Author:

Sergio Ibarra

TikTok’s Time is Ticking

TikTok is making American headlines once again. Calls to ban the app have been revived by groups of bipartisan legislators. President Biden has threatened to ban TikTok from American digital markets over concerns for how the social media app handles domestic data. Former President Donald Trump attempted to ban the app in the US in 2020, but the ban was ultimately unsuccessful. However, pundits continue to debate whether regulators, legislators, or the President have the power to enforce a TikTok ban

Major Question Doctrine Stirs Controversy over Biden’s Debt Relief Plan

Last week, the Supreme Court began hearing oral arguments regarding President Biden’s $400 billion debt relief program. Two cases will be up before the Court that challenge President Biden’s Federal regulatory authority. The program aims to forgive $10,000 in student debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 per year, while Pell grant recipients will be entitled to an additional $10,000 in debt forgiveness.

The SEC’s Second Attempt to Fix a 10-Year-Old Problem

The 2008 financial collapse occurred when banks began substantially increasing access to debt. They offered adjustable-rate mortgages to borrowers who could afford the initial mortgage payments, but would end up defaulting on the loans when their adjustable interest rates kicked in. The banks then subsequently packaged these high-risk loans together and sold them as securities to mutual funds, investment banks, and pension funds. When most of these high-risk loans defaulted, the market crashed. The recession that followed cost the public thousands of jobs, homes, and retirement accounts.

Congress Trades on Trust

When Nancy Pelosi releases financial disclosures related to stock trades, those disclosures are filed with the Clerk of the House of Representatives. The Clerk publishes all financial disclosures on clerk.house.gov under the “disclosures” tab. Shortly thereafter, Pelosi’s stock trading disclosures are re-published on TikTok and Reddit where Zoomers and Millennials are copying all of her trades. According to a Pelosi spokesperson, she does not “personally own any stocks and that the transactions are made by her husband”. The Stock Act requires Pelosi to disclose these transactions within 45 days due to the fact that they are made by a member of her immediate family.

Buy Now, Pay Later: A Lesson in Economics for Millennials and Gen-Z

The 2008 financial collapse occurred when banks began substantially increasing access to debt in the form of adjustable-rate mortgages. These types of mortgages allowed borrowers to take out home loans at an intertest rate that would increase over time. This meant that more borrowers could afford the initial mortgage payments but would end up defaulting on the loans when their adjustable interest rates kicked in. The banks then packaged these high-risk loans together and sold them as securities to mutual funds, investment banks, and pension funds. When most of these high-risk loans defaulted, the market crashed. The collapse occurred in part because the housing market lacked the regulations needed to deter this kind of high-risk lending. The recession that followed cost thousands of jobs, homes, and retirement accounts.

DOJ’s Unveils New Tool to Fight Corporate Crime: Care About Compliance

In an effort to deter corporate crime, the Justice Department (DOJ) has implemented a new policy aimed at giving chief compliance officers more authority. Chief Compliance Officers (CCOs) may now need to certify the integrity of their compliance programs and be personally liable if their programs do not “reasonably prevent and deter compliance issues.” According to Brian Michael, a former chief compliance officer (CCO), some industry professionals fear that such a policy would place compliance officers in a position to be personally liable for decisions that they have little say over. There is also worry that implementing such a policy would place CCOs in direct conflict with senior executives. However, Kenneth Polite, assistant attorney general in charge of the DOJ’s criminal division, insists that the new policy will place CCOs in a better position to ensure the integrity of their compliance programs. Polite hopes to force corporations to invest in compliance now rather than pay later.