Washington Post (April 4)
“The Treasury Department on Monday took aim at U.S. companies moving their headquarters overseas to lower their tax bills, issuing aggressive new rules intended to make such moves less profitable and throwing a potential wrench into Pfizer’s recent $160 billion proposed deal to combine with Allergen and become an Irish company.”
Tags: Allergen, Headquarters, Ireland, Overseas. Taxes, Pfizer, Rules, Treasury, U.S.
The Economist (May 9)
“Powerful computers will reshape humanity’s future.” Many experts warn artificial intelligence could also threaten humanity’s existence. We must and can “ensure the promise outweighs the perils.” This will require putting constraints “in place without compromising progress. From the nuclear bomb to traffic rules, mankind has used technical ingenuity and legal strictures to constrain other powerful innovations.”
Tags: AI, Constraints, Humanity, Innovation, Perils, Power, Progress, Promise, Rules
Wall Street Journal (February 27)
“Tens of billions of dollars in U.S. market value have disappeared in recent years as more than 170 U.S.-listed Chinese companies have faced scrutiny for embezzlement, theft, misrepresentation and other alleged abuses.” Regrettably, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has caved-in on tighter inspections, deciding “not to suspend the Chinese audit firms or penalize them beyond token fines of $500,000.” As a result, U.S. investors “still lack basic protections against Chinese fraudsters” while Chinese authorities “remain as free as ever to stymie future investigations.” Furthermore, the SEC’s lack of spine increases “China’s rising confidence that it can play by its own rules.”
Tags: Abuses, Audit firms, Embezzlement, Inspections, Investors, Market value, Misrepresentation, Rules, SEC, Theft, U.S.-listed Chinese companies
The Economist (November 29)
Regin, the latest computer virus for cyber spying, appears “to have been designed by a Western government. Due to its ease over conventional methods, cyber espionage is attractive to governments, but they should remember that it’s a slippery slope. “Cyber-warfare is an unruly business, where rules will be flouted. But it needs them. Cyber-warriors should remember that what they do to others will be done in turn to them.”
Tags: Computer, Conventional, Cyber-espionage, Governments, Regin, Rules, Slippery slope, Spying, Virus, Warfare
Euromoney (June Issue)
The African Development Bank’s 50th Anniversary brought much introspection, but infrastructure is only one problem hindering “meaningful continental integration.” Non-physical barriers present another. “Rules and regulations have not been harmonized within regions. Generally speaking, African countries trade more with Europe than they do with each other; even where roads are good, rent-seeking opportunities widely plague popular trade routes, with officials hoping to benefit from bribes at the expense of their neighbours.”
Tags: African Development Bank, Bribes, Europe, Infrastructure, Integration, Non-physical barriers, Officials, Regions, Regulations, Rent-seeking, Rules, Trade
The Economist (February 15, 2014)
“Rule changes have made activism easier and therefore more commonplace. Nor is it restricted to America: shareholder activism is gaining in popularity around the world, in places such as Japan and continental Europe, where it was once unknown.” While there are instances where activists cause damage in pursuit of short-term gains, “recent academic studies suggest that, by and large, activists are good for companies. An analysis of around 2,000 interventions in America during 1994-2007 found not only that the share prices and operating performance of the firms involved improved over the five years after the intervention, but also that the improvement was greatest towards the end of the five-year period.”
Tags: Activists, Europe, Improvement, Japan, Performance, Popularity, Rules, Share prices, Shareholders, Short-term gains
The Economist (October 5)
“The prime minister is right to raise the consumption tax, but must do more to boost Japan’s growth.” It is time for the third arrow. These major reforms should “include radical proposals to consolidate farmland, increase competition in the provision of health care and ease the rules on hiring and firing.”
Tags: Competition, Consumption tax, Farmland, Firing, Health care, Hiring, Japan, Prime minister, Reforms, Rules, Third arrow
Financial Times (August 19)
Auditors bear some blame for the financial crisis, yet little has been done to improve the quality of their audits. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has now proposed more detailed disclosure to highlight items of concern, even when a company passes the audit. “The Securities and Exchange Commission, which has the final say, should adopt the PCAOB’s proposal. This would match similar rules passed by the UK’s Financial Reporting Council…. Pass-fail cannot distinguish accounts that pass with flying colours and those that barely scrape by. Investors deserve better – and investors are auditors’ true constituency even if managers are their employers.”
Tags: Auditors, Audits, Disclosure, Financial Crisis, Financial Reporting Council, Investors, Pass-fail, PCAOB, Quality, Rules, SEC, UK
New York Times (July 11)
“With two bad rules adopted on Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission has all but invited hucksters, rip-off artists and other bad actors to prey on individual investors. The new rules are another disturbing sign that under the leadership of the new chairwoman, Mary Jo White, the S.E.C. will pursue deregulation at the expense of investor protection.”
Financial Times (August 23)
The SEC’s decision on conflict minerals and disclosure of payments to host governments “was long overdue” and “Despite the grumbling, most companies will benefit from a cleaner industry. The SEC has contributed to that. The EU must follow suit with equally comprehensive rules.”
Tags: Conflict minerals, EU, Payment disclosure, Rules, SEC
