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Bullet Doddged
The "me" of years ago would probably never have believed that he supported and applauded anything that Democrats were doing, but.........I am. As I've mentioned in the past, I am living my political life backwards. The old saying, "If you're young and conservative, you have no heart, and if you're old and liberal, you have no brain" speaks to the normal, assumed political path of American citizens: you start off a hippie-dippie left-winger and, through the years, become a curmudgeonly radical-right conservative.
I'm doing it precisely the opposite way: as a teenager, I had a terrifyingly laissez-faire, dog-eat-dog, every-man-for-himself attitude. I was a hard-core libertarian (and, deep down, probably still am) and saw all Democrats as welfare-loving, tax-and-spending, union-worshipping socialists.
But this week when I heard that the Republicans (who, long ago, were the champions of small government and small business) were going to water down the Dodd-Frank bill for the sake of their masters at Goldman Sachs, I just about vomited. I began this post figuring that the deed was already done, but then I saw this:
So, for once, I'd like to stand on my chair and bang my forearms together in support of (some) Democrats foiling the Republicans' evil plans. And I must say, it's a really, really sad day that I have to cheer on Democrats, for the love of God.
See, I think a society has to scare the bejesus out of its citizenry with respect to corruption, and it takes a long time for a society to become either corrupt or (relatively) pure. It's endemic to the culture. A place like, say, Norway is going to remain straight as an arrow, because they have an open, free, relatively honest society. It's ingrained into the culture. On the other hand, a place like, oh, Russia, will probably remain a cesspool of corruption for as long as we can imagine.
China has plenty of corruption, but those guys don't mess around - - - execution for white collar crime? The middle kingdom does it. And, I imagine, it's going to be a lot more effective in wrenching the place into a country that other nations feel comfortable doing business with, as the culture, in fits and starts, moves toward respectable behavior.
After the horror of the Great Depression, the United States instituted the Glass-Steagall Act, and it stayed in place virtually unaltered for nearly seventy years! Only the doe-eyed euphoria of the massive NASDAQ bubble in 1999 (coupled with sleazy hucksters like Jim Wright) was able to toss this law into the dustbin of history.
It would take something extraordinary to bring the firm rule of law back, and the financial crisis was a made-to-order crisis. In a just and sane world, the aftermath of this crisis would have (1) reinstated Glass-Steagall instantly; (2) resulted in the imprisonment of hundreds, if not thousands, of white-collar criminals (Blankfein would be getting gang-banged to this day); (3) compelled Congress to conjure up massive confiscatory tax hikes, including 100% taxes on those AIG bonuses that everyone has forgotten about.
Instead, we got Dodd-Frank, which to my way of thinking should have been titled We're Not Going to Punish You This Time But If You Do This Again We Will Punish You, Honest Injun! It was a pretty pale event compared to what should have happened, but, meh, in my mind, eventually we'd collapse again, and at least then TBTF wouldn't get bailed out, and the bad actors would get thrown into prison.
But, as I've stated, with the equity markets near lifetime highs, and the idiotic, short-memoried public not caring, the Republicans figured they could just undo even the modest "punishment" of Dodd-Frank and just let the Jamie Dimons of the world run naked and free again.
For now, they've failed............but the fact that this watering-down was even considered is something I find sickening.
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If I recall correctly Paul Volker adamantly opposed challenges to Glass-Steagall restrictions on Big Banks and Insurance companies. So Reagan had him replaced with Alan Greenspan, who said he had no fear of the powers of consolidated banking in 1987. So enter the 90's.....with Phil Gramm, Robert Rubin, Larry Summers and the Clinton Administration and you have the makings for the complete repeal of Glass-Steagall. There were MANY others involved, but these are the main crooks behind it though. Note they are BOTH Republicans and Democrats.
Lets leave the finger pointing behind and just admit that both parites are responsible and all elected officials are crooks and will screw the little guy in the end.
Any and all legislation is never written to protect or benefit the population that was never the goal like just adding an oh so tiny thing of bailins will really benefit the population.
The only goal was and is like the formation of the FED to ensure the current status quo and that means those at the top cannot lose and the poorest are in fact expendable. Not based on intellgence or practical skills but solely on wealth.
So whatever is implemented will never prevent the corruption in high office or bankster palaces because that is how they got there and all they have will never give up.
May not be in my lifetime but one day the system flips into turmoil and though they took 99% of everything the real turmoil comes from the 99% who only have 1% to divide amongst themselves and the growing global population being expected to live on less and less.
Would be a contradiction to expect the 1% to ever live on say only 95%and not the 99%. If anything it will go the other way over time until the 1% own even closer to the 100% and the population doubles.
THE TURMOIL WILL ONE DAY COME AS THEY APPROACH 100% EVEN IF I DON'T LIVE TO SEE IT.
Think the concept is simple myself and pointless trying to fight it and the reality is they create their own demise.
No offense to the author but as some used to say "Dog-Squeeze!"
