LABOR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE/ALEXANDER ACOSTA: “When President Donald Trump took office, many in the financial industry were confident that a looming retirement-savings rule they had opposed for years would soon be dead. To their dismay, the core principle of the rule was implemented Friday [6-9-17].
The resilience of the so-called fiduciary rule is partly attributable to delays in appointing senior officials at the Labor Department, the rule’s creator, who would be capable of unwinding a major regulation so close to its implementation, according to industry representatives and consumer advocates involved in the process.
Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta didn’t take up his post until late April, after Mr. Trump’s first pick for the role withdrew from consideration. Other top positions at the Labor Department remain vacant, leaving career officials—who had helped to write the original rule—to shepherd a review of the rule that the president requested in February.”
-Yuka Hayashi, “Fiduciary Rule Is Now (Partially) in Effect,” The Wall Street Journal online, June 9, 2017 05:30am