Financial Choice (For Who?
Here we sit again. In 2010 when the bill was passed, another bill that no one read before signing, many articles portrayed the bill as too weak to stop 'too big to fail' as it was so complex that most couldn't make sense of the regulations they were to follow. Changes/modifications came slowly, but were promised by Congress - Dems and Reps.
Now, we know little about the 'new' bill except that the NYTimes doesn't like the new bill as it replaces one of Obama's 'signature' legislative pieces. Really? And do readers believe that Obama read it or actually had anything to do with it?
Have readers forgotten that Frank insisted Fanny and Freddie were solvent and should NOT have to meet the same cash reserve requirements that other lenders had to meet for approving a house loan? That happened in 2005, before a committee that just took Frank's word. He lied and then in 2010 co-sponsored this monstrosity.
Does anyone here actually have any memory? Does anyone have the ability to think beyond partisan whining?!
Now, we know little about the 'new' bill except that the NYTimes doesn't like the new bill as it replaces one of Obama's 'signature' legislative pieces. Really? And do readers believe that Obama read it or actually had anything to do with it?
Have readers forgotten that Frank insisted Fanny and Freddie were solvent and should NOT have to meet the same cash reserve requirements that other lenders had to meet for approving a house loan? That happened in 2005, before a committee that just took Frank's word. He lied and then in 2010 co-sponsored this monstrosity.
Does anyone here actually have any memory? Does anyone have the ability to think beyond partisan whining?!
Robin Hood and his merry men at work - Ryan (not an economist nor a finance person) has neither the morals nor ethics to head an institution that passes laws that help keep the thieves from robbing poor pensioners and others. I wonder if Trump or Ryan is the choice for Robin Hood. Hold on till the next financial crises comes long and threatens the economy.
The Republicans in the House of Representatives seem hell-bent on doing away with anything that protects consumers, workers, minorities, the poor, the ill and - well, that's just about everyone. Watch out farmers and small business owners, you're probably next.
2
Jesse and Frank James have been reincarnated in the form of Ryan and Trump and watch the money disappear from the banks vaults. Give less than one year after passage and implementation of the dismantling of Dodd-Frank and that dreaded recession will show it's ugly face. It happens most generally when the republicans give away generous concessions to the commercial community. Commercial Welfare is most apopro of the name given to such enactments. Is there anything left that we can hand over to these dynamo's of industry or are taxes and regulation enough to fill their hunger. Maybe Trump will go after deleting land conservation tax relief all together. That will spare him undergoing tax audits.
1
Well, well, well...the bankers must be having a glorious TGIF on us right along with their Republican puppets.
Take your money out of the Big Banks tomorrow and put it in a community bank or credit union!!
Take your money out of the Big Banks tomorrow and put it in a community bank or credit union!!
2
This 'Choice Act' is another Republican boondoggle against the average borrowing citizen. Just like their tax cuts for the rich tied up with their health care act. Anything this bunch of white men can do to make us go back 100 years is their agenda. For their leaders like Ryan and McConnell they have their heads stuck securely in the sand. Of course their hero, Trump, is buried in the sand and only come out ling enough to tweet false and irrelevant things. A sad state of affairs.
1
How did the economy ever grow before regulation? The GOP continues to disrespect every citizen of his country by abdicating their responsibility to provide leadership that is anything but lackeys on behalf of special interest.
3
This is giving me an idea. Suppose we took a deregulatory approach to traffic. Don't all those speed limits, stop signs and red lights just impede the free flow of transportation? Why not let free market forces decide who has the right-of-way? Why do we let government bureaucrats decide which direction is the "right" one to drive, not to mention how fast? These are all job-killing measures that only stifle the creativity of entrepreneurial drivers everywhere.
If we can do it with banks and firearms, why can't we do it with automobiles?
If we can do it with banks and firearms, why can't we do it with automobiles?
8
After the Great Depression, the Glass-Steagall legislation ensured half a century of fiscal stability and growing prosperity for America, which also benefited the middle class. It also put an end to the roughly 20-year boom-and-bust cycles of the US economy before the Great Depression.
The dismantling of bank regulation, started by President Reagan and continued by successive administrations (including that of President Clinton), initiated an amazing redistribution of wealth to a few superrich and a deplorable decline of America's middle class. It also laid the seeds for the Great Recession and the need for a massive Government bailout to avoid a catastrophic collapse of the US economy. The Dodd-Frank Act was out into place to prevent another fiscal catastrophe.
Of course those, who like to get rich quick at the expense to America's middle class want no checks and balances on any predatory inclinations they may have.
The House GOP is happy to oblige -- thoughtlessly and recklessly. This is pretty sad. Hopefully the senate will not pass this legislation. What is the point of laying the seeds for the next big economic bust?
The dismantling of bank regulation, started by President Reagan and continued by successive administrations (including that of President Clinton), initiated an amazing redistribution of wealth to a few superrich and a deplorable decline of America's middle class. It also laid the seeds for the Great Recession and the need for a massive Government bailout to avoid a catastrophic collapse of the US economy. The Dodd-Frank Act was out into place to prevent another fiscal catastrophe.
Of course those, who like to get rich quick at the expense to America's middle class want no checks and balances on any predatory inclinations they may have.
The House GOP is happy to oblige -- thoughtlessly and recklessly. This is pretty sad. Hopefully the senate will not pass this legislation. What is the point of laying the seeds for the next big economic bust?
10
In 2008 Republicans were shrill in their blaming Bill Clinton and Democrats for whatever role they played in relaxing financial and banking regulations during Clinton's second term. And it was a fact that Clinton did move to compromise with Republican positions in a number of areas, whether so-called welfare reform or banking deregulation. But when financial deregulation contributed to the 2008 economic crisis, Republicans took no credit for their disastrous policy prescriptions. Instead they insisted it was all Bill Clinton's fault. For the moment deregulation was one of those failed policy orphans with no father.
Now that the dust has settled and the Recession crisis is past, Republicans can resume their traditional position of afflicting the afflicted and comforting the comfortable.
Now that the dust has settled and the Recession crisis is past, Republicans can resume their traditional position of afflicting the afflicted and comforting the comfortable.
5
Doctors take the Hippocratic oath…first do no harm...
Financial manager/industry…we have a law that specifically allows me to rip-off everyone with total immunity. neener neener.
Financial manager/industry…we have a law that specifically allows me to rip-off everyone with total immunity. neener neener.
3
House Republicans have learned that Trump's hot messes are perfect cover for their "eat the poor" agenda. What they haven't reckoned with is the damage this will do to their moderate members in the Senate.
3
If this bill passes, I hope the next big financial crisis hits red states.
6
The systematic unraveling of our government and the protections it provides to non-elite citizens continues. Bannon must be licking his chops.
7
It has seemed, for quite a while, that the only thing which interests Republicans is how to make their rich donors even richer. Nothing else matters. If, in the pursuit of this, something happens to benefit lesser endowed (financially) persons, then they crow about how they are helping the little guy. But the first objective is to enrich the rich, the little guy be damned.
This is but another example, and a very good reminder why they all need to be booted from power, in order that the people may run their own government.
The Republican party consists of only one/third (or less) of the actual American population. Lately, they seem to think they are the entire population. Time to remind them how wrong they are.
This is but another example, and a very good reminder why they all need to be booted from power, in order that the people may run their own government.
The Republican party consists of only one/third (or less) of the actual American population. Lately, they seem to think they are the entire population. Time to remind them how wrong they are.
3
Why doesn't this article include a link to the vote? It would help readers quickly see how their representative voted.
2
fivethirtyeight.com has a Trump Tracker that does approximately what you're asking for. It doesn't exactly show each vote, but it does have useful information. Check it out. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/?ex_cid=rrpromo
Of course, these disreputable vermin did this under the cover of the The James Comey Show, hoping no one would notice.
“Ultimately the Financial Choice Act is a jobs bill,” Speaker Paul D. Ryan said on the House floor on Thursday. “It is why we were sent here, to look out for the people who work hard and do the right thing.”
Is there, in the end, no bottom to the depths and shamelessness of Ryan's mendacity?
“Ultimately the Financial Choice Act is a jobs bill,” Speaker Paul D. Ryan said on the House floor on Thursday. “It is why we were sent here, to look out for the people who work hard and do the right thing.”
Is there, in the end, no bottom to the depths and shamelessness of Ryan's mendacity?
10
Let's reformulate this whole Dodd-Frank thing. Powerful donors invited congressmen to nice dinners, asked them if everything is going well for them, and incidently said they hoped their guests could let this go. Sometimes collusion is hiding in plain sight.
2
It looks liek the GOP won't be happy until they make paupers of all of their customers.
Randian indeed.
Randian indeed.
3
I REALLY hope Elizabeth Warren decides to run for president in 2020.
7
What else this man can do to hurt Americans? Was not enough what happened in 2008? Are the People going to wake up before they are totally ruined?
4
Comey's testimony notwithstanding, this might be the story we all look back on in 10 years as a turning point for out country.
3
Even though the odds are against this bill, this story deserves front page placement. Or at least high placement on the politics page. What happened to the internet privacy issue? The Trump circus is a never-ending distraction. While important and dramatic, we need to be kept aware of the potential erosion of consumer protections and individual rights.
7
In other words back to the same old same old, 100 plus years of failure.
2
Oh God help us! The reasoning used to justify this bill is so transparently weak, a first grader would fail if he used it. First, it's a jobs bill? Yea, for the people who will be employed to scramble to keep the economy afloat after a crash.
Second, it would protect consumers, by weakening the consumer financial protection agency? I'm starting to get a headache now. This combined with the AHCA would throw a second helping onto consumers and the banks could take that, commoditize it and sell it. What could go wrong?
Third, it would reduce deficits by 24 billion dollars, but that would be hard to predict, because, we couldn't tell when a systemically important financial institution would fail. Here's a clue: don't let them fail in the first place, by repealing these rules.
Here's my favorite. It needs to be repealed, because the law is already 7 years old. What???
This bill is everything that is wrong with our current congress. I'm getting a little too tipsy and my headache is worsening. God Help America.
Second, it would protect consumers, by weakening the consumer financial protection agency? I'm starting to get a headache now. This combined with the AHCA would throw a second helping onto consumers and the banks could take that, commoditize it and sell it. What could go wrong?
Third, it would reduce deficits by 24 billion dollars, but that would be hard to predict, because, we couldn't tell when a systemically important financial institution would fail. Here's a clue: don't let them fail in the first place, by repealing these rules.
Here's my favorite. It needs to be repealed, because the law is already 7 years old. What???
This bill is everything that is wrong with our current congress. I'm getting a little too tipsy and my headache is worsening. God Help America.
