US Chamber of Commerce opposes SEC reforms
No surprise, but a clear example of business having zero interest in the common welfare. From the Center for American Progress:
The Chamber of Commerce and its allies are planning to mount an "all-out lobbying effort" to scuttle new reforms proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that would increase corporate accountability. The SEC is proposing the implementation of what is known as "proxy access," which would make it easier for shareholders to replace a company’s board of directors. The Chamber has decided to oppose these reforms, and it plans to mount an enormous lobbying effort that it will ramp up after Labor Day. As it stands now, only five of the 4,000 public companies that the data service FactSet SharkWatch tracks allow proxy access. By opposing the SEC’s reform effort, the Chamber is positioning itself to block the rights of shareholders who want to hold managers more accountable for their actions. As Harvard law professor Lucian Bebchuk writes, "The proxy rules have been intended by Congress, the courts have stated, "to give true vitality to the concept of corporate democracy." Adopting the SEC proposal, and the additional reforms I discussed, would advance this important goal.
