The Federal Financial Forum

For a number of years CRE has stated that baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, were in large part on a path to economic doom. The reason behind this doomsday projection was the severe downward trend in conventional (defined benefit) pensions.  Extended unemployment, the non-availability of pensions and failure to utilize defined contribution plans are also contributing factors but are all part of the same problem–lack of sustainable income at an advancing age.

In order that federal policy makers be armed with sufficient data of high quality CRE personnel made numerous suggestions to federal agencies to conduct studies which would support the aforementioned hypothesis. Fortunately the talented individuals of the Bureau of the Census conducted such studies.

From: City A.M.

Philip Booth

The City is split when it comes to Brexit. Certainly, the larger City institutions with significant EU business tend to side with Remain. However, smaller companies and those with a more global business model are more divided.

The supporters of the EU value the Single Market. They seem to believe that it promotes free trade and reduces regulation: in reality it does neither. The main benefit of the Single Market is that it reduces the costs for large companies of dealing with up to 28 regulatory systems. Meanwhile, smaller companies that do not trade with the EU suffer from the full force of EU regulation.

Editor’s Note: For information about the controversy over CMS’ Star Ratings, please see CRE: CMS’ Five-Star Quality Rating System is a Violation of Medicare and APA Rulemaking Requirements and CMS Responds to CRE.

From: Politico

More than half of Congress is asking CMS to delay the looming release of the agency’s star ratings, which are designed to identify hospitals that have high patient quality and experience.

On Monday, 225 House representatives co-signed a letter to CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt, asking him to hold off on issuing the ratings this month; last week, 60 senators signed onto a similar letter.

From: HousingWire

D.C. Circuit ‘hostile’ towards the CFPB

Brena Swanson

The opening rounds started in the legal battle between PHH and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard oral arguments on Tuesday.

According to an article in The Wall Street Journal by Yuka Hayashi:

A federal appeals court panel wrestled Tuesday with the question of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s authority, with one judge persistently asking about the constitutionality of the watchdog agency’s structure, saying it concentrates “huge power” in its top official.

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From: Morning Consult

Ryan Rainey

The Obama administration on Wednesday indicated it will continue to take legal action to defend the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s designations of non-bank systemically important financial institutions, following a federal court ruling Wednesday in favor of stripping MetLife Inc. of its SIFI label.

“We strongly disagree with the court’s decision,” a Treasury spokesperson said in a statement. “We are confident that FSOC’s determination was lawful and will continue to defend the Council’s designations process vigorously.”

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