15
"The bill would also eliminate the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule, which requires brokers to act in the best interest of their clients when providing investment advice about retirement." Yep, "Salesmen", traveling under the guise of Titles like "Adviser" and "Advisor", won't have to place their Clients' Best Interests first and won't even have to Disclose that vital fact to the Clients.
12
Don’t we ever learn. Aren't Conservatives supposed to respect rules, precedence, laws that keep organizations from becoming large and intrusive.
After the Great Depression, which was caused by a lack of regulations we created a system of agencies and regulations that kept our banks safe from the 1930's until the 80's. Then lo and behold some thought we had too much government. So regulations were chipped away, special interests got their way and we had a few banking crisis from the S&L’s scandle until the 2008 Great Recession. Make banking boring again.
After the Great Depression, which was caused by a lack of regulations we created a system of agencies and regulations that kept our banks safe from the 1930's until the 80's. Then lo and behold some thought we had too much government. So regulations were chipped away, special interests got their way and we had a few banking crisis from the S&L’s scandle until the 2008 Great Recession. Make banking boring again.
17
Hurray for the Tea Party; originating in spontaneous outrage that the perpetrators of the financial collapse got away with the profits scot free, they have tirelessly carried out the political work necessary, so that today they can ensure that in the future, such behavior will be completely without any legal penalties whatsoever.
17
It is unbelievable that the economic collapse of 2008 is already forgotten by these corrupt politicians. They are attempting to dismantle the regulations on Wall Street where not one CEO went to jail after the disaster and after government money (our money) was used to bail them out.
They are also attempting to dismantle the Consumer Financial Bureau so that there will be no oversight on financial abuses of people by banks and finance companies.
Is there no end of the chicanery by the GOP?
They are also attempting to dismantle the Consumer Financial Bureau so that there will be no oversight on financial abuses of people by banks and finance companies.
Is there no end of the chicanery by the GOP?
22
The republican party seeks to remove Dodd-Frank under the cloud of the Comey hearing-cowardly.
The republican party revels in the ideology of the past. They remove clean air & water safeguards, workplace safeguards, healthcare & food assistance for those in need suggesting those are luxuries.
Unequal burdens are placed upon women with regards to access to their selves preventing equal opportunities to education & jobs. This results in unequal pay & benefits.
We ignore human rights & how our actions to repeat the past affect the world in America first mentality.
Getting rid of Dodd-Frank re-creates the housing bubble and the "too big to fail" banks.
The economy is growing with this in place and the winners upon removal are the banks and deep pocket groups who are outside the "regular" American.
The terrorist threat is seeking to re-create the past.
No wall will keep out a home grown ideological threat.
The past allows you to see mistakes as teaching moments not as an instruction manual for a reboot.
To allow Dodd-Frank to be rescinded allows the homegrown terrorist threat against human decency and right to gain ground.
We will be older but not wiser.
The republican party revels in the ideology of the past. They remove clean air & water safeguards, workplace safeguards, healthcare & food assistance for those in need suggesting those are luxuries.
Unequal burdens are placed upon women with regards to access to their selves preventing equal opportunities to education & jobs. This results in unequal pay & benefits.
We ignore human rights & how our actions to repeat the past affect the world in America first mentality.
Getting rid of Dodd-Frank re-creates the housing bubble and the "too big to fail" banks.
The economy is growing with this in place and the winners upon removal are the banks and deep pocket groups who are outside the "regular" American.
The terrorist threat is seeking to re-create the past.
No wall will keep out a home grown ideological threat.
The past allows you to see mistakes as teaching moments not as an instruction manual for a reboot.
To allow Dodd-Frank to be rescinded allows the homegrown terrorist threat against human decency and right to gain ground.
We will be older but not wiser.
11
FFS, can not anyone remember just nine years ago when the world economy was about an inch from tanking and taking all of us with it?
10
Beware. This house of cards economy is getting to be a bit too top heavy.
8
Just like bears after hibernation
1
it took a lot of people a lot of years from 2008 until the present,to get their lives back in order and especially their finances..unfortunately this "little" legislative transaction took place on a day when the republicans knew everyone would be focused on the senate hearings on Russia with comey..these guys just love to rush things through, without thought to the repercussions,just to say they are transacting "business as usual"..it is ultimately the goal to get rid of any and all things obama,no matter the cost to the public..with the massive confusion in Washington at the white house because of mr trump,unleashing the "kracken" again when the economy is actually doing rather well,will prove to be a disaster-only this time they must take full responsibility...(I do hope in the senate "cooler heads" prevail-they have not even gotten around to redoing or looking at the "new" health care act passed by the house,and then theres that little "russia thing"...)
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"I got mine don't know about you losers", the mantra of the GOP. Personally, I can't wait to short the market when this blows up....
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Dodd-Frank has done very little to curb risks to the financial system since it was introduced. Instead, the law has made banking consultants very rich because all the major banks have had to spend tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to comply with new regulations and that has required a lot of outside help.
The money has been spent on upgrading systems to expand reporting requirements to the OCC and Fed. Since bank employees have day jobs to contend with, a lot money has also been spent on staff augmentation from the consulting firms to help things move along.
In the meantime, the big banks have gotten bigger. But PwC, KPMG, and EY keep raking in the dough providing valuable "insights" across the industry. When a bank doesn't want to be a negative outlier, it hires one of these firms to know what others are doing, and the cycle continues each year.
The worst part is that the Fed doesn't even know if all this extra reporting is useful for its analysis or if they even reduce risk to the system. When you have regulators who don't know what to do with the data, that's what should have us worried, not the potential repeal of Dodd-Frank.
The money has been spent on upgrading systems to expand reporting requirements to the OCC and Fed. Since bank employees have day jobs to contend with, a lot money has also been spent on staff augmentation from the consulting firms to help things move along.
In the meantime, the big banks have gotten bigger. But PwC, KPMG, and EY keep raking in the dough providing valuable "insights" across the industry. When a bank doesn't want to be a negative outlier, it hires one of these firms to know what others are doing, and the cycle continues each year.
The worst part is that the Fed doesn't even know if all this extra reporting is useful for its analysis or if they even reduce risk to the system. When you have regulators who don't know what to do with the data, that's what should have us worried, not the potential repeal of Dodd-Frank.
2
A glimmer of reason amongst a lot of nonsense. Thank you.
One has the feeling that a large number of American have had a chip implanted in their brain to ignore everything Republican politicians are doing to undermine our long- term interests. Today's House action if passed into law would make another serious economic crisis more likely and would immediately lessen the protections for consumers. The fact that close to 40 % ( or more? ) ignore the following is more reason to opt for the chip explanation: Our supposed great nation has a president who APPARENTLY does not read books, gets his news from Fox News and Hate Radio, has a long history of treating women as sexual objects and playthings, failed to pay people who worked for him, uses the presidency to enrich his family, expresses his contempt for our judicial system, pushes and shoves fellow world leaders, bullies anyone who disagrees with him, intends to cut health benefits to their families, expresses contempt for the work our best scientists, and demonstrates his ignorance on a daily basis.
7
The Greed Over People party is counting on the reliable amnesia of the American public to forget the destruction wrought by unleashing Wall Street once again. As always with this hapless crew, more money for the wealthy is the primary concern. Since almost none of the GOP members of the House have any integrity whatsoever, the geese are still honking the party line.
12
We BARELY survived the last financial crisis - at an expense of 16 trillion distributed to future generations.
Either this is incompetence ? or intentional - but one thing for sure - there won't be any bailout round 2. We went near busto on round 1.
If anything, I foresee problems with insurance- take Guaranty, I see AIG sold this off last year at a low 3 billion. Guaranty handles flood insurance.
Now - factor in that Texas had FIVE in in a thousand year floods last year. Half of Louisiana was under water. The Jet Stream moved far north causing faster glacial melt in Greenland, which drags the tropics up northward.
In fact, I recall when NASA published that the sub tropics have advanced 60 miles north, Dick Cheney intervened, gagged them and said no one is to report any climate information without him reviewing it first
Strange - the flooding, the new FEMA maps for the South are going to send home owners either selling? or screaming. Their premiums are going up, further? frankly there is a greater risk now for flooding. Banks will end up with homes that are worth less than before. Topping it all off, banks will lose asset value on their mortgage products, endangering their capital on hand. And now this, setting up the perfect storm for absolute economic collapse.
Either this is incompetence ? or intentional - but one thing for sure - there won't be any bailout round 2. We went near busto on round 1.
If anything, I foresee problems with insurance- take Guaranty, I see AIG sold this off last year at a low 3 billion. Guaranty handles flood insurance.
Now - factor in that Texas had FIVE in in a thousand year floods last year. Half of Louisiana was under water. The Jet Stream moved far north causing faster glacial melt in Greenland, which drags the tropics up northward.
In fact, I recall when NASA published that the sub tropics have advanced 60 miles north, Dick Cheney intervened, gagged them and said no one is to report any climate information without him reviewing it first
Strange - the flooding, the new FEMA maps for the South are going to send home owners either selling? or screaming. Their premiums are going up, further? frankly there is a greater risk now for flooding. Banks will end up with homes that are worth less than before. Topping it all off, banks will lose asset value on their mortgage products, endangering their capital on hand. And now this, setting up the perfect storm for absolute economic collapse.
8
Great, Republican deregulation and they’re, once again, reliance on the banks and financial sectors', "better angels", to be responsible citizens. Last time that unwise Republican reliance resulted in the ravenous money-grubbing sectors self-destruction, just 9 years ago. Allowed the sectors creation of the giant $60T CDS/CDO Ponzie scheme, with the Republican administrations totally absent management, that collapsed the U S economy in the worst Republican U S economic dislocation since the Republican Great depression, also created by the unregulated untrustworthy greedy sector . What could possible go wrong with the rapacious foxes in the hen house again?
10
Few people know, understand or care that the Great Housing Bubble, which fueled the Great Recession, formed and then started to burst after the longest period of unified GOP control of the White House. the House and the Senate since the lead-up to the Great Depression. Republicans still retain their faith in unfettered free markets despite the epic damage done by the Great Recession and the Great Depression.
The fact that the voting public gave them back the keys to the government so soon after their failed ideology effectively drove the economy over a cliff on Bush's watch is absolutely stunning until one remembers how ill-informed and brainwashed much of the electorate is.
The fact that the voting public gave them back the keys to the government so soon after their failed ideology effectively drove the economy over a cliff on Bush's watch is absolutely stunning until one remembers how ill-informed and brainwashed much of the electorate is.
12
If you can convince the voters that Trump would be a better president than Hillary, you can certainly convince them that the Republicans would be better stewards of the economy for the middle class than the Democrats would.
5
Obstruct and dismantle is the GOP’s only notable policy. They have no ideas and no future.
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Meanwhile, back at the ranch...Republicans seek to bring down the republic.
