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Guest Post: Congress Sells Out To Wall Street, Again
Originally posted at Represent.us blog,
The U.S. House just passed a bill called H.R. 992 - the Swaps Regulatory Improvement Act - that was literally written by mega-bank lobbyists. It repeals the laws passed in 2010 to prevent another meltdown like the one that crashed our economy in 2008. The repeal was co-sponsored by a former Goldman Sachs executive and passed with bipartisan support from some of the House’s largest recipients of Wall Street cash. It’s so appalling... so unbelievable... so blatantly corrupt... that you’ve got to see it to believe it:
In 2010, Congress passed the “Dodd-Frank” law to clamp down on risky “derivatives trading” that led to the financial collapse of 2008. Dodd-Frank was weakened by banking lobbyists from the start and has been under attack by those lobbyists ever since. Now a new law written by Citigroup lobbyists (we couldn’t make this stuff up if we tried) exempts derivatives trading from regulation, and was passed this week by the House of Representatives with broad bipartisan support.
It sounds bad… but don’t worry, it gets much, much worse:
- The New York Times reports that 70 of the 85 lines in the new House bill were literally written by Citigroup lobbyists (Citigroup was one of the mega-banks that brought our economy to its knees in 2008 and received billions in taxpayer money.)
- The same report also revealed “two crucial paragraphs…were copied nearly word for word.” You can even view the original documents and see how Citigroup’s lobbyists redrafted the House Bill, striking out ideas they didn’t like and replacing them with ones they did.
- The bills are sponsored by Randy Hultgren (R – IL), and co-sponsored by Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) and others. Himes is a former Goldman Sachs executive, and chief fundraiser for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
- Maplight reports that the financial industry is the top source of campaign funding for 6 of the bills’ 8 cosponsors.
- Maplight’s data shows that members of the House received $22,425,740 million from interest groups that support the bill — that’s 5.8 times more than it received from interest groups opposed.
- “House aides, when asked why Democrats would vote for this proposal even though the Obama administration opposes it, offered a political explanation. Republicans have enough votes to pass it themselves, so vulnerable House Democrats might as well join them, and collect industry money for their campaigns.” — New York Times
Yep, it’s actually that bad. For the full story, check out this revealing piece by Represent.Us Communications Director Mansur Gidfar. You can also find out if your Rep. voted for H.R.992 here.
We elect Representatives to the House to represent us, the people — but both parties now refuse to do the job we elected them to do. And they won’t until we force them to. The American Anti-Corruption Act would stop this corruption, and Represent.Us is the movement behind the Act. Together, we can make blatant corruption illegal with simple reforms. It’s common sense that elected officials should be barred from collecting money from the industries they regulate.
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Stop acting so surprised. Do something about it, vote!! LOL. We're so screwed.
Congress sells out to Wall Street?
Congress is the legislative branch office of Wall Street.
vote!!
You seem to have misspelled "hang the bastards!!"
What will the NYT do when Obama signs this thing.
Ignore it... like they have done with all the treasonous stuff he has done since he's been in office.
Vote the rascals out!
Bring NEW rascals in ...
ASAP
"Together, we can make blatant corruption illegal with simple reforms"
"what do you mean 'we' paleface"?
I left USA in 2009 and probably will never return.
"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off"..
The banks and their running dog lackey politicians.
"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance."
- H.L. Mencken
Wait a minute ... not just Congress!
```
"From the US Senate to the US House, from the POTUS & VPOTUS to the SCOTUS, from the US Treasury to from the World Bank & IMF, from the SEC to the FTC, from the Federal Reserve Bank to the Bank of England, from the Council on Foreign Relations to the Trilateral Commission to the Bilderbergers, from the last of Wall Street Investment Banks to the still standing(?) major Commercial Banks, from the Big Four Auditors to the Big NYC & DC Law Firms, from the K Street Lobbyists to the DC Think Tanks, from the transnational Oil Companies to the Military/Security/Industrial Complex, as well as the rest of Corporate America, they were all materially invested and substantially complicit in this CON job of the millennium."
