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Democrats Push For Reinstatement Of Glass-Steagal
In what is the start of the biggest uphill battle in D.C., arguably even bigger than deposing the printing press leprechaun, five democrats are proposing an amendment to reinstate Glass-Steagal, whose repeal, through the Larry Summers orchestrated Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, in 1999 set the economy on the collision course that culminated with the implosion of every single Goldman Sachs FICC competitor in 2008. The five Democrats who have undertaken the sisyphean task of taking on both Wall Street and their direct boss, are Maurice Hinchey of New York, John
Conyers of Michigan, Peter DeFazio of Oregon, Jay Inslee of Washington,
and John Tierney of Massachusetts.
If adopted, the measure would give banks one year to choose between
being commercial banks or investment banks. The nation's biggest --
those now commonly referred to as "too big to fail" -- would be broken
up. The Obama administration opposes the measure.
Obama, presumably a Democrat, continues to persist in endorsing each and every Republican legacy when it comes to Wall Street's landed interests (and risk "management" practices). Of course, the last thing the administration needs is for the populace to comprehend the chameleonic nature of the administration's action.
The act was repealed in 1999 at the urging of, among others, Larry
Summers, now President Barack Obama's chief economic adviser.The five congressman all voted against the repeal then -- and now they want it back.
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker is one of a number of
financial luminaries calling for at least a partial return to
Glass-Steagall. The Wall Street Journal's
editorial page also endorsed the concept in a recent editorial as a way
to "reduce moral hazard" and "limit certain kinds of risk-taking by
institutions that hold taxpayer-insured deposits."
The law's repeal ushered in an era marked by big banks getting even
bigger. The country's four largest -- Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase,
Citigroup and Wells Fargo - now control more than half of the nation's
mortgages, two-thirds of credit cards and two-fifths of all bank
deposits.
And because their deposits are taxpayer-insured, there's a growing
concern that they will feel overly confident about making risky bets
through their investment arms because they know that should they suffer
huge losses, taxpayers will ultimately be there to bail them out.
The five Democrats face big obstacles, including their own leadership and the Obama administration.
At this point the whole systemic regulation debate is getting glaringly amusing. At the core of every conflict are proposed reforms that are so obvious from a risk mitigation debate: audited Fed, split up banks which are now bigger than ever before, propping a bankrupt FDIC, which in turn is backing up bankrupt institutions, and a bankrupt country which is trying to fool the world into a game of M.A.D. knowing full well if the US taxpayer goes down directly or indirectly, the world, and the proverbial flood, follow after. And the only sensible reforms are those getting the biggest push back from Obama, and of course, Wall Street. How these two seemingly traditional opponents have ended up on the same side of the page is testament enough to the cataclysmic legacy of Bernanke and Summers. Of course, nothing will be done about anything, in tried and true American fashion, until it is too late, and Main Street is left sorting through the rubble of Goldman's new glass-plated headquarters, even as all inhabitants have long-ago departed the country and left the U.S. with a few quadrillion in I.O.U.'s. At this juncture the best option before politicians is to simply delay for one year until mid-term elections provoke some vestige of sensibility in the ruling class.
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Well they're on the right track anyway. Conyers has the spine of a squid.
+1 on Conyers. So freakin' sick of that gas bag.
I was kinda in favor of reinstatement till I saw who was pushing it. Now I'm busy calculating "what's the angle?". I can't believe any of this gang would have the best interests of the US, the working people of the country, or well behaved savers/investors/productive-citizens in general.
I agree.
Conyers began to wear thin on me when he was threatening impeachment proceedings of President Bush every 10 minutes and nothing ever came of it.
He has become, in my view, a leading poster child for the bloviating windbag politician who makes an endless stream of high pronouncements and calls to action, and never, ever, EVER follows through.
That's outrageously mean - to squids. He's more like a jellyfish with osteoporosis and polio. And his wife (aka "Shrek! Shrek!") is even worse.
With all the new information coming out, it's interesting to see what a snake in the grass Obama is. We'll see how well this works out for him
More attempts to appease the angry public. Don't forget how things work in the swamp lands of DC. Something may be passed, but it's what's inside that counts. Congress is famous for passing great sounding bills that have no teeth or funding or muscle or all of the above.
The Potomac Two Step is rapidly morphing into the Tip Toe To Tyranny (TTTT or better yet T4).