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I'd personally like to thank the people of my home state of Wisconsin for re-electing Paul Ryan....please note sarcasm.....and a side note to them - what in God's name were you thinking?????
18
I'm a small businessperson, and what the Republicans are doing is nothing that benefits me at all. The Republicans of today (not your typical Republican) are working for the mega rich. Not for the coal miner, not for the average American, not for me, not for you.
26
Have we learned nothing? Apparently so...
14
Anyone who doesn't want the fiduciary rule to stay is either a thief, a payee of said thief, or just plain stupid.
22
Every time I read a story like this I can't help but think of PJ O'Rourke's book ``A Parliament of Whores.'' Why is that?
12
Wow. Taking advantage of the Comey Testimony, to slyly maneuver a dreadful, Criminal, slap in the face to the NON-Rich. Stay classy, boys.
25
Ok, I am just going to get under my blanket and hide..... for at least 4 years
Seriously, somebody needs to delve into the finances of those particular House representatives who are pushing so hard for this anti Dodd-Frank legislation to see how much money those who will benefit from this proposed action will put into their pockets. This whole thing smells to high heaven.
22
Brilliant! Let's open the financial system back up to terribly risky lending behavior in an attempt to stimulate the economy. What could possibly go wrong? Republicans seem to have severe memory problems. 2008 wasn't that long ago. This is bald irresponsibility at it's worst.
67
Republicans smartened up and waited for the country to be enthralled by Trump activities and Trump-related investigations and hearings to slip this one in, after trying similar with congressional ethics oversight got them slammed.
36
The GOP constantly and consistently try to benefit the wealthy donors and forsake the financial well being of the general populace and the economic health of the country. We might have another financial meltdown like the one in 2008.
13
While protecting the consumer is paramount, having the ability to invest in local communities is as well. With the onerous regulations of Dodd-Frank, woebegone are the small Community Banks that actually provide customer service because they know the names of their clients.
These "to big to fail" banks can afford to have 10 floors of lawyers with staff to find loopholes as more of the unfinished regulations come out but not "the little guy" - the one who's in the minority. Isn't the [well intentioned] goal of Dodd-Frank to "level the playing field" when, in reality, its discriminating against those [financial institutions] its trying to protect?
Why not bring back Glass–Steagall and have those guidelines apply to financial institutions with earnings and assets under some arbitrary number for X number of FY Qs and apply the Dodd-Frank guidelines to those financial institutions with earnings and assets over that same arbitrary number?
These "to big to fail" banks can afford to have 10 floors of lawyers with staff to find loopholes as more of the unfinished regulations come out but not "the little guy" - the one who's in the minority. Isn't the [well intentioned] goal of Dodd-Frank to "level the playing field" when, in reality, its discriminating against those [financial institutions] its trying to protect?
Why not bring back Glass–Steagall and have those guidelines apply to financial institutions with earnings and assets under some arbitrary number for X number of FY Qs and apply the Dodd-Frank guidelines to those financial institutions with earnings and assets over that same arbitrary number?
7
I have no objection to rewriting regulations to protect the consumer and still allow small banks to flourish. I do have an objection to repealing Dodd-Frank and replacing it with nothing, putting us back to the days when so many were, basically, conned out of hard earned money up to and including life savings. Until regulations that aren't bank-size unfair are available, I say keep Dodd-Frank. The primary goal of those regulations is to keep people from being cheated, not to make things easier for banks - because when things are easiest for banks, an awful lot of people seem to get cheated.
18
And you think a Republicon Congress will reinstate Glass Steagall? Do you remember that it was a Republicon Congress that voted to repeal most of Glass-Steagall? The repeal removed the separation between investment banking and commercial banks. Pres. Clinton signed the repeal but the bill was veto proof. The Republicons have opposed Dodd-Frank and the Consumer Protection Act since they were enacted in response to the 2008 financial crisis. The right works for WS & petro billionaires. Thinking they care about the 99% is magical thinking.
14
Denise, working with Down Payment Assistance programs for Low-Income (below 80% AMI) 1st Homebuyer's, seeing how Dodd-Frank and how the CFPB [an independent agency] has unfettered authority to fine financial institutions with impunity is reason for concern given the population I am trying to assist.
It is killing Community Banks as noted above. Yes, they can pre-approve the mortgage but as soon as the ink is dry it is sold to "a too big to fail" lender and the bank loses money in the long run.
The point of my comment was to propose a two-tiered system. READ the entire comment before having a liberal fit. My goal is NOT ideological, it IS a solution.
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BTW - By that time, many commentators argued Glass–Steagall was already "dead". ... In November 1999, President Bill Clinton publicly declared "the Glass–Steagall law is no longer appropriate".
Some commentators have stated that the GLBA's repeal of the affiliation restrictions of the Glass–Steagall Act was an important cause of the financial crisis of 2007–2008. Economics Nobel prize laureate Joseph Stiglitz [(D)], for instance, argued that "[w]hen repeal of Glass-Steagall brought investment and commercial banks together, the investment-bank culture came out on top" Economists at the Federal Reserve, such as Chairman of the Fed Ben Bernanke [(I)<'15], have argued that the activities linked to the financial crisis were not prohibited (or, in most cases, even regulated) by the Glass–Steagall Act. (wiki)
It is killing Community Banks as noted above. Yes, they can pre-approve the mortgage but as soon as the ink is dry it is sold to "a too big to fail" lender and the bank loses money in the long run.
The point of my comment was to propose a two-tiered system. READ the entire comment before having a liberal fit. My goal is NOT ideological, it IS a solution.
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BTW - By that time, many commentators argued Glass–Steagall was already "dead". ... In November 1999, President Bill Clinton publicly declared "the Glass–Steagall law is no longer appropriate".
Some commentators have stated that the GLBA's repeal of the affiliation restrictions of the Glass–Steagall Act was an important cause of the financial crisis of 2007–2008. Economics Nobel prize laureate Joseph Stiglitz [(D)], for instance, argued that "[w]hen repeal of Glass-Steagall brought investment and commercial banks together, the investment-bank culture came out on top" Economists at the Federal Reserve, such as Chairman of the Fed Ben Bernanke [(I)<'15], have argued that the activities linked to the financial crisis were not prohibited (or, in most cases, even regulated) by the Glass–Steagall Act. (wiki)
This is critical legislation. After all, the big banks and financial institutions are in free fall, losing money and close to default. The stock market is at its lowest point in years. Interest rates are sky-high, and the economy is stagnant. Something must be done!
Not.
Not.
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Trying to slip this travesty by on a day when the press is sure to be focused in the Comey hearings?
I'm sure this is a complete coincidence, right? Not anyone trying to slip a (bad) law through in the equivalent of a 2 am roll-call the night before Christmas!
SHAME!
And Paul Ryan, further, has the effrontery to offer blatant LIES in justification as:
"The Dodd-Frank Act has had a lot of bad consequences for our economy, but most of all in the small communities across our country.”
Dodd-Frank was aimed at wild excesses of Big Banks, Wall Street, and investment banks, NOT "small communities"! And Ryan KNOWS that.
SHAME, for lying!
Dodd-Frank Act was passed IN RESPONSE to TERRIBLE "consequences for our economy," caused by banksters running amok, a LACK of regulation, and Congressional types enabling this. And Ryan and his gang want to turn the clock BACK to the pre-2008 time-bomb?
Again, SHAME!
But then again, Ryan, the extreme-right-wing, Pence, and Trump have NO shame, as we've repeatedly seen!
I'm sure this is a complete coincidence, right? Not anyone trying to slip a (bad) law through in the equivalent of a 2 am roll-call the night before Christmas!
SHAME!
And Paul Ryan, further, has the effrontery to offer blatant LIES in justification as:
"The Dodd-Frank Act has had a lot of bad consequences for our economy, but most of all in the small communities across our country.”
Dodd-Frank was aimed at wild excesses of Big Banks, Wall Street, and investment banks, NOT "small communities"! And Ryan KNOWS that.
SHAME, for lying!
Dodd-Frank Act was passed IN RESPONSE to TERRIBLE "consequences for our economy," caused by banksters running amok, a LACK of regulation, and Congressional types enabling this. And Ryan and his gang want to turn the clock BACK to the pre-2008 time-bomb?
Again, SHAME!
But then again, Ryan, the extreme-right-wing, Pence, and Trump have NO shame, as we've repeatedly seen!
15
Maybe instead of a half dozen front page stories about the former head of the FBI's plethora of "it's not my fault" (how many reporters can sit on the head of a story?) the readers might be more concerned about the repeal of Dodd-Frank and its impact... If the editors of the NYTimes ever get their priorities into the light instead of where the moon don't shine.
3
I say allow it but write into the law that taxpayer financed bank bailout is illegal no matter how large the bank when it fails.
3
How delicious as the excesses of corporate governance of a nation state become more manifest by the hour and democracy threatens to stop all breathing momentarily the legislature makes breathing even more difficult.
Insanity is continuing and even enhancing the same old behaviour and expecting a different outcome.
The whole world is watching but the laughing you are hearing is not a joyous laughter.
Insanity is continuing and even enhancing the same old behaviour and expecting a different outcome.
The whole world is watching but the laughing you are hearing is not a joyous laughter.
5
I wonder if Paul Ryan needs to practice in the mirror lying through his teeth or if it just comes that naturally for him.
16
The republican thieves want access to the peoples vault AGAIN.
10
First these thieves blamed Democrats for the sub-prime mortgage disaster and now they're doing everything they can to help it happen again. Actually, they've been fighting Dodd-Frank since it's inception. The economy is doing great. The unemployment rate is 4.3%. Banks are making record profits. And yet, these guys are claiming that Dodd-Frank is hurting the economy and killing jobs. Tell me again why people vote for Republicans?
22
Congress needs to really repeal these horrible regulations,so that Banks and Wall Street have the freedom to do another huge financial crash that will decimate our lives for 8-19 years.....Go Republicans!
8
But I thought Mr. Trump has, by dint of his native intelligence and heroic efforts, created more than 600,000 jobs in just a few moths.
He said so. Sean said so. Kelly Ann said "Don't pay any attention to them", but that's neither here nor over there.
At any rate, things are humming along just fine, according to Our President.
So why are these lying scoundrels in Congress trying to convince us that we need to abandon the American Economic System as it has existed for almost 250 years and replace it with a purely political, tragically inconsistent experiment that places our collective fortunes in the hands of the evil that is Goldman-Sachs and some unknown called The Trump Organization (No relation, honest.) ?
He said so. Sean said so. Kelly Ann said "Don't pay any attention to them", but that's neither here nor over there.
At any rate, things are humming along just fine, according to Our President.
So why are these lying scoundrels in Congress trying to convince us that we need to abandon the American Economic System as it has existed for almost 250 years and replace it with a purely political, tragically inconsistent experiment that places our collective fortunes in the hands of the evil that is Goldman-Sachs and some unknown called The Trump Organization (No relation, honest.) ?