~~~
http://cosmicconvergence.org/?p=1987
We are the greediest people for money, the world has ever known.
You let the iron on
As long as everyone keeps obeying these thieves, IT WILL NOT CHANGE.
Yeahbut, they are not even trading money. They are trading stuff they imagine is worth something. It's garbage. It's like they've so completely swallowed their own PR that they have no idea that they're screwed. Who cares that they are playing this strange game. Go local. Get real food, tradable goods, connections.
These guys are living in dreams of power but they are in delusion-prison.
They are trading poker chips or cow chips or paper clips or promises to deliver poof!
Money represents a real store of value backed by work or assets gained through work or control over real goods.
It's just a fantasy that they are trading anything at all at this point.
It may all fall down, but it was just The Matrix anyway.
They're really not that stupid. The Bankers invented the Derivaties market to pretend there was so much wealth in the world that they needed new and innovative places to funnel that money for investment. The fact that the Banks created this ponzi with FED help by printing and bubble busting, doesn't mean they're dumbfounded by their own debauchery. They know full well it's all BS. The derivatives market is an ideal way to get money from the peasants to the banks to the Oligarchs. It's in your face but opaque. The banks continue to funnel money in, it disappears, there's a paperless paper trail of nothings, and the banks plead for more money or they will destroy the economy.
It's a sick joke that any imbecile could deduce, but somehow the whole fucking world refuses to see the forest for the trees... I know why, they've all got their heads up their asses listening to the experts lie to them about the wonderous world view up the ass.
"There are none so blind as those who will not see", and of course "It's difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his NOT understanding it."
Those whose income depends on ignoring the obvious are not about to have any "enlightenment", especially if their jobs could be snapped up by others, leaving them jobless in today's employment wasteland
Incidentally I really enjoyed your rant a few days back. It was well thought out and passionate. I'm thinking of sticking an edited / de-identified copy on our Ward Tearoom Wallboard, and monitoring the response!
Keep up the passion, and the good work!
Thanks, and feel free to post whatever bits you feel like. The ideas are my own meaning I didn't read them I deduced them myself, but I've come to realize many intelligent people already voiced the same ideas. I feel more excited when I find my idea was already expressed by people I respect... makes me realize I'm on the right track.
I don't consider what I posted Rants, but I'm not offended by that reference either. They're ideas with emotional connections. :-)
can you explain to me in very simple terms how derivatives trading fucked up the economy in 2008? and were the banks bailed out using tax payers money?
Well, let's start with the terminology first.
WHAT, exactly, are 'derivitaves'?
Lots of meanings:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/derivative
: something that comes from something else : a substance that is made from another substance
: the limit of the ratio of the change in a function to the corresponding change in its independent variable as the latter change approaches zero
: a contract or security that derives its value from that of an underlying asset (as another security) or from the value of a rate (as of interest or currency exchange) or index of asset value (as a stock index)
AND THEN:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/derivative
adjective1.
derived. 2.
not original; secondary. So, these banks created 'investment funds' based upon things which were NOT in any way real (betting, as it were, that these very funds would be of value based upon things that already had value). HMMM...AND, they got LOTS of sheople to give their REAL monies to so-called 'investors' so that the bets could be 'hedged'. the 'investment funds' (DERIVITAVES) all went higher and higher in so-called 'value', and then one day (or, over a span of time, actually, beginning probably in '06), people started realizing that this was all a bunch of bullshit.TOO LATE: the ponzi currencies had been inflated, and the 'derivitaves market' was the 'new' reality... The margins started being 'called', and these wonderful idiot sociopathic greedy banks had NOTHING but 'derivitaves' to pay the scheme back with. OH NO'S! Enter the era of 'BAILOUT'! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wzve3kUGgWM&list=PL3F9F43854672B4F6 So, Skippy, the next lesson will be 'Crony capital fascism, and the fleecing of taxpayers by the Bankster-controlled governments'.