Where is this tip toe you speak of? All I see is a wild headlong dash to tyranny...I hope you are not telling us this is their "slow" speed...
I expect nothing to change out of this congress, if the bill has teeth then Team O will veto it. The prez has shown us he is busy suckling at the teat of wall street, he cannot be bothered to deal with main street other then a few vague promises and platitudes. I'm just wondering what wall street firm he will be working at after he is done with the prez gig.
Tip Toe To Tyranny is the perfect description, because it highlights the need for surprise as they flank the middle class and surprise them.
Exactly. Humpty Dumpty was pushed.
Control the peasants
Democrat Republican
No difference fools
Letter written to Massa (D NY 29) urging him to jump on this as well. He was the first NY Dem to jump behind HR 1207, so he did my district proud in that particular instance.
Eyes watering... too funny. ZH would be a great comedy site if it weren't for all the gloomy financial news.
Hey the leprechauns I know hold physical - BB gives leprechauns a bad name.
The hatred of physical is the public persona, but you can bet that all the playas have a stash of properly assayed LGD bars. They are flying the country into a hill, but they know what to carry in their flight bag.
Abandon all hope ye that enter here....the absolute absurdity of our current reality just makes me laugh...especially since I hate vomiting...done enough of that already...ugh.
Here's info on Hinchey. $435K from the FIRE sector.
Anyone else care to do a little digging?
http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=Career&cid=N...
15 Financial Firms That Bought Off The US Congress
http://www.businessinsider.com/top-financial-political-contributors-2009-12
http://thestrangedeathofliberalamerica.com/foreclosed-blame-bill-clinton...
Having lived in Jay Inslee's district it is moments like this when we can find common ground. I suspect that there could be more commonality if I searched for it with greater diligence. As this article clearly states all of these members of the democratic delegation have been in DC long enough to know. They're not rookies looking to ride a white horse, but are astute enough politicians to start making a claim now. Too bad the loyal opposition hadn't the sense to make this move first. We'll have a greater sense as to where this might be headed if Darrell Issa and Marsha Blackburn join these five democrats in a presser on this.
I'm in Inslee's district as well and just met one of his legislative aids last Friday. Glass-Steagal is one of the things I have been harping on his office for a while now. I will never know if my calls made any difference, but keep in mind that all of these guys just want to get re-elected, and if their constituents are calling them about specific issues, they use those complaints as a barometer of votes.
I understand the need to vent on this board, but please if you have the energy to do that then find a little more and start convincing your representatives etc of all the changes they need to make. The squeeky wheel really does get the grease, and for too long that wheel has been special interests while we all sat at home yelling at the tv.
I have found that "Miles" has a bit more juice.. Hence the reason for Marsha Blackburn's inclusion...
The only hope is that Congress will stab the banks in the back next year for re-election. The only people more duplicitous than the banksters are congressmen.
I keep coming back to the same rationalization that the only thing we non-Wall Street and Washington D.C. elite can do is let go of our innate impulse to resist the inevitable and openly embrace our fate.
I read a WSJ editorial today about a case before the Supreme Court to challenge Sarbanes-Oxley (link below). This isn't ending, and in no way is it getting any better. Is there any reason to hold out for hope any longer?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870443180457453992186425238...
How about the reason that losing hope and doing nothing makes it easier for them? FUCK EM.'
It's starfish vs. spiders.
Or squidz.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Starfish_and_the_Spider
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-586262601927888423#
http://www.hawaii-forest.com/_img/natural-history/evolution-008.jpg
Some Democrats are more equal than others !
I do not agree with the transaction tax....but I 1000% agree with this imposition....
This is way overdue .....I agree with Volcker....
I love the info that I receive reading ZH, but the wingnut discussions that follow can be a little trying / predictable.
i agree - the replies aren't complete cut and paste which makes the case that their brains function in only a narrow band which has always been the disturbing trait.
Anyway, one item I find telling is that we do not really see too many high stakes battles anymore in court - it seems everything gets settles nicely since there is so much to spread around in those circles nowadays
That's why we ignore all posts from Anonymous and only read posts by named participants.
I just happened to notice yours because I like the word wingnut.
No time to log-in - Dr. Horace Manure
What will Golden Slacks choose? After racing to qualify as a bank in order to recieve TARP slush funds. In this case, can goldie have it both ways?
