Regulatory Revolving Door

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2010/07/regulatory-revolving-door-1

The chief counsel in the division of enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Joan McKown, "will depart the agency to become a partner in the Washington office of the law firm Jones Day," an SEC press release announces. Jones Day clients, according to the firm Web site, include Citicorp, Deutsche Bank AG, Dresdner Kleinwort Limited, General Electric, The Goldman Sachs Group, L.P., Jefferies & Company, Inc., JPMorgan Chase Bank, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., and Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P.

As we've said in the past, we don't think working for the government should require anyone to forswear a future career in the private sector, but there is nonetheless something disturbing about a regulatory regime so complex and arbitrary that it practically requires companies to hire former regulators to navigate it for them. Maybe I missed it, but I don't think there's anything in the 2,000+ pages of the Dodd-Frank financial "reform" bill that would address this issue; if anything, it will make it worse.

by Ira Stoll  |  Jul 14, 2010 at 5:38 pm Related Topics:  Banking, Goldman Sachs, SEC receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list