These are some of the compliance-related stories that caught my eye recently.
Compliance Activists vs. Effective Compliance Professionals by Roy Snell
Some of the most ineffective compliance professionals I have met run up and down the hall with their hair on fire over every little thing. Ineffective compliance professionals see their role as that of an activist. They are very visible and vocal. They see all that is wrong with the world, and they don’t recognize much of what is right with the world. They see the bad in people and seem to ignore the good in people. [More…]
The Summer of Ben DiPietro by Tom Fox in FCPA Compliance & Ethics
Last week Ben DiPietro announced his retirement from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Risk and Compliance Journal via Twitter. For a journalist practicing his trade in the realm of compliance in the early 21stcentury, it certainly was an appropriate manner to communicate with his readers. Ben wrote, “OK, some breaking personal news: I’ve given notice to @wsj, my last day is Aug. 14. What’s next? Stay tuned!!!!!”.
Even if you were not lucky enough to meet Ben in person, if you are in the compliance field you are certainly familiar with his work on the Risk and Compliance Journal. It is the only major US publication reporting on compliance, its enforcement and risk on a daily basis. It is required reading for all compliance professionals to keep abreast of the top stories of the day. But more than simply the daily news, the Risk and Compliance Journal is able to get some truly must-readpieces in with a ridiculous low word limit which I find nothing short of phenomenal. [More…]
Do Import Tariffs Help Reduce Trade Deficits? by Mary Amiti, Mi Dai, Robert C. Feenstra, and John Romalis in Liberty Street Economics
The fact that the United States imports far more than it exports is viewed by some as unfair, so the idea is to try to reduce the amount that the nation imports from the rest of the world. While more costly imports are likely to reduce the quantity and value of imports into the United States, the story does not stop there, because we cannot presume that the value of exports will remain unchanged. In this post, we argue that U.S. exports will also fall, not only because of other countries’ retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports, but also because the costs for U.S. firms producing goods for export will rise and make U.S. exports less competitive on the world market. The end result is likely to be lower imports and lower exports, with little or no improvement in the trade deficit. [More…]
The Pension Hole for U.S. Cities and States Is the Size of Germany’s Economy by Sarah Krouse in the Wall Street Journal
Many cities and states can no longer afford the unsustainable retirement promises made to millions of public workers over many years. By one estimate they are short $4 trillion, an amount that is roughly equal to the output of the world’s fourth-largest economy.
Certain pension funds face the prospect of insolvency unless governments increase taxes, divert funds or persuade workers to relinquish money they are owed. It is increasingly likely that retirees, as well as new workers, will be forced to take deeper benefit cuts. [More…]
Bullet-Proof Vest Whistleblower Aaron Westrick Receives Pillar Award by Ben Kostyack & Michael Ellis in the Whistleblower Protection Blog
Dr. Aaron Westrick was formerly the Director for Research and Marketing at Second Chance Body Armor (SCBA), which was the largest bullet proof vest company in the United States at the time. In 2001, a Japanese company, Toyobo, informed SCBA that the vests they were selling to American police departments, federal law enforcement agencies, and the U.S. military were unsafe. [More…]
Crime Policy Doesn’t Cover Employee Credit Card Overcharge Losses by Kevin LaCroix in The D&O Diary
A recent coverage dispute involving a Nevada club’s losses resulting from its employees’ theft from the club’s customers’ credit cards raises interesting issues with implications for coverage questions for other kinds of losses for which policyholders are seeking crime policy coverage. In the recent Nevada club credit card fraud case, District of Nevada Judge Andrew Gordon held that the club’s crime policy did not cover the club’s losses from the employees’ theft of funds from the customers’ credit card accounts because the losses did not result directly from the employees’ theft. [More…]
