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Senate Democrat Predicts No 'Sweeping Rollback' of Dodd-Frank Law
"The Democrat next-in-line to chair the powerful Senate Banking Committee on Friday predicted there will be no "sweeping rollback" of the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul law, even if Republicans win big in Tuesday's election.
"I think there will be minor changes in Dodd-Frank, but nothing more… no matter who's in the majority," Sen. Tim Johnson (D., S.D.) said in an interview Friday."
10/30/2010 11:13 AM
Permalink ID:18158
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Dem’s Financial Bill Forces Banks to Get Rid of Free Checking
"It’s happening because a raft of new laws enacted in the past year, including the financial overhaul package, have led to an acute shrinking of revenue for the banks. So they are scraping together money however they can."
10/21/2010 6:55 AM
Permalink ID:17939
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9/13/2010 8:26 PM
Permalink ID:16844
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Senator: Obama, Congress 'Intentionally' Spending to Force Value-Added Tax Implementation
"Remember, every European country has an income tax, a sales tax, which is their VAT tax, and what they see is the United States only has an income tax. So they say, ‘Well, we can obviously take the European model. If we go down the European road of expanding our government dramatically,’ which is what they’re planning to do and what they’ve actually done with the health care bill specifically, ‘Then we can fill that gap without going down the European model of a VAT tax.’”
9/12/2010 6:20 PM
Permalink ID:16805
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8/30/2010 9:54 PM
Permalink ID:16397
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The October Surprise: Is Obama About To Announce A Massive Shift Towards Cutting Taxes?
"Obama needs a shock & awe kind of move to restore confidence in the economy and his administration, and a reversal on tax cuts would actually do it. All the claims about the administration being anti-business (and thus creating an uncertainty that was preventing hiring, etc.) would vanish."
8/25/2010 8:35 PM
Permalink ID:16258
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White Males Need Not Apply: Financial reform bill calls for diversity
"Each of the 30 federal financial agencies and departments are required to establish an office to boost hiring of and contracting opportunities for minorities and women. Critics say it will be burdensome and unnecessary."
8/25/2010 7:43 AM
Permalink ID:16235
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8/23/2010 4:39 PM
Permalink ID:16163
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8/17/2010 10:54 PM
Permalink ID:16044
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8/15/2010 12:01 PM
Permalink ID:15979
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Obama’s Financial Reform Failure
"On July 2, President Obama declared, “And finally, because of this law, the American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street’s mistakes...."
8/10/2010 1:06 AM
Permalink ID:15831
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Chicago leads largest cities in sales tax
"Just as Illinois touts its first sales-tax holiday, a new report highlights Chicago as having among the highest retail sales tax rates of the nation’s largest cities. At 9.75 percent once county, mass transit and city taxes are added to the statewide 6.25 percent sales tax, Chicago’s tax rate is equal to that of Los Angeles."
8/10/2010 1:03 AM
Permalink ID:15830
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The Bailout Singularity
"Rumors are running wild from Washington to Wall Street that the Obama administration is about to order government-controlled lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to forgive a portion of the mortgage debt of millions of Americans who owe more than what their homes are worth. An estimated 15 million U.S. mortgages – one in five – are underwater with negative equity of some $800 billion… The move, if it happens, would be a stunning political and economic bombshell less than 100 days before a midterm election in which Democrats are currently expected to suffer massive, if not historic losses."
".....This vote-buying scheme would come on top of $400 billion in taxpayer dollars already pumped into Fannie and Freddie… just a few years after Democrats assured us there was “no crisis at Freddie Mac, and particularly Fannie Mae” (Maxine Waters) and the corporations had no “safety and soundness problems” (Barney Frank.)"
8/9/2010 12:26 AM
Permalink ID:15791
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Roles of the President’s White House economic advisors
"The White House has announced that Dr. Christina Romer, Chair of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, will soon resign and return to California. This comes on the heels of Budget Director Peter Orszag’s resignation. Dr. Romer is generally considered to have the inside track to replace Janet Yellen as President of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank when Dr. Yellen moves to become Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors."
"There is a lot of press speculation about why Dr. Romer is leaving and about why Budget Director Peter Orszag left. This speculation centers on the personalities and interactions among various members of the President’s economic team."
