ANALYSIS: SEC Eases Corporate Burdens, Cuts Investor Protections

Should the SEC protect investors or facilitate capital formation — when promotion of one of those goals necessarily harms the other? Competing visions of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s mission have driven a pronounced split between Democratic and Republican members of the five-member Commission that governs the agency.

At times, both goals have been simultaneously advanced by Commission rulemaking. On other occasions in recent years, however, rulemaking by the Commission’s majority has prioritized capital formation over investor protection.

A new presidential administration — and with it, a rebalancing of power on the Commission in favor of Democrats — is likely ...