9
These are the same folks who've decided that your personal financial advisors no longer have a fiduciary responsibility to you, their customers/investors. That they want to remove any and all obstacles from Wall St., that protect their customers/investors is no surprise.
At least if you get robbed by a thug on the streets, vs. a guy in a $2000 suit with an Ivy league degree and a few senators on speed dial, the street guy just got your wallet and watch. The guy in the suit took your life savings, maybe your home and future financial well being. Republicans have made it very clear - they're in the pocket of those who want to get in your pocket, to further fill theirs.
At least if you get robbed by a thug on the streets, vs. a guy in a $2000 suit with an Ivy league degree and a few senators on speed dial, the street guy just got your wallet and watch. The guy in the suit took your life savings, maybe your home and future financial well being. Republicans have made it very clear - they're in the pocket of those who want to get in your pocket, to further fill theirs.
35
It is wonderful how the GOP will help the middle class by repealin Dodd-Frank.
6
republicans in the legislature are making interesting choices these days...they clearly choose party over country...i.e. ryan's defense of trump saying he's a newbie to DC and didn't know what he was saying when he was talking to Comey and now this bit of legislation rolling back Dodd-Frank - choosing to support the top of the 1% over all the rest of us Americans...poor choices that we will not soon forget.
12
Why is anyone surprised? This is what Republicans do. Major transfer of money to the rich and everyone else be damned. Happens over and over. As John Arbuckle said, you get what you vote for.
24
More proof that Trump lied to us on the campaign trail as he and The Republicans pretended to be the party of the little guy, there is no party for the little guy, Bernie came close to someone who might offer an agenda supporting labor, health care for all, free good education, reigning in Wall Street and those who would have us in a never ending war to benefit wealthy special interests in the M.E. The article on China, their infrastructure, their high speed trains and concentration on what's good for China in this weeks Times was proof of how far and how quickly we have fallen from being the nation in the world whom everyone admired and emulated to the status of a pariah kleptocracy with a big army for hire, it seems to be us, Israel and The Saudis against the world.
6
First off, anyone who sincerely believed Trump would be the champion of the 'little guy' has to have oatmeal between his ears. Absolutely nothing in Trump's history suggested that.
Second, you kinda had me until you brought up Sanders. He is the Trump of the left, except that Trump, who ran for the GOP nomination in 2000, was at least a member of the party he hijacked. Sanders failed largely because Democrats prefer to fight each other than to unite against Republicans, whereas Republicans, however much they hate each other, can at least agree at election time to vote against the Democrats.
Third, China has accomplished what it has because it's got an authoritarian government. Sometimes this hasn't worked out well for China, e.g., the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution. Often it hasn't worked out too well for individual Chinese, e.g., Falun Gong followers, political prisoners - particularly those with health organs for transplant, or factory workers reduced to jumping off the roof or putting 'help, I'm a prisoner' notes in handbags exported to the west. You can have China's purposeful prosperity, but it's a Faustian bargain.
Second, you kinda had me until you brought up Sanders. He is the Trump of the left, except that Trump, who ran for the GOP nomination in 2000, was at least a member of the party he hijacked. Sanders failed largely because Democrats prefer to fight each other than to unite against Republicans, whereas Republicans, however much they hate each other, can at least agree at election time to vote against the Democrats.
Third, China has accomplished what it has because it's got an authoritarian government. Sometimes this hasn't worked out well for China, e.g., the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution. Often it hasn't worked out too well for individual Chinese, e.g., Falun Gong followers, political prisoners - particularly those with health organs for transplant, or factory workers reduced to jumping off the roof or putting 'help, I'm a prisoner' notes in handbags exported to the west. You can have China's purposeful prosperity, but it's a Faustian bargain.
7
These people will never learn from their mistakes.
4
The role in our democracy of reporters who covered the 2016 election, both local elections and the national election, was to cover the candidates' positions on important issues such as this. They failed to do so. Republicans could claim, in ads funded by donors who sought to undermine these protections, that they cared about the little guy, and did not have to answer serious questions about the regulations.
Reporters who cover elections continue to fail us until more of them care about policy rather than personalities and polls.
Reporters who cover elections continue to fail us until more of them care about policy rather than personalities and polls.
7
As someone who lost everything during the recession and had to start over if Republicans follow through with repealing or weakening Dodd-Frank I will not soon forgive them. Dodd-Frank needs to be strengthened not weakened. The world will not forgive America if we are responsible for a third major depressive episode on the global economy. Rich people still made money when Glass Steagall was the law of the land.
19
I got out of the market at Brexit. Oh well. Another way to look at this is that if tax cuts and deregulation pass, the market should explode for a while.
2
It is truly amazing that after the calamity of the 2007-2010 recession caused in large part by the scheming and dealing of the financial industry, Republicans with very short memories and rapacious appetites for campaign contributions from the financial service industry are ready to repeal and weaken Dodd Frank. Have they no shame? If it were not for the money they are receiving from banks and others, they would not touch Dodd Frank except perhaps to lessen requirements on small banks. But money talks in Washington, and the banks talk BIG with their rolls of dollars and Guccie suited lobbyists offering more, so the GOP says give me the dough, and Dodd Frank can go.
15
This country is seriously under protected from financial predators.
Unrelenting oversight and prosecution need to be enforced if we are to be safe from people like Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan.
These people have worked tirelessly to enrich themselves at the expense of the country.
The first order of business by the new Congress was to dismantle the Ethics Committee, a blatant statement of their sinister goals.
Ethics enforcement needs to be greatly strengthened.
Unrelenting oversight and prosecution need to be enforced if we are to be safe from people like Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan.
These people have worked tirelessly to enrich themselves at the expense of the country.
The first order of business by the new Congress was to dismantle the Ethics Committee, a blatant statement of their sinister goals.
Ethics enforcement needs to be greatly strengthened.
16
If anything, Dodd-Frank needed to create clearer separations between investment banking and traditional banking to ensure that taxpayers are not on the hook for losses incurred in the trading/underwriting world. The high barrier that Glass-Steagall created in the Great Depression between those activities had been eroded by both changes in the structure of the business, and by overt decisions by the Federal Reserve that were intended to subvert the law and let banks back-door into underwriting. Graham-Leach-Bliley in 1999 merely knocked down the tattered remnants of what had started as a real bar to mixing the two different activity classes.
And by 2008 we were forcibly reminded of why investment banking and merchant banking had been separated, as the mix of businesses produced financial toxins that nearly collapsed the world economy. Part of the short-term response was to make those businesses even closer, as the remaining large investment banks were merged into regular banks after failing, or granted bank holding company charters with access to Federal Reserve borrowing and FDIC deposit insurance.
Dodd-Frank attempted to address the risk while leaving the co-mingling of activities in place, which produced much of its complexity, probably due to lobbying by the financial industry to keep the structure they had erected using Federal backing for trading, underwriting and derivative activities. The answer is to strengthen it, not eliminate it.
And by 2008 we were forcibly reminded of why investment banking and merchant banking had been separated, as the mix of businesses produced financial toxins that nearly collapsed the world economy. Part of the short-term response was to make those businesses even closer, as the remaining large investment banks were merged into regular banks after failing, or granted bank holding company charters with access to Federal Reserve borrowing and FDIC deposit insurance.
Dodd-Frank attempted to address the risk while leaving the co-mingling of activities in place, which produced much of its complexity, probably due to lobbying by the financial industry to keep the structure they had erected using Federal backing for trading, underwriting and derivative activities. The answer is to strengthen it, not eliminate it.
12
We are growing rather weary of the constant harping on "jobs" to justify one or another aspect of Trump's regressive social and economic policies. The only people Trump cares about are the ones who don't need jobs - bankers, investors, hedge fund managers, and corporate executives who don't need to worry about earning a living. Repealing or reducing Dodd-Frank will enrich the wealthy elite, and do nothing for those people who actually have to work to earn a living. Harping on "creating jobs" is just a canard while Trump works to further enrich the rich.
15
I don't doubt, based on history, that they will succeed eventually in repealing the reforms, clearing the way for another debacle. However, also based on history, I suspect they're jumping the gun. It usually takes longer than seven years to forget the consequences of a previous disaster and make the same mistakes, or variations on the same sour-note theme, over again. While the 19th century was marked by several now-mostly-forgotten recessions and depressions, it did take several decades to go from the '29 Wall Street Crash and Great Depression (with some lesser bumps in between) to the '70s stagflation, then the '80s S&L disaster. Another 20 years or so, the Dot-Com bubble. Then the subprime mess, enabled by - surprise! - deregulation and the creation of pernicious derivatives. (Watch the movie 'The Big Short' for entertaining explanation.) Granted the cycles are accelerating, and the space between them decreasing. But still, the wise crook doesn't hit the same victim until he's at least had the chance to get up and accumulate something worth stealing; memories are too fresh, wounds still open. I'd say another five years, and they'll be able to repeal it all and make the same mistakes all over again, with the same consequences.
6
I'm wondering if the solution to this countries Republican problem could be for Democrats to simply take up Republican positions across the board. Since all that Republicans seem to stand for is "anything but the Democrats positions", it's possible that we could accomplish something positive considering they control both houses and the "Presidency". I know its a long shot but we seem to be running out of options.
3
Because of the pushback by insurance company ads that sunk the Clinton health care bill in the 1990s, Democrats tried what you are suggesting to get a health care bill through by adopting the Republican Heritage Foundation's "Romney care" approach that became "Obamacare." It was not what Democrats wanted (which would have included a public option and more protection against pharma-bro types) but they passed it to at least stop the explosion of medical bankruptcies and people who were being dropped from insurance roles and denied care even when they thought they had insurance due to e.g. "pre-existing conditions" they neglected to mention on their insurance forms (e.g. denied care for breast cancer because they did not mention treatment for acne when they were teenagers)
So, the answer to your suggestion is that it has been tried.....
So, the answer to your suggestion is that it has been tried.....
3
"“The 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is among the most inappropriately named laws ever enacted in the U.S.,” said Norbert Michel, a Heritage Foundation Research Fellow. “It neither reformed Wall Street nor protected consumers, and it imposed massive new regulations on banks far away from Wall Street.”:
If the Heritage Foundation is against something, it's probably a pretty good thing for the general public, but maybe inconvenient for the wealthiest.
If the Heritage Foundation is against something, it's probably a pretty good thing for the general public, but maybe inconvenient for the wealthiest.
16
You need to read Dark Money, by Jane Mayer. The Heritage Foundation is run by the wealthy.
2
That the Republicans have been promising to kill Dodd-Frank from Day 1, when the country was still deep in recession and before the act's effects could be known, tells you all you need to know about their motivations. Hint: They don't have investors' best interests at heart.
