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Executive Director Stephen Brobeck spoke for CFA at the hearing and his testimony was titled "Residential Real Estate Brokerage Services: A Cockamamie System that Restricts Competition and Consumer Choice." "Cockamamie," as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary, is (1) trifling, nearly valueless; (2) ludicrous, nonsensical. Brobeck explained cockamamie, from a consumer perspective, is a pretty apt adjective for a system that is indeed "ridiculous and nonsensical."

In addition to the three witnesses from government agencies, Department of Justice, Government Accountability Office, and Federal Trade Commission who testified in general that real estate lacks real competitiveness, there were four other witnesses who testified against the industry. All four definitely have a dog in this fight.

Remember our old friend Michael G. Oxley?

Recently the House Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity held hearings entitled "The Changing Real Estate Market." We will try our best to report on this hearing in a fair and balanced way. Well, actually we will try but may not totally succeed.