Regulatory Capture
The Regulatory Capture capture lane traces 1534 verified events documenting this mechanism of institutional capture.
| Date | Event | Lanes | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989-08-09 | FIRREA Signed: $160 Billion Taxpayer Bailout of S&L Industry Fraud George H.W. Bush · U.S. Congress · Resolution Trust Corporation · Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation | confirmed | |
| 1989-05-25 | Reagan HUD Scandal Exposed, Samuel Pierce Influence Peddling Investigation Samuel Pierce · Deborah Gore Dean · James Watt · Thomas Demery · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1989-01-20 | Reagan Leaves Office: Domestic Corruption and Policy Failure Legacy Ronald Reagan · George H.W. Bush · American public | confirmed | |
| 1989-01-01 | Federal Reserve Expands Section 20 Powers to Include Corporate Debt Securities Federal Reserve Board · JP Morgan & Co. · Section 20 subsidiaries | confirmed | |
| 1989-01-01 | S&L Industry Collapse: Over 1,000 Institutions Failed by 1989 Savings and Loan institutions · Federal Home Loan Bank Board · Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation · Resolution Trust Corporation | confirmed | |
| 1988-12-01 | Silverado S&L Collapses: Neil Bush Conflict of Interest Costs Taxpayers $1 Billion Neil Bush · George H.W. Bush · Silverado Savings and Loan · Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1988-11-23 | IBP Settles Record OSHA Case for Systematic Injury Underreporting at Dakota City Meatpacking Plant IBP Inc. · Occupational Safety and Health Administration · United Food and Commercial Workers · Congressional Investigators | confirmed | |
| 1988-08-01 | Rush Limbaugh National Syndication Begins - Conservative Talk Radio Ecosystem Created Rush Limbaugh · Edward F. McLaughlin · EFM Media Management · ABC Radio Network | confirmed | |
| 1988-01-01 | S&L Crisis Prosecutions: 1,000+ Bankers Convicted, Contrasts Sharply with 2008 Department of Justice · Federal Bureau of Investigation · Office of Thrift Supervision · S&L executives | confirmed | |
| 1987-10-23 | Senate Rejects Robert Bork Supreme Court Nomination 42-58, First Ideological Rejection in Nearly a Century Robert Bork · Ronald Reagan · Edward Kennedy · Lewis Powell · +5 | confirmed | |
| 1987-08-04 | Reagan FCC Abolishes Fairness Doctrine in 4-0 Vote, Eliminating Balanced Coverage Requirements for Broadcasters Dennis R. Patrick · Federal Communications Commission · Ronald Reagan · Mark S. Fowler · +4 | confirmed | |
| 1987-04-01 | Federal Reserve Approves Section 20 Subsidiaries for JP Morgan, Citicorp, and Bankers Trust Federal Reserve Board · JP Morgan & Co. · Citicorp · Bankers Trust · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1987-01-01 | Cato Institute Organizational Profile: 'Libertarian' Cover for Corporate Deregulation Agenda Cato Institute · Charles Koch · Ed Crane · Murray Rothbard · +4 | confirmed | |
| 1986-11-06 | Immigration Reform and Control Act Grants Amnesty to 3 Million, Employer Sanctions Fail Ronald Reagan · Alan Simpson · Romano Mazzoli · U.S. Congress | confirmed | |
| 1986-10-22 | Tax Reform Act of 1986 - Corporate Lobbying Secures Massive Rate Reductions Ronald Reagan · Corporate lobbyists · U.S. Senate Finance Committee · U.S. Congress | confirmed | |
| 1986-04-07 | EMTALA Passes as Unfunded Mandate, Enabling Insurance Industry to Shift Emergency Care Costs to Hospitals Ronald Reagan · American Hospital Association · Health Insurance Association of America · Pete Stark | confirmed | |
| 1985-05-01 | Carl Icahn TWA Hostile Takeover - Asset Stripping Blueprint Carl Icahn · Trans World Airlines · American Airlines | confirmed | |
| 1985-01-01 | Murdoch Strategic Media Empire Expansion and U.S. Media Regulatory Navigation Rupert Murdoch · John Kluge · Marc Rich | confirmed | |
| 1984-12-03 | Bhopal Disaster Kills Thousands, Exposes Union Carbide Safety Negligence and Regulatory Failure Union Carbide Corporation · Warren Anderson · Indian government · U.S. chemical industry · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1984-10-30 | Cable Communications Policy Act - Media Deregulation and Consolidation Enabled Ronald Reagan · Barry Goldwater · Federal Communications Commission · Cable industry | confirmed | |
