It is hard to assess the practical significance of this EO; i.e., how much it could change behavior at the regulators. Historically (meaning before the Biden-Gensler era at the SEC and the Obama-Gensler era at the CFTC), the SEC and the CFTC acted in a fairly non-partisan manner, meaning that it was somewhat unusual to have rules or enforcement actions approved by the majority party of the Commissioners over the dissents of the minority party. (There were exceptions to this, such as the SEC…

Commissioner Crenshaw's claim that this SEC rule change is a blow to democracy is flawed on several bases.  

First, democracies generally set the rules by which they are governed. In the case of the proxy rules, the rescinded interpretation was imposed by the federal government, albeit an elected federal government. The new interpretation is also being imposed by an elected federal government. So both the rescinded and the new interpretation are equally "democratic."

The CFPB's post-election rulemaking efforts, and Mr. Chopra's own decision to stay at the agency past the start of the new Administration, were emblematic of a regulator that believed his view of good public policy trumped the decision of voters. (See also, ; .)

This is less a story about securities markets than it is a story about the movement of financial and commercial centers away from New York, Illinois and California to Texas and Florida. (See , (the story also mentions the geographic shifts).) Expect this trend to continue.