A very interesting editorial in the online Wall Street Journal today by SEC commissioner Paul Atkins.

You can read the article here if you are subscribed to WSJ. 

I won't go into the whole discussion but essentially his concern is that if Billing v Credit Suisse, which is making it's way to the Supreme Court goes against the investment banking industry, that the ability of investment banks to raise capital in the United States will be dramatically curtailed. Apparently this is a fight to see whether securities law, or anti-trust law, carries the day in a battle arising from the allegations that underwriters anticompetitive practices back in the 1990's IPO tech boom created excessive losses to those who purchased the stocks in the secondary market after the IPO was launched.

Fascinating stuff, arcane to many, but worthy of watching.