| 1984-09-24 | Hatch-Waxman Act Grants Pharma Patent Extensions While Creating Loopholes to Block Generics Orrin Hatch · Henry Waxman · Ronald Reagan · PhRMA | confirmed | |
| 1984-01-01 | ALEC Corporate Membership Explodes as Major Corporations Overwhelm Organization with Requests for Legislative Access American Legislative Exchange Council · Kathleen Teague · Edison Electric Institute · Procter & Gamble · +6 | confirmed | |
| 1983-12-01 | Rita Lavelle Convicted of Perjury: EPA Superfund Corruption Confirmed Rita Lavelle · U.S. Environmental Protection Agency · Aerojet-General Corporation · Ronald Reagan · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1983-10-09 | James Watt Resigns After Racist Remarks: Interior Department Corruption Ends James Watt · Ronald Reagan · Department of Interior · Beach Boys | confirmed | |
| 1983-07-01 | South Dakota abolishes Rule Against Perpetuities, enabling dynasty trusts and tax haven status South Dakota Legislature | confirmed | |
| 1983-04-20 | Medicare Adopts DRG Prospective Payment System Creating Hospital Profit Incentives for Reduced Care Ronald Reagan · Richard Schweiker · American Hospital Association · Federation of American Hospitals | confirmed | |
| 1983-03-09 | Anne Gorsuch Resigns EPA After Contempt of Congress: Regulatory Capture Exposed Anne Gorsuch Burford · Ronald Reagan · U.S. Congress · U.S. Environmental Protection Agency · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1982-11-17 | SEC Adopts Rule 10b-18, Legalizing Stock Buybacks and Creating Major Wealth Extraction Mechanism Securities and Exchange Commission · John Shad · Ronald Reagan | confirmed | |
| 1982-10-14 | Reagan Declares Intensified War on Drugs: Federal Drug Enforcement Budget Skyrockets as Incarceration Becomes National Policy Ronald Reagan · Nancy Reagan · Edwin Meese · DEA | confirmed | |
| 1982-04-22 | Berkeley Pit Mine Closes on Earth Day, Pumps Shut Off, Creating Toxic Lake Superfund Site Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) · Anaconda Copper Mining Company · Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) · Montana Department of Environmental Quality · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1982-02-09 | Reagan Appoints Robert Bork to DC Circuit Court of Appeals, Positioning Antitrust Revolution Author for Supreme Court Robert Bork · Ronald Reagan · DC Circuit Court of Appeals · Federalist Society · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1982-01-01 | S&L Deregulation Creates Moral Hazard: Recipe for Systematic Fraud Ronald Reagan · Savings and Loan industry · Federal Home Loan Bank Board · Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation | confirmed | |
| 1981-08-13 | Reagan Signs Economic Recovery Tax Act (ERTA) - Top Rate Slashed from 70% to 50%, Corporate Tax Cuts Total $150 Billion Over Five Years Ronald Reagan · Jack Kemp · William Roth · David Stockman · +4 | confirmed | |
| 1981-05-01 | Council for National Policy Founded - Secret Conservative Coordination Network Tim LaHaye · Paul Weyrich · Nelson Bunker Hunt · Howard Phillips · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1981-05-01 | Tim LaHaye Founds Council for National Policy: The Shadow Network That Coordinates the American Right Tim LaHaye · Paul Weyrich · Richard Viguerie · Howard Phillips · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1981-04-13 | Reagan Appoints William Baxter as Antitrust Chief, Enforcement Collapses as Chicago School Takes Control Ronald Reagan · William F. Baxter · Department of Justice · Stanford Law School · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1981-04-01 | Epstein leaves Bear Stearns amid SEC insider trading investigation Jeffrey Epstein · Bear Stearns · Securities and Exchange Commission · Edgar Bronfman · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1981-01-28 | Reagan Appoints James Watt as Interior Secretary - Oil Industry Capture Ronald Reagan · James Watt · Mountain States Legal Foundation · Coors Company · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1981-01-20 | Reagan Inauguration Begins Antitrust Revolution: Eight Years of Systematic Enforcement Collapse and Corporate Consolidation Ronald Reagan · William F. Baxter · Douglas Ginsburg · Robert Bork · +4 | confirmed | |
