The fundamental debate between Commissioners Stein and Piwowar concerns the SEC's social disclosure requirements, which Commissioner Stein claims will effect a "modernized disclosure regime [that addresses such matters as] . . . diversity and inclusion." Commissioner Stein believes that "[t]oday, investors make their decisions based on an array of information, which goes beyond mere profit and loss" – a situation that in her view contrasts sharply with that of the past, when such social…

There is no justification for setting the CFPB's budget outside of congressional processes. As the Republican's press release notes, the Pentagon and the Justice Department have their budgets approved by Congress. Is the CFPB more important than those agencies? Even if one believes that protecting consumers from banks is more important morally than protecting citizens from enemies, what does that say about the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Health and Human…

The SRO structure was developed at a time when the various exchanges were nonprofit membership organizations controlled by their member broker-dealers. Accordingly, the actions of an exchange/SRO reflected the decisions of its member broker-dealers. More recently, the exchanges have become global private corporations that, to a considerable extent, either are in competition with broker-dealers or have an interest in maximizing the fees they charge to broker-dealers. Nothing is inherently…

No market participant should be comforted by the CFTC's implicit promise that it will turn funding allocations into enforcement revenues. This becomes particularly apparent when the CFTC stretches the limits of credibility on the enforcement side (when it asserts, for example, that the Flash Crash was caused by a single spoofer).

Additionally, the CFTC's promise that it will use its funding to decrease "regulatory uncertainty" is hollow. Does it really cost that much to write…