Department of Labor to ban financial advice from the airwaves?

Anyone out there who might have a clue how the Department of Labor controls what programming we have on the radio or television? Really, we know what this is about. Beginning of the Ministry of Thought Control being granted the purview to eliminate programing by ‘Rule.’ First the airwaves, soon the internet. Follow the link at the bottom of the post if you wish to get into the weeds and the politics of the issue.

Radio stations which carry money-related broadcasts like Dave Ramsey, Clark Howard and others will force the hosts to stay away from individual calls. Even telling an individual or family that it would be a good idea to put away the plastic and get out of debt is technically a form of “financial advice” that ultimately affects their ability to retire comfortably (or at all).

A proposed 33-page rule applying to investment advisers emanating from the Department of Labor would redefine the fiduciary relationship between investment advisers and their clients investing for retirement, which is the predominant objective of most investors. According to the Wall Street Journal, the rule “could be released as soon as this month.”

One side effect of the rule is that it could mark the beginning of the end of financial talk radio and TV broadcasts. Since such programs tend to lean center-right (there are exceptions, including Suze Orman), it seems mighty convenient for the government and its regulatory army that the press, particularly the Associated Press, has paid no visible attention to this apparently imminent rule.

DOL’s rule, once in effect, would require advisers to act in their clients’ “best interests,” a stricter standard than the current requirement that they place their clients in “suitable” investments.

More at Newsbusters