FinReg’s from Mays Past

From Gary Alexander:

The Aldrich-Vreeland Act was passed May 30, 1908, in response to the Panic of 1907. The punitive measures included a tax of up to 10% on notes based on securities other than federal bonds. It also established a commission to investigate the currency and banking systems. President Theodore Roosevelt named Aldrich – a Rhode Island Republican and namesake for his grandson, Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller – as chairman of the National Monetary Commission. All this came about five years before the birth of the Federal Reserve and Internal Revenue Service in 1933.
The Securities Act of 1933 was signed into law on May 27, 1933. It was designed to prevent future Panics – now called Depressions. This federal legislation of securities required all new issues to be registered with the Federal Trade Commission. A year (and a week) later, the Securities and Exchange Commission (1934) was formed on June 6, 1934 to enforce the Securities Act. Before that, states oversaw securities offerings under a variety of “blue sky” Kansas enacted the first blue sky law in 1911. By 1933, 47 states (all but Nevada) enacted them
Ironically, May 27, 1933 was also the opening day of the “Century of Progress” World’s Fair in Chicago, and the opening day for Walt Disney’s early cartoon effort, “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?”

Posted by on May 26th, 2010 at 12:44 pm


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