The risk that needs more attention is a clearinghouse's demand for more margin in a period of falling prices and declining liquidity – a demand that has the potential to lead to a massive and rapid sell-off of assets. The requirement that clearinghouses maintain sufficient capital to cover one year of operation is trivial in light of the potential cost of the economic risks that flow through a clearinghouse.

The judicial decision that the CFTC's cross-border guidance was "guidance" and not a rule was both remarkable and disappointing. The holding of the case seems to be that if a regulatory agency called something "guidance," there was no need for further judicial inquiry. (In reaching its decision, the Court asserted that a major factor in its holding was the CFTC's characterization of its statement as guidance and not a rule – which seems circular, since the whole point of the litigation…

It is hard to understand how the recent crash in energy prices does not detract from the self-assurance of those who were pushing for position limits based on the view that energy prices were driven by (evil) speculators. Fundamentally, this feels like the imposition of regulation because it can be imposed rather than because it will provide a clear benefit. It is not that we should be fundamentally opposed to increased regulation, but rather that we should be skeptical of it. It is not that…

Quite a bit in Dodd-Frank and in the rules thereunder genuinely needs fixing. No doubt the process will continue for many years to come. Accordingly, it is good to see that "retrospective regulatory review" is high on Chair Massad's agenda. In a reasonable world (if that is not a contradiction in terms), "retrospective statutory review" would be high on the Congressional agenda as well, since it is a review that could be accomplished more easily if every attempt at a correction were not…