The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and the Free Enterprise Fund have challenged the constitutionality of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), created by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Last week, the Surpreme Court agreed to hear the case.
According to Christine Hall at CEI:
The Appointments Clause of the Constitution requires that "officers of the United States" be appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. But the officers serving on the PCAOB, with tremendous power to impose criminal and civil penalties on people and companies accused of violating accounting regulations, were not appointed that way.
"The Founding Fathers wanted powerful government officials to be vetted by the President and the Senate, to help ensure agencies remain accountable to elected officials and ultimately the American people," said Sam Kazman, CEI General Counsel....
"The PCAOB has been very bad for the economy," said Hans Bader, a CEI attorney. "The biggest beneficiaries of the law have been the big accounting firms that failed to warn the public about Enron and similar scandals, which are charging record fees to help businesses comply with the mountain of red tape created by the PCAOB."
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 created the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, giving it authority to set accounting standards, impose its own set of taxes, and open investigations of accounting firms big and small. Yet unlike counterparts wielding similar authority, such as the IRS commissioner and Federal Reserve governors, PCAOB members are never vetted by the President or by the Senate, as neither of these bodies have a say in who will be appointed.
The PCAOB's interpretation of Sarbanes-Oxley's section 404 has cost public companies more than $35 billion a year, has proved especially burdensome to smaller public companies, and has cost the economy as a whole over a trillion dollars, according to a Brookings-AEI study....
In the following video, John Berlau, Director of the Center for Investors & Entrepreneurs, explains Sarbanes-Oxley and discusses its horrible effect on businesses.
From Archie Woodworth Hutchinson OK. I know I’m not the brightest bulb in the crayon box, so can someone help me out here?
Where’s the change? President Obama campaigned on the promises of “hope and change.” I’m starting to think those slogans went out the door just like Bush 41’s no-new-taxes promise.
I’m trying to keep an open mind, but so far all I’m seeing is an administration made up of the same old Washington insiders, Clinton era retreads and now, as we’re finding out, tax cheats who get special treatment from the IRS with no penalties or interest. So tell me if the “best and brightest” of Washington can’t even figure out how to pay their taxes, how are we mere mortals supposed to get it right?
And what about the “new deal”? To me it’s looking more and more like a “raw deal” (at least for those of us who actually pay taxes) and nothing more than a continuation of the Bush administration’s out of control spending and failed economic policies. Honestly, does any one other than the people in Washington really believe the fairy tale that we can actually spend our way both into oblivion and out of an economic crisis at the same time?
I don’t know what kind of Kool-Aid they’re on, but I’d sure like some. Because unlike our exalted leaders, I honestly don’t believe the economy, the country, or even “We the People,” will be able to withstand another four years of trazillion dollar deficit spending. I say trazillion because I can’t even begin to comprehend how much a trillion dollars actually is, not even after I Googled it. Yet our politicians throw that number around like it was toilet paper.
Yup, I can’t believe I’d ever hear myself say this, but I’m actually starting to look back fondly upon the Clinton era as the good old days. You know, the last great golden age of fiscal responsibility. Does anyone in Washington even know what that means anymore?
While former President Clinton may have had problems with his personal life, at least he managed to reign in government spending and he did a pretty good job of staying out of the way of the economy. Well, OK, maybe his reign wasn’t all that great, but compared to the out-of-control spending we’ve seen since then with the Bush and Obama administrations, maybe it actually was.
Posted by Jim Bobier on 03/04/09 Last updated 03/04/09
A conservative delegate from Pelican Lakes introduced me to this great 10-minute video about the 5 basic forms of government. I found this very enlightening and I hope you appreciate this explaination as much as I did.
My son's Scoutmaster really appreciated this so much that he is now incorporating this into his instructions for the Citizenship in the Nation merit badge.
Is there a "States' Rights" bill in your capital? It's about time that the states assert their rights and powers. Or, as I overheard it last week, 'to tell the feds to go pound sand.' I think that is more direct and easily understood, but probably doesn't qualify as standard statute jargon.
As long as the C4L is excited about this issue, maybe they could have a map on the home page to update these efforts. Different colors whether a states' rights bill has been introduced, and voted up or down in either chamber. I guess making a suggestion on a blog entry is one way to learn if they really read these.
Make sure Minnesota is colored brightly!
https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/bin/bldbill.php?bill=H0997.0.html&session=ls86
We The People Foundation
For Constitutional Education, Inc.
www.WeThePeopleFoundation.org
2458 Ridge Road, Queensbury, NY 12804
For immediate release
Contact: Scott Davis,
717.648.9080
scott@pennsylvaniarevoltuion.com
CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 2009:
Delegates of the People to convene in Philadelphia to address constitutional crisis
Public Information meeting to be held in Harrisburg, PA on Sunday, Jan 25
On Sunday, JAN. 25th at 1:00 pm, the We The People Foundation will hold a public meeting to promote local awareness of the People’s historic initiative to address our nation’s escalating constitutional crisis. The meeting will be held at the Harrisburg Comedy Zone at 110 Limekiln Road, New Cumberland, PA 17070 (717 920 5653).
In March, delegates selected by the People will convene in Philadelphia, PA at the Constitution Center directly across from Independence Hall to debate the federal Government’s pervasive and ongoing abuses of the Constitution and to develop practical strategies that the People, can individually employ, en masse, to peaceably reclaim Liberty and restore Constitutional Order.
“It is no secret that for decades, the U.S. Government has operated well outside the relatively straight forward language and original intent of the provisions of our Constitution,” said Bob Schulz, Chairman of the WTP Foundation. “Unfortunately, these acts of the Government are deliberate violations of fundamental Law and have resulted in the destruction of the Liberty of the People.”
The People have documented and confronted many of the Government’s constitutional violations including the war powers, privacy, 2nd Amendment and immigration abuses, as well as the banking and money violations that are the root cause of the current financial system meltdown. The People have also recently challenged the legal authority of the apparently bottomless Fed and Treasury economic bailouts. To date, the Government has refused to be held accountable.
“We have reached a point where the People, much like our Founders, must carefully consider the course of current events and take actions to defend our unalienable Rights and interests, or Liberty itself may be irretrievably lost,” Schulz added. “The most disturbing of all the violations is our Government’s refusal to be held accountable in any manner. Not only has the federal Judiciary refused to wrestle with the underlying constitutional wrongs, the Supreme Court has refused to declare the authority of the People to directly procure relief under the First Amendment’s accountability clause. This is the essence of the constitutional crisis that must be addressed, and time is of the essence.”
For more information on this meeting visit Pennsylvaniarevolution.com.
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"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."
—Thomas Jefferson
Campaign for Liberty is a 501(c)4 lobbying organization which neither supports nor opposes candidates for public office and claims no responsibility for the actions of individuals or groups of individuals who use the Campaign for Liberty logo or name or who may claim to act as representatives of the Campaign for Liberty without prior written consent of the Campaign for Liberty. [?]
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