8/8/2010 9:18 PM
Permalink ID:15786
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Progressive Mind: "...the perfect form of government is the benign dictatorship"
"The fact that our normal American safeguards have thus far failed to contain this unprecedented expansion of executive power is itself deeply troubling. This failure is due in part to the fact that the executive branch has followed a determined strategy of obfuscating, delaying, withholding information, appearing to yield but then refusing to do so, and dissembling in order to frustrate the efforts of the legislative and judicial branches to restore a healthy constitutional balance."
8/7/2010 5:08 PM
Permalink ID:15744
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Agencies plan spending spree to implement Wall Street reform bill
"Congress is on track to appropriate hundreds of millions more in 2011 for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Treasury Department. Lawmakers are still working on the annual spending bills."
7/30/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:15585
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SEC Says New Financial Regulation Law Exempts it From Public Disclosure
"Under a little-noticed provision of the recently passed financial-reform legislation, the Securities and Exchange Commission no longer has to comply with virtually all requests for information releases from the public, including those filed under the Freedom of Information Act."
7/28/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:15530
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Feds demand diversity on Wall Street
"A little-noticed section of the Wall Street reform law grants the federal government broad new powers to compel financial firms to hire more women and minorities — an effort at promoting diversity that’s drawing fire from Republicans who say it could lead to de facto hiring quotas."
7/28/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:15516
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Who pays for the new financial regulation bill?
"Barack Obama celebrated the passage of the new financial regulation bill yesterday. So did Chris Dodd and Barney Frank. And why not? It’s not as though they’ll have to pay for the new bureaucracies and regulation imposed on the American financial system. For that matter, it won’t be the bankers, either. Who pays?"
7/18/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:15307
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MSM Ignored Racial, Gender Quotas in Financial Reform Bill
"Do you know — and more important, do your Representatives and Senators know — that the just-passed Dodd-Frank financial reform bill will unleash a tsunami or racial quotas on financial regulatory agencies and, inevitably, on the financial industry itself? Not if you rely on the New York Times, the Washington Post, and their network news equivalents."
7/18/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:15305
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Timothy Geithner's realm grows with passage of financial regulatory reform
"Half a year after some predicted he would be booted from the Obama administration, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner stands to inherit vast power to shape bank regulations, oversee financial markets and create a consumer protection agency."
7/16/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:15280
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7/16/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:15278
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7/16/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:15270
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Fed Gets More Power, Responsibility
"After fending off most challenges to its independence and winning new powers to oversee big financial firms, the Federal Reserve has emerged from a bruising debate on the overhaul of U.S. financial rules as perhaps the pre-eminent regulator in the sector. But that could only bring it added blame if things go wrong again. "
7/16/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:15269
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Financial Reform, R.I.P.
"So long Glass-Steagall. Hello Dodd-Frank--the most comprehensive rewrite of financial rules since 1933. This 2,319-page colossus--10 times the length of Glass-Steagall--took 1.5 years to produce and will cost $30 billion and many more years to implement. Will all this time and treasure make Wall Street safe for Main Street? "
7/16/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:15267
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Quotas Hidden in Bank Reform Bill Will Cost Taxpayers Millions
"Section 342 of the bill calls for an "Office of Minority and Women Inclusion" to be established in each of 29 federal bureaus and offices."
"The regulations appear to go beyond ensuring that discrimination in hiring decisions does not occur. Instead, it requires assurance of "fair inclusion." Furchtgott-Roth says it will pressure companies to find and hire minorities even if one hasn't applied for a specific job."
"The bill's affirmative action provisions -- some suggest they are de facto quotas -- would apply not only to the 29 federal agencies but also to all "financial institutions, investment banking firms, mortgage banking firms, asset management firms, brokers, dealers, financial services entities, underwriters, accountants, investment consultants, and providers of legal services" who do business with them."
"Moreover, the law also applies to those firms' sub-contractors "as applicable."
Furchtgott-Roth says that means financial firms seeking to do business with the government will have to verify the racial and gender composition of their subcontractors -- including office-cleaning crews, paper-shredding vendors, office-party catering firms -- if they wish to do business with the government.
"
7/16/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:15266
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CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: Don't underestimate Barack Obama
"...there is a major financial overhaul, which passed Congress on Thursday. Economists argue whether it will prevent meltdowns and bailouts as promised. But there is no argument that it will give the government unprecedented power in the financial marketplace."
