Following the stock market crash of 1929, FDR called on the then notorious stock speculator Joseph Kennedy to draft legislation to form the Securities Exchange Commission. The “Securities Acts” were designed to officially form the agency and adopt rules that required issuers of securities to transmit information through the mail to investors containing financial and operational disclosure so informed investment decisions can be made by the People. Other global disclosure frameworks were adopted soon after. The Securities Acts were a legislative response to the speculative “rug pulls” of the 1920s, a common tactic that involved pooling capital and purchasing large amounts of shares of stock. The perpetrators would then spread information to pump the price before dumping it on the unsuspecting public who had little information to rely on other than tips from stockbrokers. The Securities Act of 1933 provides rules for disclosing information for new issues of securities. The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 provides rules for ongoing disclosure after those securities are issued and distributed to the public. The Securities Acts adopted in 1933 and 1934 solved the disclosure problem for investors from the 1930s with amendments later adopted such as Sarbanes Oxley in response to the Enron fraud and the Dodd Frank Act in response to the 2008 financial crisis which resulted in the biggest bailouts in history. On January 3, 2009, The Ti...