You actually think the Demosh)ts are going to prosecute someone...give me break. Former Governor of NY and MegaFundraiser for the Demos, Corzine AKA "AssHumper" Corzine, authorized the theft of $1.2B USD of clients money, perjured himself before legal review, got got caught committing perjury by an email leak showing he authorized the theft and the cronies said "Nothing to see here, this looks like a civil matter. Everybody move along!" and not one Demosh)t demanded an indictment in public to my memory, total fricking silence as the clients were shafted for $1.2B USD while the Chiccoms got paid! This author is snorting too much glue from the bindings of his old his old comic books IMHO. BTW: the RepubliSh)ts did not demand an indictment process either.
The Rule of Law is dead in the USSA, it's all just moving chairs around on the deck now. I have already found a new ship ...I highly encourage that option for those inclined.
Frank-Dodd has as much to do with protecting banking customers, as Obamacare has with providing health care.
Follow the money. Dodd-Frank was written by and for banks and their accountants; Obamacare was written by and for health care facilities and health insurers.
Everyone else takes it in the butt.
You forgot to mention 'education reform' written for universities and their staff not their students
Every government agency is heavily redundant....see the governemnt links below for american indians:
Bureau of Indian Affairs, Indian Arts and Crafts Board, Indian Health Service, Administration for Native Americans, National Indian Gaming Commission, Public and Indian Housing
for a more complete list go to www.USA.gov ..... I heard that the government does not have even a simi exact number as to how many government agencies and boards exist.
Wake me up when they re-instate the Glass-Steagall legislation.
You gotta be kidding me! Dodd Frank is nothing more than 849 pages of bureaucratic red tape, crony giveaways, and big government growth hormones. This "vote" was nothing more than political theater.
Wow, an actual readable thread for a change.
Haven't seen one of these in a long long time.
Have the Tyler's been cleaning house a bit?
The power that access to infinite fiat gives destroys the world. Arrest Lloyd Blankfein.
One depraved, corrupt, bankrupt system designed to divide and conquer all.
Watch what they do, not what they say.
What a child learns in the first year of life forms the basis for the rest of his/her life. By 6 months a child understands language even thought they may not be able to speak it...including multiple languages at the same time. By one year a child understands cognitive functions...right, wrong, lies, truth, honesty, deception, sad, funny, and more. Keep that in mind when you allow your child to see and hear whatever they want or you allow.
As the old saying goes..."teach your childern well".
The old saying, "If you're young and conservative, you have no heart, and if you're old and liberal, you have no brain" - never heard it and wish I still hadn't.
D/F was the snake oil bill for D.C. to tout as reform. It was more of a guideline that banks could easily adhere to and should have been prior just based on due diligence. They have to show the masses that "something" was done so they could move on and let the dog and pony show resume.
I see people still like to play this left vs right game. How adorable.
There is a difference between Left and Right .... However, the Right has been coopted by Leftists and they are RINOs (Right in name only) and are trying to convince us that they 'represent' our interests ... I am now a bigot, radical, extremist just like the other 200,000,000 like me
Yep, the rubicon of full regulatory, legislative, and judicial capture was passed some time ago.
Author you are an idiota. Dodd Frank is a joke. Just bring back Glass Stegall and some prison buses. You went from sanity to insanity in your life. I never went through the hippie stuff. Carter sobered me to the socialist cause. Republicans are the old blue dog rinocrats now. Dems are flat out marxist. I think you missed that whole evolution.
Yes, but he felt good as he ranted for 'the little people'
So what IS Dodd Frank? I mean whats in it, whats been changed and what is it that republicans want to change further. It seems to me that if my memory serves me that when Dodd Frank was passed, few had much good to say about it. I recall that a big one was that it pretty much made bailouts the law by giving the government the power to take over and bail out ANY business, anywhere in the world, that posed a risk to our economy, and this judgement was done by insider "experts". This ain't Glass Steagall. Personally I would like to see them dump all of this contrived backdoor crap and create new, transparent and understandable laws that set some type of level playing field. Instead, the way this plays out its all politics and we find ourselves having to defend shit that we would never vote for in a hundred years.
I believe Dodd Frank was a bludgeon for the TBTF to hammer away at local and regional bank competition. It certainly hasn't accomplished anything positive so far.
I recall bank stocks rallyed big time when it was passed so I guess it wan't too tough.
Did you miss the fact that the omnibus spending bill had a citigroup carveout that reverses the dodd frank provision that had the most teeth?
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/12/spending-bill-992-derivative...
The Citi-drafted legislation will benefit five of the largest banks in the country—Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo. These financial institutions control more than 90 percent of the $700 trillion derivatives market. If this measure becomes law, these banks will be able to use FDIC-insured money to bet on nearly anything they want. And if there's another economic downturn, they can count on a taxpayer bailout of their derivatives trading business.
I cried, I mean I cried when I sat up late to see these 'traitors' sell out America. Merry Christmas from your Congress and signed by your president....now that adds up to total bipartisan cooperation for the first time in 6 years. Thanks boys!