| 1981-01-01 | ALEC Establishes Cabinet Task Forces and Partners with Reagan's Task Force on Federalism American Legislative Exchange Council · Ronald Reagan · Paul Laxalt · Tom Stivers · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1981-01-01 | Heritage Foundation's "Mandate for Leadership" Becomes Reagan Administration Blueprint Heritage Foundation · Ronald Reagan · Edwin Meese · James Watt · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1981-01-01 | Supply-Side Economics Failure: Empirical Evidence Debunks Trickle-Down Theory Ronald Reagan · Arthur Laffer · David Stockman · Greg Mankiw · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1980-12-11 | Superfund Law Passes But Industry Successfully Builds In Weaknesses and Delays Jimmy Carter · Chemical Manufacturers Association · American Petroleum Institute · U.S. Chamber of Commerce · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1980-07-01 | Carter Signs Motor Carrier Act, Completing Bipartisan Transportation Deregulation Jimmy Carter · U.S. Congress | confirmed | |
| 1980-01-07 | Carter Signs Chrysler Bailout, Corporate Welfare Precedent Set Jimmy Carter · Lee Iacocca | confirmed | |
| 1980-01-01 | Banking Industry Launches Systematic Campaign to Erode Glass-Steagall Act Major commercial banks · Banking lobbyists · Federal regulators · Academic economists · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1980-01-01 | Black, Manafort & Stone lobbying firm founded, nicknamed 'Torturers' Lobby' Charlie Black · Paul Manafort · Roger Stone | confirmed | |
| 1980-01-01 | NLRB Systemic Underfunding and Weak Enforcement Enables Corporate Union-Busting National Labor Relations Board · U.S. Congress · Corporate lobbying groups · Reagan administration | confirmed | |
| 1979-12-27 | Soviet Afghanistan Invasion Positions BCCI for CIA Covert Operations Expansion Central Intelligence Agency · ISI Pakistan · General Zia ul-Haq · BCCI · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1979-10-06 | Volcker Shock - Federal Reserve Raises Rates to 20%, Recession Begins Paul Volcker · Jimmy Carter | confirmed | |
| 1979-01-08 | Vietnam Veterans File Agent Orange Class Action Lawsuit Against Dow Chemical and Monsanto - Corporations Deny Liability Despite Evidence Lawyer Victor Yannacone · Dow Chemical Company · Monsanto Company · Vietnam Veterans · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1979-01-02 | Federation for American Immigration Reform Founded, Launching Modern Nativist Movement Infrastructure John Tanton · Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) · Pioneer Fund · Cordelia Scaife May · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1979-01-01 | ALEC Begins Tobacco Industry Partnership for Legislative Influence American Legislative Exchange Council · Tobacco Institute · ALEC Executive Director | confirmed | |
| 1978-11-09 | Natural Gas Policy Act Begins Energy Sector Deregulation Jimmy Carter | confirmed | |
| 1978-10-24 | Carter Signs Airline Deregulation Act, Neoliberal Turn Begins Jimmy Carter · Alfred Kahn · Edward Kennedy · Stephen Breyer | confirmed | |
| 1978-10-05 | Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy Established, Framework for 1986 Reform Jimmy Carter · Theodore Hesburgh · U.S. Congress · Alan Simpson · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1978-08-07 | Love Canal Disaster Exposes Decades of Corporate Toxic Dumping Cover-Up Hooker Chemical Company · Occidental Petroleum · Niagara Falls Board of Education · Lois Gibbs · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1978-06-22 | Labor Law Reform Act Killed by Filibuster After Business Roundtable Lobbying Blitz Business Roundtable · U.S. Chamber of Commerce · National Association of Manufacturers · AFL-CIO · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1978-01-01 | Clark Clifford and Robert Altman Begin Representing BCCI in US Operations Clark Clifford · Robert Altman · Bert Lance · Agha Hasan Abedi · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1978-01-01 | Manhattan Institute Founded by CIA Director William Casey - Intelligence-Policy Crossover William J. Casey · Antony Fisher · Charles Murray · George Kelling · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1977-10-12 | Community Reinvestment Act Passed to Combat Redlining, Banking Industry Resists President Jimmy Carter · Senator William Proxmire · American Bankers Association · Federal Reserve · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1977-08-31 | J.P. Stevens Found Guilty of Massive NLRB Violations, Creates Corporate Union-Busting Playbook J.P. Stevens & Company · Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union · National Labor Relations Board · Corporate Campaign Inc. | confirmed | |
