Friday, January 11, 2013

Banking Lobby Extracts Benefits from Consumer Protector

Turning lemons into lemonade: that could aptly characterize the strategy of the banking lobby as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was promulgating a broad set of mortgage rules that were announced in January 2013. Rather than merely seeking to minimize more onerous standards, the industry sought to insulate itself as much as possible from getting sued by borrowers. Ignoring the rather obvious self-interest of the banks, the new regulators accepted the bankers’ claim that the legal protection was necessary for the banks to be willing to produce mortgages.
The full essay is at "Banking Lobby."

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Mistrust in Business: A Nietzschean Critique

In his commentary on the loss of trust in business, government and society, Michael Wolff laments to decline of trust through what he calls “consumer history.” As trust can be maintained with little or no further cost once established, Wolff is perplexed as to why more business practitioners, politicians and even religious functionaries do not rush to fill the gap.

The full essay has been incorporated into (or swallowed up by) On the Arrogance of False Entitlement: A Nietzschean Critique of Business Ethics and Management, available in print and as an ebook at Amazon.