I'm sorry this is not your topic, but you made me laugh! I bet you've heard the phrase "What would Jesus do?" Or even the jokes off of it "What would Jesus drive?" Well now that GS is doing God's work, the natural evolution of the phrase, for the next moral quandry you might be in, would be...
'The five Democrats face big obstacles, including their own leadership and the Obama administration.'
I'm sure that Grayson, Kaptur and Paul will make it eight.
Early on in the previous administration I got to the point,
malaprops aside, I couldn't stand the sound of bush's voice. I would avert my gaze, change the channel, what ever. I have gotten to that point again. I was miffed by an annoying seattle talkshow host who called obama an empty suit during the campaign. I thought hell no, he'll show you.
Well, wrap my head in cellophane, put a stick up my butt and call me 'sucker'.
I had the first shiver of betrayal when there was to be no accountability for the war crimes that were comitted by the previous administration.
Then there was the deal with pharma and the gutting of the public option.
Then his decision to further bankrupt the country in a war that will needlessly end the lives of too many people.
Finally there is who he selected to shepherd the financal/economic issues.
Most of us are up on what Matt Taibbi has been writing, and the current issue of Rolling Stone, lays the damning truth out for all to see.
If there is legislation that passes that restores Glass-Steagal, I'm guessing it will receive a veto or at least a signing statement. I never have, and never will, ever vote for a republican. But I don't see myself voting for this President again
"I'm beginning to see the light."
-The Velvet Underground
Perhaps there won't be another presidential election to worry about.
What do you suppose they'll call the leader of the NAU? I wonder... King, Emperor, Caesar... no no no. Czar. Familiarity. Yeah that's the ticket. Has a nice ring to it.
Remember when we could point everything back to Karl Rove and Cheney?
All the while the squid was planting itself firmly into power
Yes but back then we had HELOC and our minds were like jellyfish and the squid was everyone's friend.
My response to you is the same as it is to every sap that thought Obama was a liberal.
HE RAN A CENTRIST/CORPRATIST CAMPAIGN. You got what you deserved.
The problem is, I got the shaft.
2008 was like 1932 in the fact that we couldve gotten a true rebel in the white house. But no. Only, the Dems nominated Hoover Jr., and I kept saying, "WTF!?!"
And every teary eyed, idiot American said, "chaaaange".
Again, thank you all.
Now, everyone is gonna be pissed at the big bad lefty Obama and think his "leftist" policies failed, and we are gonna end up with someone to the right of W.
Problem is for us, our country and our economy will not survive.
Obama is smart enough to hold the shit together, at least temporarily.
God forbid, and don't think it can't happen, if Obama is polling below 45% in 2012, it wont matter who the Repubs run, they'll win by default, like the Dems in 08........................
......President Palin anyone?
In a poll that I saw today, the Teaparty was polling higher than the Republicans. So perhaps Celente's prediction of a new party winning will come true.
But it looks like the Teaparty is now fracturing, between the Conservatives and the Libertarians, so who knows how this will turn out.
The key point here is that an unknown party managed to form and outdo the Republicans in less than a year. If the economy tanks and is still bad by 2012, it looks like anything can happen.
I don't think it's going to be that much of an uphill battle. Keeping the rioters at bay? Now that will be an uphill battle.
Not only will it be an uphill battle but Lloyd Blankfein and Jamie Dimon will be up top throwing boulders and pissing on heads...
What a bunch of wankers!! Desperate acts for desperate clowns...Rubin is probably writing the loopholes!!!
I hope the majority of American people start to realize that this financial and economic shitstorm is not going to go away, it has become extremely serious, and that the present policies orchestrated by Summers, Bernanke, Geithner, Wall Street and the banks are flushing us down the tube.
BINGO, they snaked the pipe, first, to make sure we go down far enough to eliminate sufficient resistance
I I give props to those guys for doing the right thing. At least it raises the issue.
It's a show it's a show it's a show. Once again after the damage is done and we get to witness democracy in action cleaning up the mess after the party that everyone knew would result in a huge fucking hangover.
Right, democracy. As in the mob storming the gates after the employment checks and food stamps don't arrive in the mailbox anymore. One could say that a riot is the most immediately effective form of democracy.