In a nutshell, these brainiacs were selling financial instruments secured by other financial instruments which were rated AAA but in reality were junk at best.
False increases in asset valuation from companies to stocks to real estate to investments. Think of a derivative as an ETF. You invest in GLD, you're investing in a derivative, referencing Gold, but there is nothing intrinsic to GLD that gives it any real value.
Banks create derivatives referencing every type of asset and some not asset based as investment grade product.
Banks foist derivatives shares onto nations, institutions, corporations, communities, pension funds, etc, with promises of enormous returns. (They don't tell anyone the Banks were going to get the tremendous returns, not the investors.)
Banks create the money the investors were going to be investing out of thin air, issued the loans at whatever criminal interest rates they could get, then waited.(So Greece for ex I believe borrowed some money to invest in derivatives, others like Cali just lost their own cash.,
Banks short their own investment derivatives, and wait for people to realize the assets were overvalued / alerted everyone to the uselessness of the assets on which the derivatives were based.
Prices of the assets collapse, resulting in collapse of the derivatives prices.
Banks were paid handsomely for the sale of the original derivatives, and the interest on the loans that was due.
Entities who invested in these derivatives realize no profits, cannot pay their debts, incur more debt, have to transfer real assets to the Banks. That's foreclosure, collateral transfer, etc.
Note, since there was no money until it was fabricated in the Bank to be lent out, there was no "wealth" in the world that was being traded. However, since these valuations were booked as real, the prices of consumer goods and assets fluctuate... it costs a lot more to eat now, but we don't earn anything. Certain valuations go up when there's excess money. But in this case, the Banks are controlling what values are allowed to increase.
Banks were not only bailed out with taxpayer money, they continue to confiscate taxpayer money by printing arbitrary money, issuing fractional to no reserve loans, and collecting interest / increasing prices for consumer goods.
Hope that fills in enough bits to help you sort it out. I'm kind of rushing to get going to work.
They write the rules and own the refs so stop attending the games.
There isn't an excuse for being this stupid except for being this stupid.
Our willingness to obey is literally their power over us.
What will the NYT do when Obama signs this thing.
Roll over and wait for it's belly rub like any good lapdog.
FORWARD SOVIET!
All mainstream news is just propaganda. Haven't watched TV news in years, except maybe a blurb by accident. Never on purpose do I turn the TV on to news.
And, congress sold out long ago, this is just more proof how fucked we are.
Blame patriots.
Why hang them--boring--when there are perfectly good chainsaws available in every local across the U.S.: See a politician, buy a chainsaw...
Glass Stegall times 1 triliion....not a promising situation....no supervision, thats what the govt does best
Sorry, I hate Dodd as much as I hate Fwank. Gotta lotta Fwank lovers here tonight, eh???
Since the banks want to bring back the dark ages and feudalism, we might as well bring back Drawing and Quartering... except let's go smaller this time. Sixteenthering.
JohnnyBriefcase said: "You seem to have misspelled 'hang the bastards!!' "
Exactly. Voting only perpetuates it; no political solution to this corruption.
http://www.dailydot.com/news/anonymous-million-mask-march-photos/
Members of the CIA worldwide are beginning to awake. At least I hope this is them.
Exactly, and guess what. We will have another market implosion.
Market implosion is a necessary tool of the elite insofar as wealth consolidation goes.
Wait wait wait wait wait ... it can't be. The House is dominated by Tea Party rebels who defy the establishment and represent the true interests of real white Americans. It can't be true that they sold out to Wall Street !! I refuse to believe it. This must be a MSM smear campaign spread by libtard trolls.
One Team is Red,
One Team is Blue,
Vote all you want,
We're still gonna get screwed...
This is the land of freedom! Where you're free to choose...