| 1977-08-12 | Weinberger v. Equifax: Fifth Circuit Guts Anti-Pinkerton Act, Clearing Path for Private Intelligence Industry U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals · Equifax Inc. · Government Accountability Office | confirmed | |
| 1977-07-01 | Exxon Internal Climate Research Program Confirms Human-Caused Global Warming James Black · Roger Cohen · ExxonMobil · Exxon Corporation · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1977-01-01 | American Enterprise Institute Organizational Profile: Transforming Industry Lobby into 'Scholarly' Think Tank American Enterprise Institute · Irving Kristol · Jeane Kirkpatrick · Dick Cheney · +4 | confirmed | |
| 1977-01-01 | BCCI Establishes Partnership with Pakistan's Zia ul-Haq Military Regime General Zia ul-Haq · Agha Hasan Abedi · Pakistan military · BCCI Pakistan operations · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1977-01-01 | Department of Justice Announces Abandonment of Robinson-Patman Act Enforcement, Adopting Chicago School Critique Department of Justice · Robert Bork · Federal Trade Commission · Chicago School of Economics | confirmed | |
| 1977-01-01 | Edwin Feulner Becomes Heritage Foundation President, Beginning 36-Year Tenure Building Conservative Policy Infrastructure Edwin Feulner · Heritage Foundation · Paul Weyrich · Richard Scaife · +4 | confirmed | |
| 1976-09-30 | Hart-Scott-Rodino Act Requires Pre-Merger Notification, Last Major Antitrust Strengthening Before Reagan Dismantlement Gerald Ford · Senator Philip Hart · Senator Hugh Scott · Representative Peter Rodino · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1976-02-18 | Ford Executive Order 11905 Bans Political Assassination: Executive Self-Regulation Substitutes for Legislative Reform Gerald Ford · CIA · Church Committee | confirmed | |
| 1976-01-01 | Francis Schaeffer's "How Should We Then Live?" Convinces Evangelicals That Political Engagement Is Christian Duty Francis Schaeffer · C. Everett Koop · Jerry Falwell · Tim LaHaye | confirmed | |
| 1976-01-01 | Tobacco Industry 'Operation Berkshire' and global coordination to resist smoking regulation British American Tobacco · Philip Morris · RJ Reynolds · Imperial Tobacco | confirmed | |
| 1975-10-29 | Ford Refuses NYC Bailout, "Drop Dead" Headline, Austerity Era Begins Gerald Ford · William Simon · Alan Greenspan · Donald Rumsfeld · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1975-07-16 | Pike Committee Investigation: House Intelligence Findings Suppressed After CIA and White House Obstruction Otis Pike · CIA · Gerald Ford · Daniel Schorr · +3 | confirmed | |
| 1975-04-22 | Church Committee: Landmark Democratic Resistance Framework Against Intelligence Abuses Senator Frank Church · Senator John Tower · US Senate · Central Intelligence Agency · +3 | confirmed | |
| 1975-04-14 | Federal Election Commission Begins Operations, Institutionalizing Corporate PAC Framework Federal Election Commission · President Gerald Ford | confirmed | |
| 1975-01-27 | Church Committee begins exposing illegal intelligence activities Senator Frank Church · Church Committee · Mike Mansfield · Seymour Hersh · +4 | confirmed | |
| 1974-10-28 | Equal Credit Opportunity Act and RESPA Pass After Industry Lobbying Weakens Enforcement U.S. Congress · President Gerald Ford · American Bankers Association · Mortgage Bankers Association · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1974-06-08 | US-Saudi Economic Commission Agreement Signed Henry Kissinger · Prince Fahd bin Abdulaziz · Richard Nixon · Saudi Arabia · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1974-01-01 | American Enterprise Institute Establishes Center for Health Policy Research American Enterprise Institute | confirmed | |
