Markets Magazine
Cox `Asleep at Switch' as Paulson, Bernanke Encroach
This article is for subscribers only.
On Aug. 19, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox summoned the press to a conference room at the SEC's Washington headquarters for an important announcement. The agency's new computer technology to make corporate filings more useful to investors was almost ready, and Cox wanted to give reporters a preview.
In a flourish uncharacteristic of the normally buttoned-down ex-congressman, Cox, 55, strutted across the stage, took off his suit jacket and sat down at a computer to demonstrate the new Extensible Business Reporting Language, or XBRL. Investors were given a chance to ask questions about the technology online as an aide wrote a live blog.