Coke or Pepsi..
Mcdonald's or Burger King..
Democrat or Republican.
What a sick joke.
As always, I choose NOTA, the only rational option.
Isn't Democracy grand! Keep arguing about libtards and teabaggers and nut job conservatives. It's all one team. The Globetrotters and the Generals share a locker room and get paid by the same company; just like Congress.
Regulate everything..except gold and silver markets...read the bill.
RIPS
Federal assistance includes access to any Federal Reserve credit facility and discount window (with some exceptions) and FDIC deposit insurance and guarantees. This prohibition does not apply to a major swaps participant that is an insured depository institution (IDI) or an IDI acting as a swaps dealer for hedging purposes or for swaps involving bank-permissible securities. (Such swaps include those that reference interest rates, currencies, government securities, and precious metals. Examples of non-permissible swaps include equity swaps, commodity and agriculture swaps, energy swaps, and metal swaps excluding gold and silver.) Under current law, IDIs that do not meet these exceptions must “push out” their swaps portfolio to a separately capitalized affiliate if the firm is part of a financial holding company, or cease these activities altogether.
http://www.cbo.gov/publication/44259
Fuck You chilton..You blonde worm fuck!
For a layman could boil this down?
Simple.
The banks are more important than people, they deserve the money you earned. Scrap Dodd-Frank (supposed "regulation") consumer protections, change to corporate protections. Then see exclude gold and silver paper markets (manipulations) in protection of the corporations.
They are going to crush the paper price of silver and gold..to close the exits and keep consumers money where the banks can "protect it"...doesnt matter keep buying. Prices in dollars will soon be nigh. Silver.
Did I miss anything?
RIPS
Edit: they need silver and gold swaps to ballance out the "protection"...thats why they sell 100x the physical availability per day. TO keep us safe...sound familiar? Price controls to keep us safe...price controls...i tells ya.
Thanks, that's what I figured. If one can hold out sitting on PM's while they drive paper down is important in this.
"exclude gold and silver paper markets (manipulations) in protection of the corporations"
that's actually a good sign....
Suppression comes before explosion...ask the Indians
and as the Native American Indians under estimated the flood of the White Man, many under estimate the power still left in the fractional reserve system (printing price suppression). I believe that we still have a ways to go.
In a nutshell, anything that isn't gold or silver can be stolen from you at anytime, including property (it's really only paper.)
Thanks.
Super simple.
If you cant stand in front of it and defend it ..you dont own it. Own things without counterparty risk and you should do much better than the herd.
Cheers.
@ CPL
Lead and lead delivery devices may protect your Au and Ag. If they take the guns, then it will be easy to take the gold...
Bearing Guy likes lots of different kinds of metals.
Why complain now? The Senate killed a bill to make 401K and mutual fund managers fiduciaries and thus legally liable for mismanagement, churning, and outright theft. Of course, that wasn't going to happen under the Republicrooks or Demothiefs so why give a crap any more?
Just hunker down, store good scotch and try to remember where you canoe full of gold coins tipped over on that river.
we always complain
we are whiners
That is what we do best---
uh, no------that is what we DO
After one gets sick enough, the only thing to do about it is die.
that is just too damn easy---
i'll die trying-eh.
cssob's
Yep, we are that until people realize it isn't voting that matters but running and winning. Voting is a false choice when the only choices are a rock and a hard place.
quintago,
you remember the definition of 'stupid'
so I do not have to write it down again
and you are still voting?
that is why 'We're so screwed.' as you so succinctly put it
you seem brighter in other comments
oh, yeah----you can use my vote, also, if you wish----
Vote, huh.
Dweedle Dumb and Dweedle Dumber both voted for this corruption tainted bill.
Vote for who, exactly?
Lol, the man says to vote!
Just wait until rates rise and the banks demand another bailout...
Bail-in is more like it.