No one gives a crap, and the money knows it. I told people about this and all I got was glassie eyes and shoulder shrugs.
We have become a nation of under 90 IQs, seeking mindless entertainment that can keep our idle hands out of our pants and on the TEXTING keyboards complaining to no one about nothing.
We will get what we have sowed and in spades.
Endeavor to persevere.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsL6mKxtOlQ THEY OWN YOU!!!!!
I took a WICKED Dodd-Frank this morning....JUST LIKE THE FUCKING BILL.
RUNNY, SOFT, STINKY, AND WENT ON AND ON AND ON TILL I FILLED THE TOILET......NO FUCKING COURESTY FLUSH NEITHER......
GRABBED A ROLL OF HARRY REID, AND WIPED MY MAXINE WATERS GOOD...
THEN A SATISYING POST-DODD-FRANK THUNDERING PELOSI, WHICH SMELLED LIKE THE SWIRLING DODDS AND FRANKS GOING TO THE CONGRESS....
Probably the only difference between a turd pushed through your sphincter, and a bill pushed through by Congress is that you have some idea what's floating in your toilet.
you've got to pass it to understand whats in it.
That's right, TMP. Let's not forget that Timmy (the author) strongly encouraged all of his readers to elect Obama. Now he pretends to stand oh so far above the socialist mess he helped create. Just another silicon valley hypocrite.
btw, Timmy. You have a lot in common with our dictator in chief. You used the words "me" or "I" at least 17 times in yet another self-serving rant.
sooo...shit it to get it
THE author would join the crazy left liberals AND Cherokee Princess Elizabeth Warrenahaha over this modification of that mess called Dodd Frank? THE bill was also giving concessions to starving Small Businesses which are disappearing from U.S. at about 60,000 a year. Small businesses are just too small to succeed. FEDGOV would rather deal with the more easily trackable and trainable Big Boys.
"FEDGOV would rather deal with the more easily trackable and trainable Big Boys."
JoJoJo you hit the nail on the head. The only critique I have is that the Big Boys and FEDGOV are one entity working together- Big Brother. Control is the desired outcome- not free markets. Every trade agreement, every piece of legislation, every act of the FEDGOV is about consolidation of power. The EU- consolidation of power. The Greeks are standing up after being pushed to the breaking point. It would be in Americans best interest if they started growing a collective backbone now. The problem is the lack of belief in our collective power. If I hear "there's nothing we can do" one more time I am going to lose it.
You want an example of the power of belief- check out epigenetics and Dr. Bruce Lipton.
Unfortunately we have passed the event horizon on the mess we're in this time Ollie. A new system with fair laws might save our grandkids down the road but the thugs we are faced with now will have to suffer some old fashioned vigealante justice.
Frank-Dodd, for Franken-Dudd does absolutely nothing to prevent fraud. It also an enhanced feature for banking fraud. since the next time there is a crisis, Franken-Dudd forces bail-ins. What is needed is an old-fashion paddy wagons to make frequent visits to all of the major banking firms, and start at the top and work down the ranks and start enforcing the anti-fraud and racketeering laws already enacted before most of us were born. This probably will be solved in about two months.
Dud-Fag - More accurate
William Banzai style: dUdFaG
how about hank paulson for D wing bike??
"On the other hand, a place like, oh, Russia, will probably remain a cesspool of corruption for as long as we can imagine."
I think this statement is a bit dated, as news has been filtering out, that Harvard educated consultants (appointed by the State Dept.) had deliberately given, well connected, US friendly persons control of formally state-owned industries. This occurred during the transition from Communism to present day Russia.
If you want to talk about corruption, I don't think there is any other place in the world where the corrupt have succeeded as magnificantly as in the Unitied States, home of the institutionalized con. The vast wealth resting on the pillars of cronyism, regulatory capture and bailout capitalism is truly mind boggling.
Da.
Probably, but then you've likely never seen what happens in the tiny principality of Cameroon.
When Cameroon weilds the power of the world's reserve currency then I will worry about them. The thugs in chief reside in D.C. with teethers leading to Wall Street.
You would be shocked at what occurs in Cameroon that affects the whole world.
Check it out.
Please share, I know a "Prince" of Cameroon and the behavior within the family is very strange. I'm intrigued to learn more of what you speak. Thanks Comte! A link or something.
Like is interesting, the millenniums are frugal and wise to Wall Street. Many do not trust Wall Steet.
All one has to do is listen to Lord Blackness, ("Blankfein", in case someone misses the point), speak.
He is a minipultive individual who plays a good game of chess with the FED covering all his mistakes.
Oops, forgot about the Lords of Cameroon, they make the TBTF Mafia look like dime and penny hustlers.
OOM...Orders Of Magnitude, dude.
If you only knew, as Banzai does, what the Lords of Cameroon, have been up to for a hundred years, and what traffic goes thru that country, you might take a different view.