You're watching...
Marketwatch Senior Columnist Chuck Jaffe on the hidden costs of Charles Scwhab’s “free” ETF trading.
Also in this playlist...
Auto-advance: ON
Auto-advance
This transcript is automatically generated
Yet another power grab by our imperial president this time involving our nation's cyber security.
I signed a new executive order that will strengthen.
Or cyber defenses by increasing information sharing and developing standards to protect our national security -- jobs and our privacy.
What is more red -- really the best way to wage war on cyber attacks joining me now Jeffrey Eisenach managing director of principal at -- -- economics and visiting scholar.
At the American Enterprise Institute welcome to the -- Jeff.
I've you know all of us are aware of these cyber attacks we probably -- -- this the scope of all of them what we've heard about the major cyber attacks some 198.
What -- the president's executive order do to prevent -- Well not very much unfortunately what what the president's done.
Is an -- I think really can be called sort of fairly government by press release.
What what happened here is cents you heard him say.
First of all they're going to share information with the private sector about the nature of cyber attacks.
And you would think that -- have been doing that anyway I will need an executive order to make that happen.
Secondly they're going to create a committee under the Department of Commerce -- -- anybody knows the Department of Commerce might wonder.
How well -- go on the face of it but that would create some new and supposedly voluntary standards.
And then thoroughly there's another committee this -- under the Department of Homeland Security.
That's designed to quote on quote encourage the private sector to adopt these quote unquote voluntary standards which course have a lot of people worried about.
How voluntary they'll be.
Well yeah I have to tell you a lot of the bidding adieu about nothing.
Is what it seems like to me -- any money against what the president what -- executive order would do.
Well they you know I think says that the problem herein and you implied -- I think in the -- -- is is that.
Congress was in the process of trying to address this issue.
-- a legislative framework and then what the president's done -- grab the ball.
Once again out of the hands of congress you have members on both sides trying to come together on a piece legislation.
And when the president and they they said to the president when he threatened to do this executive order.
Last year they said please don't take the ball out of our hands let us legislate through legislation you can do a lot of things that you can't do through an executive and LA processes prop -- really -- Really can't do any thing that doesn't require legislation from congress so I mean they've got to work well within the laws that already exists.
As you said it's more like government by press release but that doesn't mean that there's no threat out there there really is a very serious threat which I think you agree with that.
What do we need to be doing.
Well hey you know the problem here is that we either the administration is is talking a lot about this issue it's not doing much into the extent it's doing things it's forming committees and and -- regulating the private sector in the United States what it needs to realize is that we have a national security problem here.
We have Sovereign States trying to -- Iran.
Have -- -- promoting supporting allowing -- actually conducting cyber terrorism cyber.
Espionage.
Narrow and that's probably costing us some people -- up to a trillion dollars a year.
Just in -- that is industrial espionage intellectual property theft.
Just that kind of data day CIBER.
Yeah.
I -- -- going you hear China.
You know it it's not just it you know it probably -- some Chinese companies but it's also the China government.
Trying to break into the New York Times.
Trying to read stories online.
How we deal with that.
Well -- -- I think first -- -- I think it is hilarious that that -- to get the administration's.
Attention on this he had to attack the New York Times they could attack the Federal Reserve's -- you could attack you know they have to let.
Yeah yeah or Kurdish carry electricity company would but go after the New York died and only got the additional White -- -- But you know what what are you -- you know -- some people have likened this the Internet today to within the oceans the -- of the nineteenth and twentieth -- If it is the dominant.
Medium by which we conduct commerce today.
And what we need to do is get serious about seeing interference with free commerce open commerce secure commerce on the Internet.
As the same kind of level problem what we've always considered this security on the on the high seas.
And I want my emails to be -- to cap thanks Kirk I'm not that -- absolutely I appreciate your time you know it's it's a fascinating topic and clearly.
We're just not paying enough attention to it thanks so much.
Thanks for having --