Why am I not surprised
This is excellent news. The banks pay no fucking interest on deposits. So if you have money there you are just asking to be screwed. The key here is to make sure that when this shit hits the rocks again the banks get no bailouts. Hopefully in the ensuing confusion you get off the hook with your mortgage lender when they tank.
This is the best news I have heard yet, as long as when it blows the first politician that stands up there and yells bailout loses their head. The chances of which are pretty decent with this crowd here.
I was hesitant to put all my bank cash into PM's until now. The fat lady is singing.
Cash kept safely outside of the bank is probably safer than leaving it in.
Yes, but try pulling out significant amounts. Better to just make a large PM purchase by personal check.
Correct. My bank tried to charge me 2 grand for extra security when I pulled the plug.
I threatened to call the media, and they came to the party.
g'kar - just withdraw what you can when you can. I don't like checks. Cash is always best.
I'd rather take cash out and buy wiht cash. Less of a trail. But, no local coin shop. And, coin shops are probably require to turn over their security cams. You know, to stop turrrists
Anyone who keeps their savings in a bank, but then berates them for their criminal actions and manipulative power they wield over governments, is being hypocritical.
Every reader of ZH should take their money out in cash, and encourage their family, friends and neighbours to do likewise.
Our household runs on cash - not on credit or debit cards - and the only account we have is a very small one in a credit union (mostly so I can cash checks somewhere).
This times infinity.
It's quite easy to switch your bank to a credit union. If enough people did this and swore off credit cards TBTF banks die a painful death.
as long as when it blows the first politician that stands up there and yells bailout loses their head.
They will lose NOTHING.
Joe American will be terrified by the evening news and will beg the glorious politicians to save him.
Anyone still think the Teams are any different? Broad bipartisan support. Look at who funds them, not at what they say. Goldman and Citi and their ilk own both Teams including the prominent Tea Party candidates such as Cruz who is married to a Goldman executive.
All I can see right now is alien brains in jars with pulsing veins screaming "300 quatloos on the newcomers! 4000 quatloos!"... beam me up, Scotty!
Excuse me? There are teams?
Yes, they're Suits, we're Serfs. The game is Hang'm from a Lightpole...Ready, set...
Dumbasses even wear ropes around their necks.
They have colors, mascots and rabid fans who stuck with their group through thick and thin. They also have radio and TV shows where people scream at each other from the opposing side. Sounds like teams to me!
You do realize Dodd-Frank was written by bank lobbyists right?
Yes. Pretend fix. And now begins the process of dismantling what little of it had any value.
they are destined to repeat their deeds - that greed thingy.
and then how does it play out this time? so whats the asset bubbling?
treasuries. oh yea levered to the hilt...
stay tuned...
What value to you and me?
Is it possible to sell out to your owners?
You can go much lower than that on the dignity scale.
The legislative equivalent of felching...
Coming soon.
"If you're Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and you're sweating an upcoming vote, the solution isn't to campaign more. No, the obvious answer is to move Christmas.
Maduro announced last week that Nov. 1 would herald the arrival of "early Christmas" in Venezuela, "because we want happiness for all people." Per Fox News Latino, Maduro sealed the deal by lighting Nativity lights at the Presidential Palace of Miraflores over the weekend and announcing that workers in the country will receive most of their bonuses and pensions nearly a month early.
Critics (and grinches) point out that, as a function of early Christmas, bonuses will be paid out by Dec. 1, just a week before the country is slated to hold municipal elections, on Dec. 8.
The surprising announcement comes six months into Maduro's first term, which has been described as "rocky with no honeymoon." Following Maduro's contested electionafter the death of Hugo Chávez in March, the country has suffered food shortages, electricity blackouts, a faltering economy and a toilet paper shortage"
Ay Caracas!
This is similar to Pena Nieto's in Mexico a year ago where he gave out "500 peso" grocery store gift cards with only about 100 on em on average. The people sold themselves for about 35USD a person.
Moving Christmas... tsk tsk tsk.
