Since World War II, University of Michigan economists have produced the definitive research on consumer sentiment. Their twice-monthly surveys of household spending are used by everyone from policy makers at the Federal Reserve to Wall Street traders.
But thanks to an arbitrary threat of prosecution by the attorney general of New York, Eric Schneiderman, this high-quality research is no longer going to be available to anyone, any time.
Mr. Schneiderman proudly announced earlier this month that the hedge funds that had covered the costs of the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers will no longer get a two-second advanced feed of these data. He claimed he was striking a blow for a "level playing field." Instead, he struck a blow against research and information. ...
Mr. Schneiderman's legal theory would have banned Paul Julius Reuter from using carrier pigeons in the 1850s to get news to his subscribers in Europe faster than anyone else. Charles Dow and Edward Jones wouldn't have been able to use the new ticker machine in the 1880s to sell brokers real-time Dow Jones news. Michael Bloomberg would be banned from delivering his financial data only to people who can afford $20,000 a year for a terminal. Tens of thousands of business publications, trade associations and private research firms that charge for content would also fail a level-playing-field test. ...
A final point: The Wall Street Journal is not available free, which is another violation of Mr. Schneiderman's mythical level playing field. If that's really a crime, this columnist pleads guilty.
via online.wsj.com
