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Daily Archives: November 18, 2014

Demystifying Dodd-Frank: 12 Ways it Reforms the Financial System

Lauren Oppenheimer and Jim Kessler – Third Way“Four years after its passage, Dodd-Frank remains one of the most important yet least understood laws passed in recent decades. It was designed to reduce the frequency and severity of future financial crises. It sought to overhaul the regulatory structure of Wall Street and the banking industry—from the issuing of simple mortgages for prospective homeowners to protecting consumers who use financial products to the trading of bewildering derivatives between institutional behemoth.  But like many things having to do with the financial sector, Dodd-Frank is replete with complex terminology and opaque concepts—and we have yet to see a short and simple primer that makes the law accessible. This complexity is not just an obstacle to understanding Dodd-Frank and explaining it to voters who are skeptical of both Wall Street and Congress, but an impediment to appreciating it. Dodd-Frank attempts to strike a balance between preventing dangerous behavior in finance without discouraging the wide range of financial activities and products that fuel economic growth. Think of financial markets as highways that connect borrowers and savers. When the highway system functions poorly, it affects everyone on the road. If lanes are clogged, business cannot access capital to create jobs and economic growth; consumers can’t find the on-ramp to get mortgages, auto loans, or student loans; and investors have trouble saving for the future. Dodd-Frank aims to keep the highways safe and the traffic flowing by providing speed limits, traffic signs, road maps, safety standards, vehicle inspections, and strict laws against reckless driving—in addition to a vigilant highway patrol to enforce the rules. Overly restrictive rules can make highways work sub-optimally. If highways are designed to handle traffic going 65 MPH, a 25 MPH speed limit will clog the road. A speed limit of 80 MPH would be right for some vehicles, but not trucks carrying hazardous materials. Ultimately, we want rules to handle all types of investment vehicles safely and efficiently, because the big trucks and the smaller cars share the same road. And we don’t want to create rules that permit or tempt those carrying hazardous materials to seek a less tightly regulated road or vehicle to move its product. Making these traffic rules work for each without jeopardizing others is an immensely complicated task that Dodd-Frank tries to accomplish. This memo seeks to demystify Dodd-Frank. To do so, we identify and describe the 12 most significant reforms put in place by Dodd-Frank and show how, if properly implemented, they make the financial infrastructure more resilient. We also note where critics believe the law goes too far or not far enough in making the infrastructure safe and navigable.”

2014 Federal Insurance Office Annual Report on the Insurance Industry

“The Report begins with an overview of the insurance industry that presents and analyzes the financial performance and condition of the key U.S. insurance industry sectors, i.e., the life and health (L/H) sector and the property and casualty (P/C) sector. The industry financial overview also includes analysis of insurance industry capital markets activity, the increasing… Continue Reading

In the Shadow of the Great Recession: Experiences and Perspectives of Young Workers

“The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday published a new report, based on its 2013 Survey of Young Workers, that provides insight into numerous labor market topics, including the educational attainment, work experience, and expectations of adults aged 18 to 30. In the Shadow of the Great Recession: Experiences and Perspectives of Young Workers, takes an in-depth look… Continue Reading

Reducing Coastal Risk on the East and Gulf Coasts

“Hurricane- and coastal-storm-related losses have increased substantially during the past century, largely due to increases in population and development in the most susceptible coastal areas. Climate change poses additional threats to coastal communities from sea level rise and possible increases in strength of the largest hurricanes. Several large cities in the United States have extensive… Continue Reading

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Annual Report FY2014

“When a single-employer plan ends without sufficient money to pay benefits, PBGC trustees the plan and assumes responsibility for benefit payments. PBGC became responsible for an additional 53,000 workers and retirees in 97 trusteed single-employer plans in FY 2014. The three largest plans trusteed were sponsored by Furniture Brands (19,011 participants), Greenwood Mills Inc. (5,175… Continue Reading

Transition Report 2014

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development – Innovation in Transition: “How can firms in transition countries become more  productive? And how can a dynamic and innovative  business sector help countries grow? This year’s Transition Report seeks answers to these important  questions by analysing firm-level innovation across the  transition region. The Transition Report 2014 exploits a unique… Continue Reading

How Attached to the Labor Market Are the Long-Term Unemployed?

Rob Dent, Samuel Kapon, Fatih Karahan, Benjamin W. Pugsley, and Ayşegül Sahin  – Second in a three-part series – New York Fed “In this second post in our series on measuring labor market slack, we analyze the labor market outcomes of long-term unemployed workers to assess their employability and labor force attachment. If long-term unemployed workers are… Continue Reading

Electric Power Generation Using Renewable Energy Growing

“Economic Census Statistics Now Available for the First Time on Wind, Geothermal, Biomass and Solar Electric Power Generation. Revenues for electric power generation industries that use renewable energy resources rose 49.0 percent from $6.6 billion in 2007 to $9.8 billion in 2012, according to new economic census statistics released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. These… Continue Reading

New GAO Reports – Health Care Transparency, Human Trafficking, Highway Projects, Public Transportation, Overseas Military Construction

HEALTH CARE TRANSPARENCY: Actions Needed to Improve Cost and Quality Information for Consumers, GAO-15-11: Published: Oct 20, 2014. Publicly Released: Nov 18, 2014. HIGHWAY PROJECTS: Many Federal and State Environmental Review Requirements Are Similar, and Little Duplication of Effort Occurs, GAO-15-71: Published: Nov 18, 2014. Publicly Released: Nov 18, 2014. HUMAN TRAFFICKING: Oversight of Contractors’ Use of Foreign Workers in High-Risk Environments… Continue Reading

Common antimicrobial in personal hygiene products identified as carcinogen

ScienceDaily: “Ticlosan is an antimicrobial commonly found in soaps, shampoos, toothpastes and many other household items. Despite its widespread use, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report potentially serious consequences of long-term exposure to the chemical. The study, published Nov. 17 by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that… Continue Reading

Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names Released as Linked Open Data

The Getty Iris: “We’re delighted to announce that the Getty Research Institute has released the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN)® as Linked Open Data. This represents an important step in the Getty’s ongoing work to make our knowledge resources freely available to all. Following the release of the Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT)® in February,… Continue Reading