Even Peruvians are snickering about Maduro's recent claim to have heard Chavez's voice from a little bird....
As a taxpayer, it feels more like a Cleveland Steamer or Pittsburgh Platter!
The only good politician is a dead politician!
Hang them bastards High.
Does an up vote get me on another .gov list?
Up voted, bitchez!
"Hang them bastards High."
Hang them low, so their feet are just out of reach of the ground. Make sure the Muppets see their masters.
"Together, we can make blatant corruption illegal with simple reforms."
!! Best laugh I had all day.
Vote everyone, and I mean everyone out. But it won't happen. Pelosi, Boehner, Schumer, Issa et al will still be re-elected.
That's 'cause their handlers control the voting machines.
The voting machines are air breathers...
And the politicians' handlers can corrupt entire third parties- look at the new MoT approved definition of "Libertarian" in Virginia
And this is why it will get massively worse for the nation as a whole, before it gets better.
I see several powder kegs of anger ready to blow all over the world, and once one blows, it's going to be an awe inspiring domino effect.
I'm thinking Greece in Europe will start, and/or perhaps Cyprus.
Who needs movies when you can watch the most intriguing story play out in real time.
And this is why it will get massively worse for the nation as a whole, before it gets better.
All people have to do is stop playing the game. If they just stop, the system crashes in short order.
Why the fuck do we pay salaries to these assholes? They get so much off the SIGs we should be charging the cretins RENT to hang out in our public funded buildings...District of Co-opted Cum-gargling Clamydia-ridden Cocksucking Corporate-buttboy Cunts...
We pay these assholes because they will throw us in jail or shoot us if we don't. God bless Amerika. land of the free!
Correct - extortion, kidnapping and execution. All for your own good, so pay up, putas!! Freedom is slavery for now; as our net energy available decreases exponentially vs. population and expected standards of living, however, the laws of nature will return in their full, glorious force.
salaries! salaries! fucking salaries?! that's what your worried about? freeze and sieze the mf's pensions!
at this point I'm pretty sure only a zombie apocolypse can save us... Sorry friends :(
Democrat or Republican... there is no difference. Would you like to go in the woodchipper head first or feet first?
Camp FEMA here we come!
Bet HR 992 didn't get much (if any) mainstream media coverage, and certainly not front page coverage anywhere.
Considering the current apathy of the Hoi Polloi Worldwide - even full colour front page wouldn't have much effect. People are happy with their "comfortable lifestyle" and are unwilling (maybe unable) to even contemplate rocking the status quo boat.
As for "This is the best news I have heard yet, as long as when it blows the first politician that stands up there and yells bailout loses their head. The chances of which are pretty decent with this crowd here." remember ZH is a VERY small minority (within a much derided group colloquially termed "Doom Porn Peddlars"), so whilst "this crowd here" might be inclined to take affirmative action, the vast majority will not give a fig. It's not a case of "David vs Goliath", more a case of Mosquito vs. DDT impregnated Mozzie net, protecting tasty Human bathing in Aerogard Tropical Strength!) - http://www.aerogard.com.au/
according to ZH about 85% of americans don't have 1 month worth of bills saved in the bank. So the ZH'ers may be a small minority, but not having a bank account is actually one thing they have in common with the majority.
It's the middle class that is the tiny minority.
Constitutional conservatives gotta get those evil regulations out of the way of progress. WallStreetCare. Affordable Theft Act.
Edit: Fuck you .gov, both parties, not that there is a difference.
Bad enough that the banksters buy all the votes they need, but now they even have one of their own sponsoring and writing the legislation...the level of greed keeps hitting all time new highs, just like the stock market. I can't wait for the crash...
Good to mention a possible solution.
If something is not done the solution will happen in any event.
See, even the noble WB7 has been subconsciously influenced by their brainwashing. Communist is further left than fascist, so the extreme-left (jackasses) should be colored RED, as in pinko or reddo commie. What color are the Chinese and Soviet Union flags? Red, damn it! Remember "Red China"? Duh!