"Its 2,300 pages will create at least 243 new regulations that will affect not only, as many assume, the big banks, but just about everyone, including, as noted in one summary, "storefront check cashiers, city governments, small manufacturers, homebuyers and credit bureaus.""
7/15/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:15249
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Law Remakes U.S. Financial Landscape
"Senate Passes Overhaul That Will Touch Most Americans; Bankers Gird for Fight Over Fine Print."
7/15/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:15248
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Democrats Clinch Support of Republicans Brown and Snowe
"Sens. Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Olympia Snowe of Maine both said they would vote for the measure when Democrats bring it to a vote, which could happen as soon as this week. Democrats and administration officials believe this gives them the necessary backing to overcome a potential filibuster after weeks of uncertainty and unexpected pitfalls."
7/12/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:15164
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What Has Scott Brown Done For You?
"Scott Brown has announced today that he will vote in favor of the Democrats' financial regulation bill, helping to clear passage through the Senate:"
7/12/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:15142
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7/9/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:15067
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Fannie And Freddie Have Powerful Buddies And That Ensures No Real Reform
"The financial reform bill is reaching its final stages and the question remains: why is there no mention of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? This question has been repeatedly asked and has yet to receive an answer, but if you begin to take a closer look the reasons become apparent."
7/1/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:14852
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The Dodd-Frank Assault on Economic Recovery
"Permanent Bailout Authority: The Dodd-Frank bill creates an “orderly liquidation” process by which regulators are empowered to seize financial institutions that they believe are in danger of failing and liquidate them. While the lack of a broadly accepted process for closing down large financial institutions helped lead to the massive bailouts of 2008 and 2009, this liquidation process is problematic. Federal regulators are granted broad powers to seize private firms they feel are in danger of default, and these powers are subject to insufficient judicial review. Such governmental discretion to seize private property is constitutionally troubling."
6/29/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:14790
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Scott Brown Slams Dodd and Frank Over Financial Bill
Lets hope Scott Brown has learned his lesson.
"I am writing you to express my strong opposition to the $19 billion bank tax that was included in the financial reform bill during the conference committee. This tax was not in the Senate version of the bill, which I supported. If the final version of this bill contains these higher taxes, I will not support it."
"It is especially troubling that this provision was inserted in the conference report in the dead of night without hearings or economic analysis. While some will try to argue this isn’t a tax, this new provision takes real money away from the economy, making it unavailable for lending on Main Street, and gives it to Washington. That sounds like a tax to me."
6/29/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:14777
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6/28/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:14764
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Obama calls for bank tax as next step in reform
"President Barack Obama, fresh from a win on a sweeping overhaul of Wall Street regulations, on Saturday urged Congress to take up his proposal for a $90 billion, 10-year tax on banks as the next step in reform."
6/26/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:14700
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How bank reform will change mortgage shopping
"Nestled within the massive financial-reform package that a House-Senate panel approved early Friday morning are consumer protections that could change the way people shop for a mortgage. "
6/25/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:14661
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Banks Likely to Offset Impact of New Law
"Analysts pored over the specifics of the deal as they emerged on Friday and expressed a wide array of views about the impact it would have. Some saw the bill as more of a political statement than a practical measure that could prevent another financial meltdown. Others said banks’ costs would increase, but banks would pass the increased costs along to consumers."
6/25/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:14660
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Treasury, Dodd Sell Out To Wall Street
"The most crucial element in the re-regulation of Wall Street has been gutted. At least for now, there will be no limits on how much money Wall Street can borrow to do its business. It's an invitation to dare a new meltdown or financial crisis. The big banks' lobbyists have convinced Treasury and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, not to support Rep Barney Frank's, D-Mass., insistence on limiting the leverage Wall Street can use to trade securities."
6/25/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:14647
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U.S. Lawmakers Reach Accord on New Finance Rules
"After more than 20 hours of continuous wrangling, congressional Democrats and White House officials reached agreement on the final shape of legislation that would transform financial regulation, avoiding last-minute defections among New York lawmakers that had threatened to upend the bill."
6/25/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:14646
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Democrats court Republican votes on Wall Street reform
"Democrats finalizing a 2,000-page bill that would overhaul Wall Street are moving to satisfy a handful of Republican senators whose votes may be necessary to pass the legislation."
