New York Times : Hundreds of exhibits supporting a scathing report on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s past investigations of Bernard L. Madoff were released on Friday by the author of the report, the agency’s inspector general, H. David Kotz.

Everyone realizes that we have to do something about “too big to fail.” But there are two fundamentally different paths: one threatens the very existence of the billionaire bailout society and the other makes it permanent. The obvious way to end “too big to fail” is to break up large financial institutions so that they are “small enough to fail.” Paul Volker, not a radical by any means, argues for this.


 
 Nasdaq serves up its own social-networking site, launches iPhone application; carbon trading tech Two technology developments came out of the Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. this past week: a new social network and an iPhone application.


 
 A California life insurance agent will face a preliminary hearing Friday as he contends with grand-theft and identity theft charges. This month, Kerry Urban Hunter, an agent in Inglewood, Calif., was charged with a felony count of identity theft and a felony count of grand theft, following an investigation by the California Department of Insurance. Mr.


 
 Investment advisers, state regulators and consumer advocates were astonished by the easy adoption of a key addition to the Investor Protection Act that would give Finra power to oversee any adviser associated with a registered broker-dealer , including about 500 dually registered Finra members. That amendment, which the House Financial Services Committee approved last Wednesday by a voice vote, would give the Securities and Exchange Commission the authority to allow the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc.

The Center for Responsive Politics examines the all-too-common road from Capitol Hill to K Street — of the 44 lawmakers to leave Congress midterm, 16 became lobbyists. The group’s analysis showed that of the 16, three are former senators and 10 are Republicans. Florida Sen.

The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) should clarify its position regarding the legality of Microsoft’s offering its instant messenger service within Iran. As a result of ambiguities within OFAC’s guidelines on Iran sanctions, Microsoft Corporation voluntarily withdrew its Windows Live Messenger program from Iran in late 2008