Year in review: 8 business stories that defined 2017

Consumer protection chief appeals directly to Trump in bid to save class-action lawsuit rule

The White House moved to neutralize the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after its director, Richard Cordray, resigned in November. (Tribune News Service)

CONSUMER PROTECTION TAKES A HIT

A decade after the housing bust sparked the worse U.S. recession since the Great Depression and led to tighter lending regulations, the financial industry is succeeding in loosening its leash. In October, Congress voted to overturn a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule that would have allowed consumers to hit banks with class-action lawsuits. A month later, after the bureau’s director, Richard Cordray, quit, Trump moved to neutralize the CFPB itself, installing White House budget director and harsh bureau critic Mick Mulvaney as its interim head. Next up: reworking regulations on unwinding failed financial institutions.

Markets Open Monday After Dow's Major Surge The Previous Week

Wall Street saw a year of milestones in 2017: The Dow is closing in on 25,000; the Nasdaq briefly topped 7,000; and the Standard & Poor's 500 is poised to post its 10th monthly gain of the year. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

STOCKS RISE TO NEW HEIGHTS

Rising rates were supposed to kill it. So were North Korea’s saber rattling and doubts about President Donald Trump’s tax cuts. But nothing slowed the nearly 9-year-old bull market in stocks, now the second-longest on record. What might spark a reversal? Candidates include China’s shaky banks, a trade war, trading algorithms moving in lockstep, and the digital currency bitcoin crashing.

United Passenger Removed

United Airlines came under fire after a man was violently removed from an overbooked flight in April. The CEO apologized for the "truly horrific" encounter, and a settlement was reached with the traveler. (Associated Press)

AIRLINES PRESSURED TO TREAT PASSENGERS BETTER

The violent ejection of David Dao from a United Airlines plane became a viral video sensation in April as the bloodied physician was dragged out. That sparked a backlash from consumers and lawmakers, who pointed to a flurry of nasty incidents, usually captured on cellphone video. United and other carriers said they would reduce or eliminate overbooking, pay more to bumped passengers and bolster employee training to improve service and avoid confrontations.

DC: Senate Intelligence Hearing on social media influence in the 2016 United States elections

Facebook general counsel Colin Stretch testifies before the Senate intelligence committee Nov. 1 during a hearing examining social media's influence in the 2016 election. (Tribune News Service)

SILICON VALLEY AND THE WRATH OF WASHINGTON

This year marked the end of Silicon Valley’s honeymoon with America. Utopian visions of a digital future quickly turned dystopian after revelations that the country’s biggest tech companies were manipulated by Russian operatives to undermine the 2016 election. Google, Facebook and Twitter were forced to appear before Congress to explain how their platforms were infiltrated by trolls, bots and fake news. The scrutiny has made it more likely that new regulations will be imposed on the industry.

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