CFTC Nominees Sail Through Senate Hearing, House Hears Warning

On one side of the National Mall in Washington DC the Senate held a confirmation hearing on three Commodity Futures Trading Commission nominees, while on the other side the House of Representatives appropriations committee heard yet another desperate plea from the acting CFTC commissioner for additional funding.  It’s hard to determine which hearing was the more significant to the future of the regulator and the US economy.

The CFTC is the regulator of previously unregulated over-the-counter traded derivatives contracts that were at the center of the 2008 economic collapse.  Since the 2008 collapse these derivative contracts,...