15
The purposes of the Dodd-Frank regulations were manifold. First, and overall, these regulations were enacted to reduce "moral hazard" in the financial sector. It can briefly be defined as allowing Wall Street firms to privatize profits yet make taxpayers cover too risky bets by these firms resulting in bankruptcies; time after time.
During the financial crisis, the large amount of leverage or debt used by firms and banks in the financial sector became a huge vulnerability as the "housing bubble burst" and tranches of home mortgages declined steeply in value, within the sector.
By attacking the problem early and head-on via the regulatory route, US banks recovered more quickly than many of their European competitors. As a result, Europe's GDP growth has been lower than that of the US over this recovery period. Many European banks still have more highly leveraged capital structures than US banks. With more risky banks and financial firms, healthy capital structures remain a key to the financial sector's health in much of Europe.
The Fed and its chair, Janet Yellen, have vigilantly monitored US bank capital structures to prevent large debt to equity ratios from increasing these banks' and firms' financial risk to the point of too great an exposure to declines in their asset valuations. Remember: the declines in home mortgages that started the crisis. Why abandon successful policies? Are the expected benefits worth the cost exposure?
06/08/2017 Th 12:37p Greenville NC
During the financial crisis, the large amount of leverage or debt used by firms and banks in the financial sector became a huge vulnerability as the "housing bubble burst" and tranches of home mortgages declined steeply in value, within the sector.
By attacking the problem early and head-on via the regulatory route, US banks recovered more quickly than many of their European competitors. As a result, Europe's GDP growth has been lower than that of the US over this recovery period. Many European banks still have more highly leveraged capital structures than US banks. With more risky banks and financial firms, healthy capital structures remain a key to the financial sector's health in much of Europe.
The Fed and its chair, Janet Yellen, have vigilantly monitored US bank capital structures to prevent large debt to equity ratios from increasing these banks' and firms' financial risk to the point of too great an exposure to declines in their asset valuations. Remember: the declines in home mortgages that started the crisis. Why abandon successful policies? Are the expected benefits worth the cost exposure?
06/08/2017 Th 12:37p Greenville NC
7
For a long time, I thought that TARP was necessary if distasteful. Two things have since convinced me that TARP was not only unnecessary but unhelpful:
1. All of the benefits of TARP went to the big banks. The average American got nothing out of it.
2. It kept intact the risk of moral hazard, whereby the big banks will continue to take excessive risks with the knowledge (or least the very, very high confidence) that D.C. will bail them out, time and time again, no matter what.
In that spirit, the Republicans (no more Dodd-Frank, but also no more bailouts, period) may actually be more in the right on this issue than Democrats. TARP passed only because Democrats had the majorities in both houses of Congress in 2008; the majority of both House and Senate Republicans voted against it. If anything, Congressional Republicans are even less inclined to support bailouts today than they were then. Furthermore, no one thinks Dodd-Frank went anywhere near far enough to curb excessive risk-taking by banks. It was watered-down reform, at very, very best.
In terms of incentives to curb bad market behavior, there is no substitute for the threat of extinction. Only if other banks come to believe that they will meet the fate of Lehman if they mess up, and that Uncle Sam is not coming to save them, might they actually get their act together and curb their reckless ways.
1. All of the benefits of TARP went to the big banks. The average American got nothing out of it.
2. It kept intact the risk of moral hazard, whereby the big banks will continue to take excessive risks with the knowledge (or least the very, very high confidence) that D.C. will bail them out, time and time again, no matter what.
In that spirit, the Republicans (no more Dodd-Frank, but also no more bailouts, period) may actually be more in the right on this issue than Democrats. TARP passed only because Democrats had the majorities in both houses of Congress in 2008; the majority of both House and Senate Republicans voted against it. If anything, Congressional Republicans are even less inclined to support bailouts today than they were then. Furthermore, no one thinks Dodd-Frank went anywhere near far enough to curb excessive risk-taking by banks. It was watered-down reform, at very, very best.
In terms of incentives to curb bad market behavior, there is no substitute for the threat of extinction. Only if other banks come to believe that they will meet the fate of Lehman if they mess up, and that Uncle Sam is not coming to save them, might they actually get their act together and curb their reckless ways.
3
My hunch is the Republicans bail out their donors.
3
Didn't this kleptocratic group steal enough of unsuspecting Americans during the W Bush debacle. Now they're coming for the rest. The first recession was kept from being a full out depression by lots of hard work by the Obama administration. We will not be as lucky this time around because as Barry had my back, The Donald & his friends already have their creepy little fingers jabbing into our pockets while telling us to trust them. DON'T!
14
When the Russians were hacking, Obama was president. What did he do? Did he welcome them? What is the record? NYT is against Trump. were they for Obama?
1
Obama imposed sanctions.
5
"Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are equally terrible!" the Bernie Bros (and Susan Sarandon) said.
3
The Republican party is a business, and as such exists only to make money - to enrich themselves.
It's a scam.
After they crashed the world economy, no one was held accountable. No one was punished.
Now, these people are emboldened to loot the country once again.
They really need to be prosecuted for crimes against the Country and it's people.
It's a scam.
After they crashed the world economy, no one was held accountable. No one was punished.
Now, these people are emboldened to loot the country once again.
They really need to be prosecuted for crimes against the Country and it's people.
20
"After they crashed the world economy, no one was held accountable. No one was punished."
All of that is true, Grove. But that was the doing of Eric Holder's DOJ, probably at the behest of President Obama (although Holder himself has a long record of kowtowing to corporate and other wealthy interests from his days in Janet Reno's DOJ during Bill Clinton's presidency).
A Republican-appointed Attorney General might have actually pursued criminal prosecutions from the 2008 crash. The Mukasey/Gonzales DOJ under GWB did get some high-profile white-collar convictions, including Jeff Skilling (for 24 years), Ken Lay, Bernie Ebbers, Dennis Koslowski and, let's not forget, Sam Waksal and Martha Stewart from that insider-trading scandal many years ago.
All of that is true, Grove. But that was the doing of Eric Holder's DOJ, probably at the behest of President Obama (although Holder himself has a long record of kowtowing to corporate and other wealthy interests from his days in Janet Reno's DOJ during Bill Clinton's presidency).
A Republican-appointed Attorney General might have actually pursued criminal prosecutions from the 2008 crash. The Mukasey/Gonzales DOJ under GWB did get some high-profile white-collar convictions, including Jeff Skilling (for 24 years), Ken Lay, Bernie Ebbers, Dennis Koslowski and, let's not forget, Sam Waksal and Martha Stewart from that insider-trading scandal many years ago.
It was more than disappointing that the Obama administration didn't pursue justice after the crash. Neo liberals can't be counted on very much either.
However, Dodd Frank is now under attack by the Republicans in Congress, setting up a repeat of the previous crash. Also, the Republicans fought Dodd Frank every step up the way, want to dismantle healthcare, social security, undo regulations, undo the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, and tried to dismantle the Ethics Committee as their first order of business this year.
It's certainly true that you should never trust ANYONE around money.
Our government is riddled with financial predators, and that is the reason that Republicans are pushing constantly to get rid of regulations.
The American people need more protection, not less.
Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan (see Ayn Rand) are first class Con artists who are comfortable deceiving the American People., and there should be a way to prosecute them for their obviously self serving behavior.
However, Dodd Frank is now under attack by the Republicans in Congress, setting up a repeat of the previous crash. Also, the Republicans fought Dodd Frank every step up the way, want to dismantle healthcare, social security, undo regulations, undo the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, and tried to dismantle the Ethics Committee as their first order of business this year.
It's certainly true that you should never trust ANYONE around money.
Our government is riddled with financial predators, and that is the reason that Republicans are pushing constantly to get rid of regulations.
The American people need more protection, not less.
Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan (see Ayn Rand) are first class Con artists who are comfortable deceiving the American People., and there should be a way to prosecute them for their obviously self serving behavior.
5
They gambled away 25% of my retirement savings in 2008. Now they want more? Is there no end to their greed.
24
The US is the richest society that ever was or will be. Donald Trump is the answer. There is no such thing as enough. The definition of neoliberal economics is perpetual growth till the entire universe is the hands of the entitled.
There is no end to greed. Greed is good and neoliberalism is the religion and Ozymandias is God.
There is no end to greed. Greed is good and neoliberalism is the religion and Ozymandias is God.
1
2008 was just the greatest fun, ever!
Let's do that again!
Let's do that again!
15
Haha.
Absolutely!!
The Republicans want to recreate the good old days !!
Absolutely!!
The Republicans want to recreate the good old days !!
2
The House Republicans are hoping that everyone is focused on Comey this week and thus the GOP can attack the 99 percent of Americans who will again become victims of Wall Street Greed. The repeal of Dodd-Frank laws, their defunding, and the neutering of the Consumer Financial Bureau are all to provide support to the financial industry to further exploit consumers.
It should be clear to everyone who is paying attention that the current Republican party exists to help the richest one percent and especially the big banks and other big business in being able to exploit consumers. As big business has become smarter about knowing consumers and how to exploit them the average American is less educated about financial issues, civics, law and their own rights.
The expanding gap between the richest one percent and the rest of us is destroying democracy and bring about another dictatorship by new monarchy.
It should be clear to everyone who is paying attention that the current Republican party exists to help the richest one percent and especially the big banks and other big business in being able to exploit consumers. As big business has become smarter about knowing consumers and how to exploit them the average American is less educated about financial issues, civics, law and their own rights.
The expanding gap between the richest one percent and the rest of us is destroying democracy and bring about another dictatorship by new monarchy.
10
The Demo party has been running against Hoover for a century and when will they stop the charade?
Of course they would. Last time I checked the financial industry almost took down the world's economy. And it's not as if the produced anything of value either.
10
With interest rates at historic lows for the last 8 years, it's difficult to believe any argument that lack of financing is killing loans to main street business. C'mon, Congress. This is just a giveaway to Wall Street, so that the Big Banks who make the Big Donations can make Big Money. Most Americans care much more about the protections offered by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
It really boils down to who Congress represents: citizens or big business.
It really boils down to who Congress represents: citizens or big business.
12
If the financial industry and other industries can regulate themselves why do we so often see them overreach and crash? And why do we suffer rather than the CEOs and others who caused the crash? Obviously they cannot regulate themselves. They cannot control their own greed even when it hurts them or the country at large.
12
If Dodd-Frank is genuinely "strangling the financial industry," then it is most definitely not "killing jobs." In fact, quite the opposite. All of the financial writers I've read on the topic agree: the US financial sector is at least twice as large as it should be to properly serve its function. It's self-dealing and rent- seeking represent a drag on the economy. The financial industry is the one doing the strangling.