| 1973-12-28 | Endangered Species Act Signed, Industry Groups Immediately Begin Weakening Campaign Richard Nixon · American Mining Congress · National Forest Products Association · American Farm Bureau Federation · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1973-10-01 | Trilateral Commission Founded by David Rockefeller David Rockefeller · Zbigniew Brzezinski · Jimmy Carter · Chase Manhattan Bank · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1973-09-11 | CIA-Backed Coup Overthrows Salvador Allende in Chile: Corporate and Intelligence Interests Align to Destroy Democracy CIA · Richard Nixon · Henry Kissinger · Salvador Allende · +3 | confirmed | |
| 1973-09-03 | Bunker Hill Smelter Fire Leads to Worst Corporate Lead Poisoning in U.S. History Gulf Resources & Chemical Corp. · Bunker Hill Mining & Metallurgical Complex · Idaho Department of Health · U.S. Environmental Protection Agency | confirmed | |
| 1973-05-08 | New York Passes Rockefeller Drug Laws: Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Template for Mass Incarceration Nelson Rockefeller · New York State Legislature | confirmed | |
| 1973-02-16 | Heritage Foundation Founded by Conservative Activists and Business Leaders Paul Weyrich · Edwin Feulner · Joseph Coors · Heritage Foundation | confirmed | |
| 1973-02-16 | Heritage Foundation Organizational Profile: Conservative Policy Infrastructure and Corporate Capture Mechanism Heritage Foundation · Paul Weyrich · Edwin Feulner · Joseph Coors · +4 | confirmed | |
| 1973-01-01 | BCCI Begins Rapid International Expansion Strategy with 19 Branches Across Five Countries Agha Hasan Abedi · BCCI management · Swaleh Naqvi · international regulators | confirmed | |
| 1973-01-01 | R.J. Rushdoony Publishes "The Institutes of Biblical Law": Intellectual Foundation for Christian Dominionism Rousas John Rushdoony · Gary North · Chalcedon Foundation | confirmed | |
| 1972-10-18 | Clean Water Act Passes Over Nixon Veto After Industry Fails to Block Strong Provisions Richard Nixon · Edmund Muskie · American Petroleum Institute · Chemical Manufacturers Association · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1972-09-01 | BCCI Founded with Bank of America Partnership and Regulatory Evasion Structure Agha Hasan Abedi · Bank of America · Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan · Abu Dhabi · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1972-03-30 | Omaha Sun Exposes Boys Town's $209 Million Secret Fortune While Claiming Poverty in Fundraising Appeals Boys Town · Warren Buffett · Paul Williams · Stanford Lipsey · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1972-03-01 | Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) Founded Agha Hasan Abedi · Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan · Bank of America | confirmed | |
| 1971-01-01 | Oregon Passes Nation's First Forest Practices Act, Drafted by Timber Industry to Preempt Federal Regulation Oregon Legislature · Tom McCall · Oregon timber industry · Oregon Department of Forestry | confirmed | |
| 1970-12-31 | Clean Air Act of 1970 Creates EPA and National Air Quality Standards Despite Industry Opposition President Richard Nixon · Senator Edmund Muskie · American Petroleum Institute · National Coal Association · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1970-12-29 | Occupational Safety and Health Act Creates OSHA After Decades of Industry Opposition to Workplace Safety President Richard Nixon · U.S. Congress · AFL-CIO · National Association of Manufacturers · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1970-12-02 | Nixon Creates Environmental Protection Agency Consolidating Federal Environmental Authority President Richard Nixon · William Ruckelshaus · Council on Environmental Quality | confirmed | |
| 1968-04-11 | Fair Housing Act Passes After MLK Assassination Overcomes National Association of Real Estate Boards Decades of Opposition President Lyndon B. Johnson · Martin Luther King Jr. · National Association of Real Estate Boards · National Association of Realtors · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1967-12-15 | Age Discrimination in Employment Act Protects Workers Over 40 from Job Discrimination President Lyndon B. Johnson · U.S. Congress · Secretary of Labor W. Willard Wirtz · U.S. Chamber of Commerce | confirmed | |
| 1966-09-09 | National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act Passes After GM Harassment of Ralph Nader Backfires President Lyndon B. Johnson · Ralph Nader · General Motors · James Roche · +1 | confirmed |