the problems that rising costs may cause our economy and society. This is not to decry regulation in general; one does not have to be a libertarian to acknowledge that regulation's costs sometimes can outweigh its benefits. It should be clear, however, that as regulatory costs rise, (i) there is a reduction in services or an increase in the cost of those services, and (ii)…