20
One of the few advantages to being old being able to spot, in perspective, a fork in the road: one of those places that seemed so utterly innocuous but which was a sure path to the Nether Regions. For me, that fork was the phrase "financial products." Products? As an engineer, I know what a product is, and it's a tangible thing you can put your hands on. It's not some clever idea a swindler put together to fleece the unwary. Dodd-Frank, as I don't pretend to understand it, apparently does a good job protecting the small guys from the big guys and their "products." For that reason alone, any effort on the part of the Ryan House do disassemble that legislation should be earnestly opposed.
17
Usually the term "financial innovation" is used to label a plan which allows people or businesses to borrow more money than they would have been able to borrow under previous standards......or pay back under any standard.
3
You want to know what strangles the economy and kills jobs? An unregulated banking industry. If they are allowed to steal, they will...they have proven that time and time again. Republicans simply do not care about the economy or the welfare of the citizens. All they care about is they donors and their own wallets.
24
"Since the Dodd-Frank Act was signed into law nearly seven years ago, Republicans have promised to make it their mission to repeal the legislation, which they say is strangling the financial industry and killing jobs."
I say it would be a good thing if Goldman Sachs had to close its doors for good.
I say it would be a good thing if Goldman Sachs had to close its doors for good.
11
Of course the Republicans want to do this, and I'd bet a few mainstream Dems do too. Anything for the rich who funds their campaigns. What our nation needs is a revolt from left and right to dismantle the money machine that runs politics, to repeal Citizens United, to reign in Wall Street and to raise taxes on the very wealthy. My God, we have climbed out of the Great Recession and these money grubbing Republicans want to dismantle the few regulations we have to keep us all safe. May their efforts turn to ash and may they be exposed for the liars they are!
11
"Stifling the economy". Doesn't seem too stifled to me. Stock market over 21,000, unemployment so low employers can't fill jobs. Article today about how positions are going unfilled that would normally go to foreign seasonal workers. That of course explodes the myth that these people are taking Americna jobs. But when myths e plods, just concoct a new one.
This is the same old argument they use for any regulation their uber rich donors want to get rid of to help maximize profits.
But you know what? Let them. When the economy tanks it will be all on them. Trumpy can then take credit for that, although I'm sure it will somehow be Hillary's fault. Or Obama's.
This is the same old argument they use for any regulation their uber rich donors want to get rid of to help maximize profits.
But you know what? Let them. When the economy tanks it will be all on them. Trumpy can then take credit for that, although I'm sure it will somehow be Hillary's fault. Or Obama's.
14
Can they turn back time? No. All the more irrelevant they will be, unable to compete with those companies who move forward, not backward. These companies did not improve, make adjustments like other companies did. It is only a matter of time before they are totally out-of-business. Power wins, and these turn-back time Republican/Trump companies are weak. Actually, they were always weak.
3
People not in the industry cannot possibly appreciate the horrendous bank regulatory environment and how it is forcing smaller "large banks" to merge with larger institutions. The burden place upon banks between $10-$25 billion in assets is counterproductive and borders on unconscionable. Management at these institutions must choose between running a business or satisfying every whim of their 24 hour/7day on premises examiners in charge. The regulators dictate how business is to be conducted and governed based not upon legal authority, but rather what they think makes sense. If these smaller banks don't like it, the choice is to fight the regulators and poison the relationship, suffer a slow bleed due to the incredible expense and energy dedicated to this nonsense or be sold. Most will choose the latter and we will end up with only too big to fail institutions.
1
Thank God "regulators dictate how business is to be conducted." Otherwise, these institutions would bleed us dry, enrich only the already rich and precipitate another collapse of our economy. Believe me, "people not in the industry" appreciate very well the intentions of the financial industry.
7
MsPea misses my point, which is that Dodd Frank reaches too low in determining the definition of a large back. People should not let their hostility towards banks lead to a country where we only have mega institutions because all community banks have been forced to sell, after having been crushed by the regulatory burden. It is not the community bank that caused the financial crisis, and they are paying the biggest price.
1
Not sure what community this refers to. I switched my bank from Wells to a savings and loan twenty five years ago. It is small compared to the Godzilla institutions of regular banks. It is cautious. There are little places that can provide good financial services if they are protected from bigger banks.
2
The coolest thing about this Ryan-fest is that it makes the Federal Reserve and every Federal financial regulator political entities, subject to the whims and the corrupt yearnings of Congress.
For a group of people who spent eight years whining that "business needs a predictable environment to operate efficiently" to turn the entire US economy into a daily crap shoot is just, well, just what you would expect from people so uninterested in the well being of the nation and its people that they nod off whenever the topic is broached.
Still, it will be interesting to revisit the corruption and slime of the Golden Age. A good vantage point to watch the rest of the world pass us by.
For a group of people who spent eight years whining that "business needs a predictable environment to operate efficiently" to turn the entire US economy into a daily crap shoot is just, well, just what you would expect from people so uninterested in the well being of the nation and its people that they nod off whenever the topic is broached.
Still, it will be interesting to revisit the corruption and slime of the Golden Age. A good vantage point to watch the rest of the world pass us by.
8
If anything, we need more regulation and tighter controls on the shysters who would steal our paltry retirement funds. These jokers have absolutely no compunction about lying to customers and misrepresenting their products. Then, investors find they are facing huge surrender fees when they try to cancel their bogus annuities, or they find the cash value of their life insurance is sucked away if they try to cancel a policy early. Meanwhile, the "investment advisor" sucks in the commission. And, just try to get one of those guys to tell you upfront what his commission structure is. Impossible. The financial industry is rife with cheaters and liars. That's why so many end up in government--they are readymade for it.
9
How can they possibly make the claim that Dodd-Frank has stifled innovation and cost jobs? The stock market tripled in value since it became law and we've had more than 80 months of job growth.
There is one reason and one reason only they want to do this; to further enrich the wealthy Wall Street financiers, even if it means destroying the middle class.
And this will have grave consequences for ordinary American investors.
There is one reason and one reason only they want to do this; to further enrich the wealthy Wall Street financiers, even if it means destroying the middle class.
And this will have grave consequences for ordinary American investors.
36
It all ended so well when we repealed similar legislation in the mid to late 90s. This time the crash will be really interesting, because the Fed won't be able to pump any more money into the economy to keep it afloat. Time to start buying gold and lots of bullets.
8
But if the entire system collapses, gold won't do you a whole lot of good. Gold is a 'fiat currency' just like paper. Aside from a few industrial uses, gold has value because we all agree 'ooooh pretty shiny' has value.
In the (underrated) movie 'Gremlins 2: The New Batch', the title monsters, wreaking havoc in a NYC skyscraper, take over a brokerage. As the critters screech 'buy! sell! sell! buy!' at random into telephones, the lead 'intellectual' gremlin (voice supplied by Tony Randall!) purrs into a receiver, to the panicky investor at the other end, 'I'm advising all my clients to put everything into canned beans and shotgun shells.' If they do succeed in repealing the regulations, the Gremlin's got a good point. As things will look rather like another scene, in the original Gremlins movie, in which the beasts get control of the town's traffic lights and set them to go at random ....
In the (underrated) movie 'Gremlins 2: The New Batch', the title monsters, wreaking havoc in a NYC skyscraper, take over a brokerage. As the critters screech 'buy! sell! sell! buy!' at random into telephones, the lead 'intellectual' gremlin (voice supplied by Tony Randall!) purrs into a receiver, to the panicky investor at the other end, 'I'm advising all my clients to put everything into canned beans and shotgun shells.' If they do succeed in repealing the regulations, the Gremlin's got a good point. As things will look rather like another scene, in the original Gremlins movie, in which the beasts get control of the town's traffic lights and set them to go at random ....
Has everyone forgotten "too big to fail"?
What is needed to is break up the "systemically important banks": Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, State Street, Bank of New York Mellon, Wells Fargo.
And its not just the banks. There many other firms that have close to monopolistic power, including some in Silicon Valley.
Welcome to the New Gilded Age of Robber Barons.
Where is Teddy Roosevelt when we need him?
What is needed to is break up the "systemically important banks": Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, State Street, Bank of New York Mellon, Wells Fargo.
And its not just the banks. There many other firms that have close to monopolistic power, including some in Silicon Valley.
Welcome to the New Gilded Age of Robber Barons.
Where is Teddy Roosevelt when we need him?
7
Great, deregulation and the Republican reliance on the banks and financial sectors "better angels" to be responsible citizens resulted in the ravenous money-grubbing sectors self destruction. The giant Republican administrations totally mismanaged and missed $60T CDS/CDO Ponzie scheme that collapsed the U S economy just 9 years ago in the worst Republican U S economic dislocation since the Republican Great depression, also untrustworthy greedy bank created. What could possible go wrong with the rapacious foxes in the hen house again?
7
Dodd-Frank...? "Long odds of becoming law...? Good! All this "administration" can think to do is undo previous legislation, invariably to make things even better for people who have too much already. Repeal, repeal, repeal. This is a policy? This is leadership?
8
Americans wake up! It's your country and your life this Republican Congress is trying to destroy.
22
A bill crafted by folks that think they learned everything about Economics and Finance from an introductory course.
5
' ... they learned everything about Economics and Finance from an introductory course.'
At Trump University, no less, and with Ayn Rand as required reading.
At Trump University, no less, and with Ayn Rand as required reading.
Another example of how money in politics is destroying America
8
When fraudsters are rewarded so mightily, paid up front and bailed out after at others' great expense, of course they want to do it again. And the republican party has been and is their enabler in this ongoing series of scams. If they can get the green light again, we will be off once more on the road to another crash, this time falling on innocents far less able to bear the damages than before. Not that I'd expect such concerns to matter to republicans in the least.
11
“The Dodd-Frank Act has had a lot of bad consequences for our economy, but most of all in the small communities across our country.”..... Yeah, right. And of course the big banks just accidently get carried along for the ride. And the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; why would consumer need protection?
9
Lots of people were hurt 1n 2008 by the reckless behavior of the financial industry. Like Obama-care, Dodd-Frank was a political compromise to protect those that might be hurt in the future by the insensitive behavior of the selfish health and financial businesses that elect Congressional reps. Once again Congress is about to stick it to the little guys who actually vote for these politicians. Dodd-Frank is by no means perfect. It can be improved. But let's not throw out the baby with the bath water. There is always room for improvement, but repealing something because it is inconvenient, but may prevent the tragedies cause by the reckless behavior of business people, is just self-centered cruelty. And U.S. Congressmen are among the most selfish people on the planet today.
53
No, Dodd-Frank, like Obamacare, was designed to pick winners and losers.
John, your comment puts me in mind of Anatole France's saying, "In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread." In short, what you say may have an element of truth, but as a meaningful comparison, it is absurd.
1
The Republicans want to declare it is open season for unlimited and unfettered cheating and stealing - higher bonuses for the greed and avarice driven denizens of Wall Street and the banks.
