Law: Plugging the IPO Drain

Wall Street blames overregulation for pushing companies overseas. Why the law is getting a bad rap

Bob Staake for TIME

Illustration - Wall Street blames overregulation for pushing companies overseas.

To hear New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Senator Charles Schumer and a host of business luminaries tell it, the U.S. is losing its financial edge--and the law is largely to blame.

Stifling regulations, absurd lawsuits and ambitious prosecutors are pushing companies to raise money overseas, the scolds in pinstripes warn, and unless the rules loosen up, within a decade New York City could slip behind London, Hong Kong or, yes, Dubai as a center of global finance. President George W. Bush chimed in during a Jan. 31 speech, saying that lawsuits and overregulation might drag the markets down.

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