Mr. Jacob "Jack" Lew is not very well known outside of Washington, D.C. He is the current Secretary of the Treasury. He took the place of Timothy Geithner.
Mr. Lew will not become better know any time soon if he has his way. This week he convened a government meeting paid for by Federal Taxpayers. The government meeting was a meeting to discuss government business. It was a meeting of the Financial Stability Oversight Council.
Mr. Lew ordered the meeting to be held behind closed doors.
We know only two things about what the participants discussed. First, they discussed which companies should be designated for special status as "systemically important" even though the companies are not banks. Second, Mr. Lew's department advised that the FSOC participants discussed "international developments on insurance matters". Brendan Murray, "Lew Convenes FSOC Meeting in Closed Session Today" (Bloomberg.com, posted on Thursday, February 13, 2014).
What "insurance matters" did they discuss in this publicly funded meeting to discuss public business? We know that the current Federal Government has expressed interest in regulating areas of insurance which only States have previously regulated. See, e.g., the article, "BAD FAITH POWER GRAB BY FEDERAL INSURANCE OFFICE" posted here on December 15, 2013. But we do not know if that interest by the Federal Government was discussed, even though the people and businesses which pay insurance premiums have an interest in the subject, too.
So what did the FSOC people discuss at their closed meeting? We do not know. We just do not know. Except that other people paid for the meeting. And that other people will pay for whatever is decided as a result of that and other meetings held behind closed doors to decide the issues which affect other people.
Mr. Justice Louis Brandeis was spot on when he said: "Sunlight is the best disinfectant."
© 2014 by Dennis J. Wall. All rights reserved. No claim to original U.S. Government works.
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