6/23/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:14597
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Finance Bill's Devilish Details
"Much of the 2,000-page draft of the Democrats' finance reform bill could have been written by Acorn, and probably was. It has more to do with "civil rights" than consumer protection."
6/22/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:14541
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6/19/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:14450
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Regs may pit states against Treasury
"A Senate provision that would create a national insurance office in the Treasury Department has sparked a debate over how much authority the federal government should have to overrule state laws."
6/16/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:14376
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5/31/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:13846
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Obama's spending idea is only frugality theater
"Barack Obama, an unbeliever genuflecting before the altar of frugality, is asking Congress, as presidents do, to give him something like a line-item veto. Coming in today's context of his unrelenting agenda of expanding government, his proposal constitutes a counterfeit promise to get serious about controlling spending and the deficit. His purpose is to distract the public while Democrats enact something like Stimulus III."
5/29/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:13765
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Arlen Specter's Revenge
"Friends tell The Daily Beast that the departing senator, injured by Obama's failure to show last-minute support, may well shift right on key votes from Kagan to financial reform."
5/27/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:13703
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Perks unchecked for some Wall Street CEOs
"Some of the nation's biggest financial firms have increased the perks and benefits they pay their chief executives, despite the glaring spotlight from a public fed up with handsome bonuses at bailed-out Wall Street banks."
5/22/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:13537
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Et tu Scott Brown?
"Scott Brown becomes the deciding 60th vote for cloture on Wall St. takeover bill."
5/22/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:13521
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Senate Democrats Pass Bill Allowing Govt to Collect Addresses, ATM Records of Bank Customers
"Senate Democrats united to pass a financial regulatory bill that allows the government to collect data on any person operating in financial markets at any level, including the collection of personal transaction records from local banks, including customers’ addresses and ATM receipts."
5/22/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:13502
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5/20/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:13440
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Bill to Overhaul Financial Rules Clears Hurdle in Senate Vote
"The vote was 60 to 40, with three Republicans joining the Democratic majority in favor of ending the debate. Two Democrats voted with 38 Republicans in opposition to finalizing the bill."
5/20/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:13410
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Senate Republicans Block Final Vote on Banking Bill
"The vote 57-42 to cut off debate and move toward final passage. Democrats needed 60 votes to accomplish that."
5/19/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:13371
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Violating privacy one bank account at a time
"Democrats want to pay the feds to watch every penny you spend."
"This bill does nothing to address the problems created by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Rather it makes permanent the failed risky lending policies of the past by paying banks to advertise and seek out low-income people who would otherwise not qualify for loans. The bank, backed by the government, issues risky loans and either the loan is paid back on time, in which case the bank keeps all the profits, or the loan defaults and the government uses taxpayer money to cover the bank's loss. Win-win for government-backed banks, total failure for taxpayers."
5/19/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:13364
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Vanguard's Bailout Warning
"The Senate lets regulators pick creditor favorites."
5/18/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:13338
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Senators load financial overhaul with irrelevancies
"Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., wants the government to finish building the 700-mile fence between the U.S. and Mexico. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., wants to end the health insurance industry's antitrust protection. West Virginia's two senators want help with mine and oil rig safety."
5/18/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:13329
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Obama's Wall Street problem
"You can't trash the bankers all week and then collect campaign money from them."
5/15/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:13241
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Frank Claims Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Already Reformed
"In the wake of Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) reporting more huge losses in Q1 and requesting an additional $19 billion in taxpayer funds, House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., assured everyone that the losses were due to bad practices in the past:"
5/15/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:13237
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The Dodd bill is perfectly designed to create the largest and most powerful crony system in history
"Whatever your views on financial reform—whether you want the government to crack down on bankers or to disentangle itself from financial markets—you should fear Sen. Chris Dodd's financial reform bill. In 1,300-some pages, all it really does is legislate power to the government for fixes to be named later. It does this by using terms that are either totally undefined or defined in breathtaking generality. "
5/12/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:13122
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Fannie the Unreformable
"Democrats leave Chris Dodd alone to defend the indefensible."
5/12/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:13103
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Brace' yourself: Democrat's Wall Street regulation bill snares dentists, doctors, & patients
"The Democrats’ health care takeover didn’t stop with ObamaCare and there are some hurtful provisions in the new financial regulation bill Americans should know about if they have any expensive dental procedures coming up."
5/11/2010 12:00 AM
Permalink ID:13079
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