30
"The deregulation push comes as the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are pursuing policies to spur economic growth to an annual rate of 3 percent."
How do naked propaganda claims like this make it into what is supposed to be a news report? You can say that Republicans claim to pursue such policies, while adding that there is no evidence whatsoever for this claim. Written as a factual statement, it is a clear violation of NYT editorial guidelines. The whole article reads like a WH press release verbatim. Thumbs down, New York Times. You need to do better than that.
How do naked propaganda claims like this make it into what is supposed to be a news report? You can say that Republicans claim to pursue such policies, while adding that there is no evidence whatsoever for this claim. Written as a factual statement, it is a clear violation of NYT editorial guidelines. The whole article reads like a WH press release verbatim. Thumbs down, New York Times. You need to do better than that.
34
ecolecon, you make a good point. Thanks for your comment. As for me, I'm no expert on finance law, and so I become reliant on the internet and the news media to educate me and keep me informed. It's important to me that the NYT accurately reports the news, explains the significance of the news, and helps me to separate spin from fact. I understand that there is a line where news reporting becomes news opinion, but in this case, like you, I think the NYT failed me. Still, I am hopeful that more information will be forthcoming as this story heats up.
The American people will make a deal with you Republicans. You deregulate Wall Street again and we will stock up on pitch forks and torches. The Wall Street Mafia is 40% larger than when they crashed the world's economies so this time we come for you. We find every congressman,senator and Bank CEO. We strip them of every penny they have in this world. Let them kiss their kids good bye before setting up the scaffolds on 5th Ave in front of the live cameras.
26
Forgot pitchforks, I have guns. And yes those people need a comeuppance. This has gone on way too long.
4
Best suggestion I've seen so far.
Paul Ryan is lying his backside off to constituents on this. He is promoting repeal of Dodd Frank as a way to "break up the big banks." It is the polar opposite. It will encourage more mergers, and a return to the wild west lending policies of the Bush years.
Make a mistake once, and it is a mistake. Deliberately make the same mistake again, you are a fool.
Make a mistake once, and it is a mistake. Deliberately make the same mistake again, you are a fool.
46
I am so sick of these Republicans. I am sick of their lies. I am sick of there "job creation" dreck. Did all of these people just come out of a coma when Bush left office? How was the economy then????
51
Recession, round 2—coming up. I'm taking bets on time frame... Two years? Three years? If you're a homeowner, prepare to sell as the bubble expands. Once it pops (AGAIN) you'll be SOL. And who knows whether the next incoming liberal administration and congress will be able to fix it (AGAIN).
13
This article has no substance beyond who's in favor/who's against. Is that how we develop our opinions these days--not by considering the facts, but by partisan propaganda statements? How about an actual summary of the substance of the legislation?
21
"Still, parts of the bill could eventually be enacted as lawmakers continue their efforts to chip away at regulations they say are stifling the economy."
Was Mr. Rappeport quoting someone on this or is this his personal opinion stated as fact? Given how high corporate profits I don't see stifling, I see corporate greed. The notion that Dodd Frank is making lending harder might be true in some instances and it may be used as an excuse for the reason but it isn't the reason that banks may not lend. Trump and his buddies have had no problem getting lending and they aren't exactly trustworthy.
We can enhance some of the rules of Dodd Frank without destroying its bite. We don't need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Sorry as a society we should reject this because this type of deregulation is a bad bet. It leads to a small increase in profits but takes on a bigger risk with less of a cushion from massive losses. And possibly another costly bail out. Prevention is almost always cheaper than a cure.
Was Mr. Rappeport quoting someone on this or is this his personal opinion stated as fact? Given how high corporate profits I don't see stifling, I see corporate greed. The notion that Dodd Frank is making lending harder might be true in some instances and it may be used as an excuse for the reason but it isn't the reason that banks may not lend. Trump and his buddies have had no problem getting lending and they aren't exactly trustworthy.
We can enhance some of the rules of Dodd Frank without destroying its bite. We don't need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Sorry as a society we should reject this because this type of deregulation is a bad bet. It leads to a small increase in profits but takes on a bigger risk with less of a cushion from massive losses. And possibly another costly bail out. Prevention is almost always cheaper than a cure.
5
Of course they are...
4
While all eyes are on Comey, Congressional Republicans carry on with their misguided agenda, dismantling everything the Obama administration accomplished to make our world a better place.
Voters, don't be distracted by the schadenfreude bloodsport of "Will he be impeached?" "Will anybody go to jail?" "Grab him by the whatever" and so on. Mike Pence, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, and their cronies have other fish to fry and they've got'em cracklin' away. Bright shiny objects are entertaining, but the business of governing is no joke.
Voters, don't be distracted by the schadenfreude bloodsport of "Will he be impeached?" "Will anybody go to jail?" "Grab him by the whatever" and so on. Mike Pence, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, and their cronies have other fish to fry and they've got'em cracklin' away. Bright shiny objects are entertaining, but the business of governing is no joke.
14
Well, maybe the Democrats will learn a lesson here. When the economy began collapsing beginning the Great Recession of the George W. Bush administration, they should have let it collapse.
2
It pretty much did and Dodd-Frank and the Stimulus fixed it. Republicans are trying to make everyone think it's a disaster.
4
Really collapse. We were within a day or two of a run on the banks. In the end, all the short sellers, derivatives, people on margin, etc., people betting against the mortgage market, etc., they all got their money. Can you imagine if someone would have said, "I can't get you your cash today, will you take 80 cents on dollar?" That would have opened the flood gates.
2
A lot of these Republican suggestions for reforming Dodd-Frank are, in fact, good ideas. The problem is that liberals defend every regulation, whether it is well thought out or not, as holy scripture, and liberal rags such as the New York Times deliberately use terms such as "gut" to inflame the Democratic base.
As one small example, and there are many, certain really good investment products that provide diversification to an investment portfolio are, as of this Friday, going to be flat denied to all IRAs and smaller ERISA plans (the sponsors just won't sell to them), because the rule is so badly written that is has these sorts of unintended consequences. And it has nothing to do with anyone not acting in anyone's best interests. Just bad rulemaking. Supposedly objective, science-based liberals are just as blinded by their ideology as anyone else.
As one small example, and there are many, certain really good investment products that provide diversification to an investment portfolio are, as of this Friday, going to be flat denied to all IRAs and smaller ERISA plans (the sponsors just won't sell to them), because the rule is so badly written that is has these sorts of unintended consequences. And it has nothing to do with anyone not acting in anyone's best interests. Just bad rulemaking. Supposedly objective, science-based liberals are just as blinded by their ideology as anyone else.
3
As far as I know - correct me - : the fiduciary rule will hold providers responsible for acting in the best interests of their clients. Is there something unfair or unreasonable about that expectation? It wouldn't stop an 'informed' investor from doing whatever s/he wants with retirement money - there are other vehicles - but it will help the typical 401-, automatic deduction, employee from being exploited.
4
"The problem is that liberals defend every regulation..."
The real problem is that Conservatives hate every regulation and would love to see Wall Street have everything from Insider Trading to subprime loans to the bundling of bad loans; all exercises that nearly collapsed the entire American economy.
While we're at it let's take all the street lights out of every major intersection of America. Drivers will be more free! And many will be killed in the collision.
Like all major laws this was created with compromise. So no liberals don't defend every regulation.
The real problem is that Conservatives hate every regulation and would love to see Wall Street have everything from Insider Trading to subprime loans to the bundling of bad loans; all exercises that nearly collapsed the entire American economy.
While we're at it let's take all the street lights out of every major intersection of America. Drivers will be more free! And many will be killed in the collision.
Like all major laws this was created with compromise. So no liberals don't defend every regulation.
4
You are misinformed, @Cheryl. The rule is written so broadly, that even parties who have no knowledge about an ira, and no possible way to determine what investment is in ira's best interest, are caught up inadvertently. As a result, they are just going to ban iras from investing altogether. I know, I just pulled the trigger on such a ban.
Unprintable. While the Trump - Comey circus holds the center ring today, the GO{P continues on it's path of dismantling protections for the small investor and tax payer. The House Republicans have great reasons for pretending Trump is no problem - every antic gives them cover to proceed unquestioned. And later they will blame him for any difficulties. Unprintable.
22
If the Republicans succeed in their continued acts of deconstructing reform policies, it won't be for the betterment of the American way of life; it'll be more out of contempt for the benefit of the average American, and out of spite for anything associated with the Obama era.
Specifically, in the case of Dodd-Frank, to paraphrase an old line...
"Put your head to your portfolio, and kiss your assets goodbye!"
Specifically, in the case of Dodd-Frank, to paraphrase an old line...
"Put your head to your portfolio, and kiss your assets goodbye!"
15
Huh? CEOs don't make enough? 2008 was so long ago? A real head-scratcher here.
25
Elimination of Dodd-Frank is just another GOP disaster in the making, just like efforts to end Obamacare. Goldman Sachs insiders are dominating the present government. How will this benefit the 99.99 percent? What on earth is the matter with investment "advisers" acting in the BEST INTEREST of their clients when selling retirement products? The problem with that is Wall Street will lose $17 billion in commissions now reaped by steering ordinary folk to costly annuities, life insurance and other products advantaged to Wall Street. I am an ordinary person who has weathered the crash of '87, where stocks dropped 33 percent in about a week, other ups and down and of course the Great Recession crash of 2007-8. Lack of good regulations trashed housing values, 401(k) investments and brought savings rates to almost nothing. The GOP Congress starved recovery funds, citing the deficit, so of course America is still hurting years later. Wall Street and the bankers profited from the great crash, where my colleagues sold their little 401(k) for nothing and elderly neighbors in my General Electric town sold GE stock acquired over a lifetime for peanuts. This assault on regulations is wrong and any GOP claims that Main Street is harmed is baloney. I am preparing for another crash, with no hope from help from the billionaires and millionaires controlling this great nation. We need a new champion of the people, but we only have the ghost of FDR to ask for help.
60
If the Wrong Choice Act ever sees the light of day it truly will be history repeating itself as farce -- except that we won't be laughing as we watch our life savings go up in a cloud of smoke.
Hmmm. Might be a good time to buy U.S. Treasury Bonds. At least those won't disappear when the "stuff" hits the fan.
Hmmm. Might be a good time to buy U.S. Treasury Bonds. At least those won't disappear when the "stuff" hits the fan.
9
We've all seen this movie before, and it will end the same way as before-- financial carnage for Main Streeters (in many cases Trump supporters-- so sad!) while the Republican legislative perps and their financial-firm sponsors get off Scot-free. One really has to question the memory of Americans (or their intelligence?)....
21
Another republican triumph for the little guy. Which democrat will they blame for deregulation when the next bank/insurer financial fraud scheme tanks the economy?
