SEC's plan to ban 'pay to play'
Money managers mostly like the SEC's proposal to ban campaign donations. They're less pleased by a plan to stop firms from hiring "placement agents" to lobby governments.
The Securities and Exchange Commission's plan to ban "pay-for-play" campaign donations by private firms that manage public money, and to stop private "placement agents" from lobbying governments to hire their investor clients, has been collecting comments on a federal Web site since last month.
Read the proposal and comments here - heck, add your own.
What's interesting is the split in the commentary, to date. Some money managers like the ban on donations; wouldn't it be great to end that obnoxious cost of doing business, of having to either pick winners, or spread the money around?
But they're less pleased by the idea of banning placement agents: Small firms may not want to buy public officials outright, but they depend on being able to lobby them. How else can they stand out in a tough competitive environment?