Henry M. Banta was born in1937 and admitted to the District of Columbia Bar in 1966. His prior service as Advisor to the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission and Counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and Subcommittee on Antitrust and Monopoly gives him a unique insight on antitrust and industrial organization issues, with a special focus on the energy industry

Education

Georgetown University (B.S., 1960; LL.B., 1965).

Publications

  • Can Tax Laws Be Used To Fight Monopolies?, Tax Notes, Dec. 19, 2016, p. 150.
  • Will The Next President Be a Tax Cutter?, Tax Notes, Oct. 19, 2015, p. 431
  • The National Debt: 4 Theories in Search of a Policy, Tax Notes, April 16, 2015, p. 107.
  • Must We Have $4 Gas Prices Again?, www.NiemanWatchDog.org, June 17, 2009 (with Peter K. Ashton)
  • Reform How We Regulate the Financial System? And Then What? www.NiemanWatchDog.org. June 3, 2009.
  • Questions About Nationalizing the Banks, www.NiemanWatchDog.org, May 28, 2009.
  • Look for a Civil War Among Democrats on Trade, www.NiemanWatchDog.org, February 12, 2009.
  • Some Serious Talk About “Spreading the Wealth,  www.NiemanWatchDog.org, October 24, 2008.
  • Long-Range Issues in Resolving the Financial Crisis, www.NiemanWatchDog.org, September 24, 2008 (with Martin Lobel)
  • There’s an Element Mission in the Sub-Prime Discussion, www.NiemanWatchDog.org, July 25, 2008.
  • Why Hasn’t Competition Come to CEOs?  www.NiemanWatchDog.org, June 26, 2008.
  • If You Thought the Sub-Prime Mess Was Bad..., www.NiemanWatchDog.org, June 6, 2008.
  • The Oil Industry Low Balls Profits and the Press Goes Along, www.NiemanWatchDog.org, May 7, 2008.
  • Why is Gas Almost $4 a Gallon and Some Ideas on What to do About It, www.NiemanWatchDog.org, May 1, 2008 (with Martin Lobel and Lee Ellen Helfich)
  • Thoughts on the Language Used in Covering the Economy, www.NiemanWatchDog.org, March 14, 2008.
  • Unregulated Energy-market Speculation is Costing You Money, www.NiemanWatchDog.org, July 13, 2007.
  • Stymied in Reporting on Gas Prices?  Try These Questions, www.NiemanWatchDog.org, May 31, 2007.
  • Speculators - not Supply and Demand - Are to Blame for Skyrocketing Gas Prices, www.NiemanWatchDog.org, July 11, 2006.
  • What, If Anything, Can Bring Down Gas Prices?  www.NiemanWatchDog.org, May 6, 2006.                                                
  • Tax Code Helps Redistribute Income - at the Top, www.NiemanWatchDog.org, May 4, 2006.
  • With all that GOP corruption why are Democrats so quiet? www.NiemanWatchDog.org, Feb. 27, 2006.
  • What is there are no gains from reducing Mid-east oil imports? www.NiemanWatchDog.org, Feb. 8, 2006 (co-authored with Martin Lobel)
  • Supreme Court gets case of location incentives aka endless corporate welfare,  www.NiemanWatchDog.org, Dec. 15, 2005.
  • The wealth puzzle: There’s a lot of money someplace, but where, www.NiemanWatchDog.org, Nov. 3, 2005.
  • What’s the reason for the growing chasm in wealth and income?, www.NiemanWatchDog.org,  Sept. 14, 2005.
  • Economic inequality in the US is reaching Third World levels. Where’s the press?, www.NiemanWatchDog.org,  June 24, 2005.
  • How the refineries are profiting from your pain, www.NiemanWatchDog.org, , May 5, 2005 (co-authored with Peter Ashton)
  • The Black Box Used to Justify Energy Tax Subsidies, 100 Tax Notes 399 (July 21, 2003)(co-authored with Lee Helfrich and Martin Lobel)
  • Transfer Pricing and Oil Royalties: A Cautionary Tale, Tax Notes, July 5, 1999, p. 151 (co-authored with Martin Lobel and Lee Helfrich)
  • Myths, Tax Policy, and the Oil Industry, Tax Notes, March 15, 1999, p. 1675 (co-authored with Martin Lobel and Lee Helfrich)
  • Barclays: A Test of the Administration's Willingness to Collect Taxes from Multinational Corporations, Tax Notes, June 28, 1993, p. 1841 (co-authored with Martn Lobel)
  • Billions in Windfall Profits Taxes Still to be Collected, Tax Notes, July 24, 1989, p. 445 (co- authored with Martin Lobel)
  • FTC Orders Under the Price Discrimination Law: An Evaluation, 3 Antitrust Law and Economics Review 89, 1970 (co-authored with H. Robert Field)

Employment

Partner, Lobel, Novins & Lamont, LLP, 1980 to 2015; Of Counsel to present..

Counsel, U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 1977-1980.

Assistant Counsel, U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust and Monopoly, 1973-1976.

Attorney Advisor to Chairman, Federal Trade Commission, 1972-1973. 

Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Division of Compliance, attorney 1971-1972.

Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Competition, attorney 1965-1971.

First Lieut. Artillery, U.S. Army, 1960-1962.

Member

The District of Columbia Bar (Member, Antitrust and Consumer Protection Division Steering Committee, 1977-1978);

American Bar Association;

Board of Directors of Project on Government Oversight (Chairman 1991-1998).