While it does raise the issue, given the sponsors here, it strikes me that they are co-opting the effort to do the right thing.
This way, they would give the voters a good headline, while at the same time giving Goldman Sachs what they want in reality. That is the fine art of an experienced modern politician.
People seem to have forgotten the "Credit Card Reforms" which made a lot of noise, and gave the Banks what they wanted. The end result are 30% interest rates these days.
So pardon me if I'm sceptical.
It would be great if they succeed.Did I mention that I am counting on a meteorite made of pure gold weighing 10 tons to gently land in my backyard for my retirement?
No, really...it's plausible.Even though I want a return to Glass-Steagal as much as the whole meteorite scenario I fear they correlate closely in probability.
Korea says they won't buy gold because they're trendy...
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ag2cRG2_O1Jk
Obama rules from the center and moves more toward the centre with each graceful step. Like Jefferson mowing down Haitian slaves with the marines...just in Afghanistan.
Glass-Steagal signed by Clinton sponsored by Grahm. Bipartisan effort! Now we know why.
Every bill in your pocket states it belongs to the Federal Reserve. Chinese pocket much bigger than yours. Perhaps the Fed desires investment banks to carve up trillions of those little Chinese notes just like they did to us suckers. Obama seeks consensus to create inertia. 60% of trading on wall street is high frequency. The wealth of AMerika is not in his hands and he seeks consensus with the greatest wealth he can. The pentagon and Wall Street. Jules Verne wrote a book about the gold meteor named "The Meteor". good read. There is a machine that will make it land right where you want it.
People sign petition to "increase inflation to 100%" to cause hyperinflation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJtS9CuyuaU
Maybe the angle here is separating each of these entities into two distinct companies and loading one up with toxic assets, i.e. good bank, bad bank, or something along those lines.
yeah, good bank (private) bad bank (public)
It is a noble cause, and should be enacted. But IMHO, it would be very bad for the Bank Holding Companies (BHC). There are a lot of accounting advantages in the merging of BHC entities. I would really be surprised if this made it out of committee.
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o139/blueollie/blogphotos/democrats-s...
This has been the best solution all along. It would solve the TBTF issue, it would fix much of the risk issue, it would fix a lot!
Congress could pass this, forget about any other financial reforms, and simply go home for Christmas. 90% of our problems would be fixed.
It's so obvious. And yet the douchebag I voted for would veto it.
Obama as his own worst enemy, and now mine. If only he had not overplayed the buildup to such heights and slowed his descent to hell, he might have passed as another Clinton---a kinder, gentler Republican. The unmasking was too swift and gruesome.
Why is everybody so skeptical? They will do it , these things take time. Dubai to default on debt! Holy Shit. Ok what were we talking about? Nothing will get done. Our government is a sham. Revolving door lobbyists, Government employees, Coporate executives (not necessarily in that order). Its a pattern. When the people rise up then things will change. Nobody to blame but ourselves for letting this go on. This is nothing new. Its been happening for a long long time.
Stupid. I'm surprised anyone here supports this. The repeal of Glass-Steagal had nothing to do with the current depression. The blame rests clearly on the Fed and the Federal Government. Only retarded left wingers applaud this kind of stupid shit.
Pioneers, O' Pioneers...
Pioneers, O' Pioneers...
This must be enacted, and they should just go back to the original bill.
If they modify, it will be to the benefit of the connected NY bankers to reduce competition of any other bank following their path.
In addition to Glass Steagal, they must put every new derivative on an exchange as of a certain date (ASAP 1/1/10) works for me. The derivatives must be standardized, transparent, and have collateral just like options. For existing derivatives, they must be transparent although these are highly suspect if they haven't been acknowledged in the books. The trick is that one shitty entity could decide they will play martyr, and that executive could load up the bank with tons of poor derivatives (AIG, not for the shareholders but for his colluding buddies that later pay him off) and then "set fire" to his own company - they all get rich in the process. This is not far fetched, it's a heist.
Night and day, you must continue to probe the walls......
One day we will break through,
whether it is Glass-Steagall, Tobin tax, Timmy-Boy, Bernoccio in exile, or gold in your loose change, one day we will have the Squid in batter and JP Morgan-chased outta town.
Have-a-little-faith, Moriarty. (Donald Sutherland, Kelly's Heroes -they were after gold too)