In an effort to reduce gun violence, President Biden has announced tighter regulations on the sale of “ghost guns.” Ghost guns are guns sold in several pieces and subsequently assembled by the buyer. Historically, gun kits have not been required to have serial numbers and their sales have not required background checks, which has made them far easier to acquire than normal firearms, despite the final product being substantially the same.
The human impact on the environment has become increasingly more apparent, and more and more people intend to do their part to live a greener life. Over the past few years, governments and car manufacturers alike have been touting electric or hybrid cars as an easy switch anyone can make to do their part to fight emissions and climate change. Some states have even gone as far as offering financial incentives for driving hybrids or electric cars. But while electric vehicles may indeed have lower emissions than gas-powered cars overall, they are not exactly environmentally friendly either.
Using a machine to replace human workers is a practice that continues to grow in the electronic age. The logic of drone delivery is to provide a sustainable option for the last-minute shopper or for the caffeinato that wants to order coffee online and receive it at their doorstep within minutes. For many years, drone deliveries have just been mere speculation based on unreliable technology utilized in the drones. However, it seems that technology has advanced once again. Drone companies have recently been cleared to expand their operations across the United States, in cities and rural areas as the technology becomes more reliable and faster. But how soon should we be able to order our daily necessities and luxurious items straight to our doorstep via drone? That all depends on federal regulation.
Economist Michael Mandel analogized regulations to pebbles in a stream. If you drop one pebble into a stream, its individual effect is negligible. If you deposit a thousand pebbles into a stream, the flow of the water slows down. On the other hand, if you pour one hundred thousand pebbles into a stream, the stream’s flow can become blocked altogether. Researchers note that the amount of regulation in the U.S., both at the state and federal level, has grown steadily over the years. It is a process known as regulatory accumulation. Whether it involves regulating the fuel efficiency of cars, labels on food products or the number of beds permitted in a hospital, new rules are added every year. Yet, few, if any, regulations are ever taken off the books despite the fact that many become unnecessary or virtually obsolete. Some economists argue that overregulation has the effect of slowing economic growth and ultimately impacting the well-being of society. But the task is a difficult one: how does a government identify which regulations should be cut and who should lead the effort?
On June 22nd, ten-year-old Yuna was reported missing by her teachers. Just one week later, the police discovered a sedan in the southernmost coast of South Korea, two hours away from Yuna’s home. The three bodies recovered belonged to Yuna and her parents, both in their thirties. The police suspected suicide. Among the parent’s last online searches included “LUNA,” “sleeping pills,” and “how to commit suicide.” Evidence further suggested that Yuna’s parents were unemployed, invested their lives savings into the cryptocurrency market, and struggled from financial debt of $100,000.
On June 23rd, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that JUUL Labs, Inc., the notorious e-cigarette manufacturer, is ordered to cease distribution of their products in the United States. Since the company’s rise, one of the biggest pushes towards restricting JUUL products in stores across the nation has been fueled by discouraging youth vaping and the uncertainty regarding future health implications. The National Youth Tobacco Survey found that in 2021, approximately two million middle and high school students have reported using e-cigarettes. Meanwhile, more studies are surfacing regarding the adverse health effects that nicotine and e-cigarette products may have.
The Great Financial Crisis of 2008 was a story of greed. In markets where incentives lead to bad behavior, disparately affecting a great deal of society, we rely on regulatory oversight. A domino effect of decisions spanning decades resulted in a global economic disaster, but it could have been prevented with effective regulators.
On June 6, 2022, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) released new and revised guidelines regarding the Russian investment ban established by Executive Orders 14071, 14066, and 14068. As a result of the executive orders, sanctions can be imposed on individuals or entities determined to have operated in the accounting, trust and corporate formation services, or management consulting sectors of the Russian Federation economy. OFAC has consistently been updating and revising the guidelines to keep the guidelines as clear and consistent as possible, in an attempt to keep Americans doing business in Russia out of legal trouble.
On May 25th, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a proposal to the Investment Company Act of 1940 Rule 35d-1 which expands on a rule that mostly regulates fund names. The SEC has decided to take these measures to combat “greenwashing”; a marketing ploy used by fund investors to draw in socially conscious investors for investments that are anything but sustainable. The SEC believes investors lack comparable, consistent, reliable information on ESG products. This article will discuss these new proposals and what they mean for important stakeholders.
In June of this year, a new California bill, which allows social media companies to be sued by state government attorneys for having features that contribute to the addiction of children to their apps, cleared the state Senate. The bill was originally brought to California’s state assembly as one that would permit parents to sue social media giants for up to $25,000 per violation but was later amended after lobbying from business and tech-industry groups. The worry that social media is able to exploit children through ads, notifications, and other features in the design that are promoting addiction has amplified since the premiere of 2020 documentary, “The Social Dilemma.” Since then, the warning that regulation was looming has quickly turned into actual movement towards regulating the actions of social media companies. The bill has since failed, a disappointing end to an initiative that could have made a real change towards keeping social media giants in check.