If you think Congress' last-minute spending bill is just about budgetary matters and avoiding yet another government shutdown, think again. Tucked into the measure is language backed by Republicans and Wall Street-friendly Democrats to roll back landmark bank regulations passed in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008. The key political question now is: Will the cadre of populist Democratic legislators who have made their name being tough on Wall Street use their power to stop the legislation in its tracks?
At least one seems ready to do just that. A source in the office of Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts says she will not vote for the omnibus bill if it includes the provisions at issue, which relate to the trading of derivatives. Experts have said these complex financial instruments, such as credit default swaps on mortgage-backed securities, played a key role in creating and exacerbating the financial crisis of 2008.
That led Congress in 2010 to pass the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which explicitly says that federal guarantees against losses -- such as from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation -- do not apply to banks' most complex derivative transactions. The regulation, which was supposed to take effect next year, was designed to force financial institutions to separate those transactions from more traditional government-guaranteed banking services. It was also supposed to compel banks to separately fund derivative transactions with private money, rather than with government-guaranteed deposits.
The measure would place roadblocks in front of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission if they tried to supervise overseas swaps trading by U.S. institutions, activities they are trying to regulate on the belief that U.S.-based financial institutions -- and possibly taxpayers -- ultimately would be on the hook if swaps trading led to massive losses. Instead, it would allow for overseas activities to be regulated by foreign jurisdictions.
Less than 6 years after one of the biggest financial collapses in our country's history and these friggin morons think THIS TIME it will be different.
Why would they care? The precedence has already been set, when the wall street criminals walk away with the economy in their pockets the tax payers will simply be forced to bail out the banks again.
I'm not concerned if they care. I'm just wondering when will WE care? When will we start to care enough to pry ourselves from Facebook, and Debate Politics, and whatever else has preoccupied our time and actually DO something?
Now me? I've already called up my representatives and gave the interns answering the phones an earful. I am secure in the knowledge that my representatives will listen to me and take appropriate action :roll:
Imagine what would happen if people took all that rage, all that anger that is shown for undeserving causes like that in Ferguson and we actually focused our collective ire against these scumbags?
That's never gonna happen and I'm just pounding sand here, but, I mean, god damn...
Free markets win. Until the left figures this out they are doomed to failure.
I'm not concerned if they care. I'm just wondering when will WE care? When will we start to care enough to pry ourselves from Facebook, and Debate Politics, and whatever else has preoccupied our time and actually DO something?
Now me? I've already called up my representatives and gave the interns answering the phones an earful. I am secure in the knowledge that my representatives will listen to me and take appropriate action :roll:
Imagine what would happen if people took all that rage, all that anger that is shown for undeserving causes like that in Ferguson and we actually focused our collective ire against these scumbags?
That's never gonna happen and I'm just pounding sand here, but, I mean, god damn...
I think you meant "Until certain people on the right figure out that 'free market' is not the same as 'no rules.'"
There was a study recently released, that showed quantitatively the average Joe has less than 1% influence on governmental policy. The only way to change this system for the people is revolution. But that would never happen.
There was a study recently released, that showed quantitatively the average Joe has less than 1% influence on governmental policy. The only way to change this system for the people is revolution. But that would never happen.
I think you meant "Until certain people on the right figure out that 'free market' is not the same as 'no rules.'"
I think you meant "Until certain people on the right figure out that 'free market' is not the same as 'no rules.'"
The only way to change this system for the people is revolution.
Lawmakers Attach Wall Street Deregulation To Omnibus Bill
House Approves Derivatives Deregulation Bills That Would Open More Loopholes For Wall Street
Less than 6 years after one of the biggest financial collapses in our country's history and these friggin morons think THIS TIME it will be different.
Unbe-friggin-leavable.
I guess you didn't get the memo from the right wing: Wall Street did not cause this century's economic problems. All those problems were caused by liberals and poor people. Liberals changed the laws to prevent racial discrimination in home loans. As a result banks were forced to give loans to poor people and minorities even if they weren't qualified. Stupid poor people and minorities thought that they could just borrow money and buy a house. That caused all of these economic problems. The fact that derivatives conceal the real value and risks of the loans included within them had nothing to do with it. The people in power never cause problems (unless they are Democrats or liberals) it is always the poor and minorities.
Yeah, and them poor people really screwed all of us by shorting their own underwriting too I suppose...:roll:
Lawmakers Attach Wall Street Deregulation To Omnibus Bill
House Approves Derivatives Deregulation Bills That Would Open More Loopholes For Wall Street
Less than 6 years after one of the biggest financial collapses in our country's history and these friggin morons think THIS TIME it will be different.
Unbe-friggin-leavable.
How soon we forget indeed. For example, you forgot that it was government regulation that led to the environment where the financial crisis was possible in the first place. Only 6 years later, too.
No they did that by taking loans they could not afford because liberals made it possible for them to do so, they should have evaluated their ability to pay for the loan before they took them not just took them because liberals made acquiring them into an entitlement.
Both these posts ignore the fact that the lender has a responsibility for seeing the loan can get repaid just as much as the borrower. Also, the lenders knew these were essentially risk free loans as they were going to be covered by the governmental program which incentivized them to package any and all BS loans they could.
And again, this in and of itself wasn't where the crisis became dramatic, but in the swapping of, and more importantly the crash of the CDS's due to short selling (including naked shorting) and even in some cases by the very underwriters of those derivatives.
As my brother, in true lawyer fashion said, it wasn't illegal but it was unethical as hell.
That's the problem with America. No no one wants to earn their fortune. They want to accrue it in incremental amounts of swindle.
So you're saying that short of the government basically forcing them to make loans to people they knew would be unlikely to pay them back, they would have still made them, resulting in the same fiasco? I highly doubt that.
I'm not concerned if they care. I'm just wondering when will WE care? When will we start to care enough to pry ourselves from Facebook, and Debate Politics, and whatever else has preoccupied our time and actually DO something?
Now me? I've already called up my representatives and gave the interns answering the phones an earful. I am secure in the knowledge that my representatives will listen to me and take appropriate action :roll:
Imagine what would happen if people took all that rage, all that anger that is shown for undeserving causes like that in Ferguson and we actually focused our collective ire against these scumbags?
That's never gonna happen and I'm just pounding sand here, but, I mean, god damn...
Dodd Frank is like a bra on a nice rack of boobies. Time to let them puppies swing free
Ok maybe I just like the simile.
Derivatives are not the devil people paint them as being. The she devil is in the details.
It WILL one day...and SOON, IMO. The problem before was, only older folks were concerned with politics. But younger people are getting into it now, and THEY are the ones with the time, energy, and freedom to do things like organize marches and get put on hold and listen to busy signals for hours on end.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?