Senator Warren's populist rhetoric obscures how problematic her policy and process recommendations are as a practical matter. Her recommendations represent oversimplified answers to complex market issues and this latest speech demonstrates an increasing tendency toward stifling valuable dissent and demonizing opponents. Here is a breakdown:    

The Public Interest and Its Advocates. What precisely is this thing called…

This paper raises several important public policy issues. One may reasonably conclude from the findings that any violation of the securities laws that involves fraud should result in an individual's permanent suspension from the industry. Alternatively, one may conclude that the penalties for adviser misconduct are in fact quite severe; the fact that 44% of advisers fired for misconduct find a new job within one year also means that 56% do not. This does not seem trivial. Yet…

Is a material increase in number of trades combined with a material decrease in the total dollar volume of trading indicative of a material decline in liquidity?

The SEC's settlement illustrates the hidden risks that can arise from differences between corporate hiring practices in China and other foreign markets and those in the United States. This settlement also demonstrates that the solicitation and acceptance of candidate referrals is common across all industries and not only in the banking sector, and that many companies may discover the insufficiency of HR and other procedures they have in place for determining whether a candidate has a…