The corporate media cartel pulled that little switcheroo several years ago and everyone blindly parrots it without questioning. Even the water boys for the elephants, like Hush Bimbo, use the "red state" moniker to describe the elephant-led states.
We're so **cking doomed. Plan C, Plan C...
I doubt the colours are accidental
I'll admit to being one that held out for a long time that there was a difference...my largest concern was the 2nd amendment which the "right" protected. While I was worried about the 2nd amendment and voted accordingly, they stole the rest.
The Tiny Dot: Larkin Rose
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6b70TUbdfs
Pass it on...
"...but both parties now refuse..."
There's where you go wrong. There is only one ruling political party in 'murka, the ElephantJackass sock puppet party, and it has one puppeteer.
Swaps Regulatory Improvement Act
Affordable Care Act
Neither is what the name implies.
"The repeal was co-sponsored by a former Goldman Sachs executive and passed with bipartisan support from some of the House’s largest recipients of Wall Street cash. It’s so appalling... so unbelievable... so blatantly corrupt... that you’ve got to see it to believe it"
I don't have to see it. "Repeal". Repeal is not an improvement. Glass Steagall was repealed. Repealing Glass Steagall was blatantly corrupt.
NO BANKER HAS BEEN PROSECUTED FOR MASSIVE FELONY FINANCIAL FRAUD. There has been no reason for blatant corruption to stop.
As Karl Denninger noted, several Tea Party members elected as republicans, climbed into the pockets of the bankers. The Tea Party came about as a result of the anger over what the bankers did. Now they join in on the corruption. I am not at all surprised this bill came about, even though i had never thought about this before.
Kiss the Constitution goodbye.
Certainly the Declaration of Independence carries more weight than the long-gone Constitution. We have kissed the constitution goodbye ever so slowly as entropy hugs us tighter, and tighter, and tighter
Patriot Act
lobbying is legislative bribery.
Lobbying is bribery.
FIFY
fines - retroactive bribes. penalties- birbery after the fact
Then get your friends, neighbors and fellow citizens off the "Living in Basements" thread above, stop bickering about "generations" and expend that energy in more appropriate places, a la the Corruption and Points of Control...
articles such as THIS should have ZH boiling over.
Until it does, introspection may be in order.
This is to allow bail ins for the bonuses!
The outrage here is laughable. Dodd-Frank was itself written by the banking industry. This is a pretty minor tweak. Why bother pretending that bank's derivatives exposure is safely off balance sheet. Because those QSPE's worked worked so awesome for Citi last time.
It will be helped in the Senate by Schumer, who collects from Wall Street and redistributes to the campaign coffers of Senators who might be embarrassed by such direct receipts. Schumer also controls all judicial appointments in the second circuit, so your pay-to-play with Schumer is a good investment. As an added bonus, Schumer's personal boy lawyer, Bharara, is prosecutor in the Southern District of NY (Manhattan), so any fear of serious criminal prosecution is unfounded. An investment in Schumer's pay-to-play is both a service contract and an insurance policy. Contact Chuck for rates. And,of course,you'll be happy to know Chuck expects to move on up in the Senate and he would be most grateful for your support.
for such a short time on the forum, that was a most informative comment. Please add more as you see fit.
This is why they are eroding the 2nd amendment slowly.
Lets be honest, these banks weren't obeying any of the laws that they got repealed anyway.
All this repeal did was make it so that the politicians themselves got the money that would of gone to settlement for the fraud.
So instead of banks paying the government and adding to revenue, the banks will now be paying politicians directly instead.
"Yep, it’s actually that bad. For the full story, check out this revealing piece by Represent.Us Communications Director Mansur Gidfar. You can also find out if your Rep. voted for H.R.992 here."
WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?
Seriously.