22
Drive America Over A Cliff Again
We don't need no stinkin' regulations.
"Free-dumb !"
We don't need no stinkin' regulations.
"Free-dumb !"
96
All the more room for European Companies, who have been around far longer than Trump and the Republicans and the Evangelicals.
4
There is a well-known and empirically verifiable relationship between deregulation and financial crisis leading to recession and depression. Liberals fix the economy with regulations and conservatives wreck it with financial libertarianism. They are able to do this because frontier mythology and plain ignorance make it possible for average voters to think more freedom for banks equates to greater personal liberty. The relationship, of course, is opposite.
144
It was Clinton that removed Glass Seagall regulations and it was Dodd/Frank that refused to put them into their bill. Refused! And you think Dems are the good guys and Reps are the bad guys. I'm disheartened by the ignorance I'm reading here today.
Doing away with Dodd-Frank is critical to President Trump's infrastructure plan. Without the nuisance of those pesky regulations, it will become possible for private industry to finance the trillion dollar plan with junk bonds, and then the banks and finance houses can bundle the grade Z junk bonds into AAA-rated derivatives. It will be a fun ride . . . for a while.
49
Until the infrastructure that was built using shoddy materials and with complete disregard for anyone's safety falls down and kills a few thousand people it'll be fun. It's amazing how often the GOP and businesses rail against the regulations that keep their customers alive. Maybe they like sending people to early graves.
2
Some will immediately balk at the firing provision of the CFPB, but the current structure has created an unelected bureaucrat will far too little accountability and insulated from political and public accountability. No mere agency head should be so exempted and shielded from the consequences of their conduct and decisions.
5
OK, George, how about protecting that unelected bureaucrat from rapacious financial titans with no interest whatsoever except increasing their haul of taxpayer cash, confident there will be no consequence to irresponsible risk taking and fraud because their pal in the White House will take care of them no matter what?
Speaking of the White House, how is it you're so comfortable with unelected Goldman-Sachs stooges running the economy into the ground again, and again?
No mere business honk should be allowed any influence whatsoever over the agencies charged with regulating them. And no money-grubbing Congressperson or President should be allowed to put them there.
Speaking of the White House, how is it you're so comfortable with unelected Goldman-Sachs stooges running the economy into the ground again, and again?
No mere business honk should be allowed any influence whatsoever over the agencies charged with regulating them. And no money-grubbing Congressperson or President should be allowed to put them there.
6
Is there a single issue where Republicans say to their financiers, "look buddy, your money is nice, but that's not happening"? A single one?
Why do the rest of the nation and all other political actors have to constantly be forced into defensive postures while the Republicans destroy everything in sight?
In a just society, in a sane society, Republicans would be a fringe party generally disregarded as the economically illiterate crackpots and spineless tools that they are. None of them are intelligent or competent enough to get elected to a town council in Europe.
Why do the rest of the nation and all other political actors have to constantly be forced into defensive postures while the Republicans destroy everything in sight?
In a just society, in a sane society, Republicans would be a fringe party generally disregarded as the economically illiterate crackpots and spineless tools that they are. None of them are intelligent or competent enough to get elected to a town council in Europe.
189
Three words: gerrymandering; Koch Brothers.
6
"In a just society, in a sane society, Republicans would be a fringe party generally disregarded as the economically illiterate crackpots and spineless tools that they are. None of them are intelligent or competent enough to get elected to a town council in Europe."
Indeed! The same goes double for their supporters.
Indeed! The same goes double for their supporters.
They're plenty bright; just bad.
1
WOOOO bring on the recession! YES!
33
Dismantle it?? Nobody knows or can make head or tail what is in it. Instead of bringing back Glass-Steagall which would have done the job, they passed this two ton bill that nobody understands.
7
paul - 95% of subprime mortgages were not sold by the banks to which Glass - Steagall applied. These bad mortgages were bundled into dodgy derivative securities and sold by investment banks again to which Glass - Steagall did not apply. Then credit default swaps (bets on these securities) were sold by reinsurance companies (like AIG) to which again Glass - Steagall did not apply. This is a much more complicated world than when Glass - Steagall was passed, and that is why Dodd - Frank is so complicated.
67
Len..thank you for your reply...glass steagall lasted for some 70 yrs and it worked...prevented banks from getting too big.
If it was still in place, all the things you mentioned would have almost certainly not have happened.
Anybody on the left or right I talked to has told me Dodd-Frank is unreadable. I looked at it. It is massive. It is unreadable.
You can read whatever you want into it.
If it was still in place, all the things you mentioned would have almost certainly not have happened.
Anybody on the left or right I talked to has told me Dodd-Frank is unreadable. I looked at it. It is massive. It is unreadable.
You can read whatever you want into it.
2
paul - Read again what I wrote. GS simply did not apply to the financial institutions that caused the worst of the problems.
Let's look at the history of the 6 depression the US has suffered thru:
The federal government has balanced the budget, eliminated deficits for more than three years, and paid down the debt more than 10% in just six periods since 1776, bringing in enough revenue to cover all of its spending during 1817-21, 1823-36, 1852-57, 1867-73, 1880-93, and 1920-30. The debt was paid down 29%. 100%, 59%, 27%, 57%, and 38% respectively. A depression began in 1819, 1837, 1857, 1873, 1893 and 1929.
To this list can be added the Clinton surpluses which were not big enough to cause an intimidate depression, but contributed to the crash of 2008 which was prevented from turning into a full blown depression only by the addition of TRILLIONS by the FED to the banking system.
What is the relationship between deficits and depressions?
The federal deficit measures the net flow of money FROM the federal government TO the private sector. When we have a surplus the flow reverses and money flows OUT of the private sector to the federal government. If the trade deficit is large, this just increases the outward flow.
What is the cumulative effect of money flowing OUT of the private sector?
People and businesses turn to banks to borrow money and PRIVATE debt explodes. Banks lend out many times their reserves, e.g. 25 - 27 times in 2007-2008. We have seen over and over that banks can create only so much money by lending. Without strong regulation, they will wreck the economy.
And they have. 7 times.
The federal government has balanced the budget, eliminated deficits for more than three years, and paid down the debt more than 10% in just six periods since 1776, bringing in enough revenue to cover all of its spending during 1817-21, 1823-36, 1852-57, 1867-73, 1880-93, and 1920-30. The debt was paid down 29%. 100%, 59%, 27%, 57%, and 38% respectively. A depression began in 1819, 1837, 1857, 1873, 1893 and 1929.
To this list can be added the Clinton surpluses which were not big enough to cause an intimidate depression, but contributed to the crash of 2008 which was prevented from turning into a full blown depression only by the addition of TRILLIONS by the FED to the banking system.
What is the relationship between deficits and depressions?
The federal deficit measures the net flow of money FROM the federal government TO the private sector. When we have a surplus the flow reverses and money flows OUT of the private sector to the federal government. If the trade deficit is large, this just increases the outward flow.
What is the cumulative effect of money flowing OUT of the private sector?
People and businesses turn to banks to borrow money and PRIVATE debt explodes. Banks lend out many times their reserves, e.g. 25 - 27 times in 2007-2008. We have seen over and over that banks can create only so much money by lending. Without strong regulation, they will wreck the economy.
And they have. 7 times.
87
Finally, a Republican legislative proposal that doesn't include a huge tax break for the rich!
Apparently, jail breaks are also important for the Republican donor class. Some Senate Democrats will be helpless to avoid voting for it. They're the ones that still have Hillary bumper stickers on their town cars.
Apparently, jail breaks are also important for the Republican donor class. Some Senate Democrats will be helpless to avoid voting for it. They're the ones that still have Hillary bumper stickers on their town cars.
3
Agreed brian....Hillary and her supporters answer to the demagogue Trump was vote for me I am a woman and he is a bad guy and overlook the fact I let wall street run wild, never met a war or bad trade agreement I didn't like.
Dems made a big mistake not nominating Bernie, now they are paying for it, with the rabble rousing, admitted sexual predator, pathological liar, ego maniac demagogue Trump.
Learn from history or be condemned to repeat its worst mistakes.
Dems made a big mistake not nominating Bernie, now they are paying for it, with the rabble rousing, admitted sexual predator, pathological liar, ego maniac demagogue Trump.
Learn from history or be condemned to repeat its worst mistakes.
7
"Learn from history"?
You must have missed the previous four recessions/depressions, all of which were instigated by conservative deregulation schemes, resulting in huge financial crises paid for by YOU... And which were then fixed by incoming liberal administrations.
The regulations the House is going to strip were put in place during Obama's administration to fix the financial crisis that W left us. Oh, yeah—after W plundered the $5 trillion SURPLUS left by Hillary's hubby (first budget surplus in 50+ years!) and racked up a NEW $10 trillion in debt.
One of Hillary's main platform planks, if you recall from very recent history, was MORE financial regulation and strengthening of the consumer protections that D-F put in place. Yes, I'll agree that Hillary wasn't the cleanest when it came to Wall Street, but by no means was she as dirty as this crowd in the House are.
Learning from history means both remembering and correctly analyzing it. Try harder.
You must have missed the previous four recessions/depressions, all of which were instigated by conservative deregulation schemes, resulting in huge financial crises paid for by YOU... And which were then fixed by incoming liberal administrations.
The regulations the House is going to strip were put in place during Obama's administration to fix the financial crisis that W left us. Oh, yeah—after W plundered the $5 trillion SURPLUS left by Hillary's hubby (first budget surplus in 50+ years!) and racked up a NEW $10 trillion in debt.
One of Hillary's main platform planks, if you recall from very recent history, was MORE financial regulation and strengthening of the consumer protections that D-F put in place. Yes, I'll agree that Hillary wasn't the cleanest when it came to Wall Street, but by no means was she as dirty as this crowd in the House are.
Learning from history means both remembering and correctly analyzing it. Try harder.
OMG, Paul! Are you guys still blaming the Democrats for Trump?
That's a weasel act worthy of the Republicans backing this abomination of a bill based on their unchallenged ability to always scream "Not our fault" when their masters wreck the economy. Which they do with depressing regularity.
If you think Bernie would have won, you're little more than a fool.
If you think this Congress would have allowed him to accomplish any one of his airhead fantasies, you really are blind. And if you honestly believe the Berniekins who voted for Trump had good reason, you don't have a brain for either politics or business.
That's a weasel act worthy of the Republicans backing this abomination of a bill based on their unchallenged ability to always scream "Not our fault" when their masters wreck the economy. Which they do with depressing regularity.
If you think Bernie would have won, you're little more than a fool.
If you think this Congress would have allowed him to accomplish any one of his airhead fantasies, you really are blind. And if you honestly believe the Berniekins who voted for Trump had good reason, you don't have a brain for either politics or business.
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