Of coarse it is that bad. Congress is flat out corrupt. Electing Tea Party members didn't change that. They climbed into the pockets of the bankers too, according to Denninger. How does one get honesty and integrity from corrupt politicians?
Knowing whether my congressperson voted for it isn't going to change anything. Calls were 100 to 1 or more against TARP and congress passed it anyway. Voting him out of office will just result in a corrupt politician of the other party replacing him.
Might as well spit into the wind.
How do you tell which spit on your face is yours and which is your Congressman's? Oh, your Congressman's spit smells like bankster jizz.
Yes, voting is not the answer. I guess Russell Brand is right although I don't trust him either.
I'll throw all my support behind the "Lamppost and Stout Rope Act". Let me know when it comes along.
Doug Christie worked as a Madoff lobbyist before he got into political office... it's all one big shit parade.
CLASSIC!!! "Constructive Ambiguity", built on a prefabricated `Isthmus-of-Darien' USSA Constitution via `Neo`Plausible Deniability'!!!
I am personally shocked - SHOCKED - that such a thing could happen in our very own Congress of the US of A! Must of kind of snuck through, but now that the Bill is known, our Senate will, of course, vote it down.
Vote for me, you KNOW I would veto it.
Justin Amash voted Aye. First time I ever saw him sell out.
Business as usual...same as it ever was
You get the government you deserve... so what did you do to end up with them?
You're right. It's my fault. I didn't think anyone saw, but the NSA got me.
But at least now I'm free to do it again!
>Luckily the FDIC is flush with cash
News flash. Just don’t participle & the law will not affect you. Sit back and watch the snake eat its own tail.
I'd say that the guillotine list got longer, but in actuality their names are probably already on it.
These same elected officials did the same by protecting the derivatives market from collapsing in near term trajectory chapter..
The inside joke, far too many peasants to control that law..
:o
28th Amendment to the Constitution
No member of Congress shall earn any form of income or accumulate any kind of asset while serving the American people in their Office other than from the base salary paid herein.
Any politician who campaigns in support of this 28th Amendment I will vote for. Problem solved.
What....? "Congress passed the “Dodd-Frank” law to clamp down on risky 'derivatives trading' that led to the financial collapse of 2008." Really? Crap derivatives were the issue? Where were Dodd and Frank when the Bush Admin was trying to slow down Fannie and Freddie and their lunatic practices that created the need to dump those loans? Oh, that's right, they were behind the scenes threatening to accuse republicans of racism and hating poor people.
I have little faith in those two thugs, Dodd and Frank, passing anything helpfull. Those two bunglers are going to fix a problem they helped cause? History would not be on your side if you have any faith in that.
In Any Case: I thought the 'Community Re-Investment Act' had a little bit to do with those evil derivatives, the housing bubble, the whole 9 yards. I may be a bit 'picky-you-nish' but if it were not for the genius' who thought up that little tidbit, The Community Re-Investment Act, the fed forcing banks to loan money to folks unable to qualify under traditional, common sense banking practices where would those crap 'derivatives' have ever formed?
I think it is important to make sure the root cause of the housing bubble and derivatives damage be acknowledged and dealt with. If it is not, if we are lazy and fall for the deceptions of the Dodd's and the Frank's of the world, it will happen again in some form or another. Liberal Government, Liberal ideology, government medaling is the core issue.
"Liberal Government, Liberal ideology, government medaling is the core issue."
probably need to add, whether pushed by republicans or democrats to the end of it.
I'm shocked, SHOCKED!!!!
Ok so the stage is set, when does the cannibalization begin?
Criminal corruption second nature to Congress. .they just wait around for their payments by corporations to rubber stamp their next rape of America. .... the bigger the corruption the bigger the punishment ehen the whole system collapses snd these citibank lobbiests snd congressional mates get trotted off to the public guillotine to have their heads separated from tgeir body. .
Welcome to France...
(Some bills were distributed verbatim with the logo of the lobbyists)