Wall Street quietly seeks to undo new financial rules

[cory777]

Source: McClatchy

WASHINGTON — The heavy hitters of finance lost big battles earlier this year during the overhaul of financial regulation, but they're working hard to win the war. They're quietly trying to soften, if not kill, some of the more controversial provisions.

Lobbyists for Big Finance are working hardest to neutralize the so-called Volcker Rule, which would force big banks to spin off their lucrative proprietary trading operations, in which they invest their own capital in speculative deals.

The measure_ named after its proponent, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker — seeks to prevent big banks from betting against trades they made on behalf of their customers, a popular practice until the financial crisis exploded in 2008. For example, big investment banks such as Goldman Sachs sold customers overvalued mortgage bonds even as they bet secretly that those bonds would default.

Financial lobbyists also are working to soften requirements that Wall Street firms put more "skin in the game" by retaining more mortgage bonds on their books to guard against shoddy lending. They're also trying to undercut the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.



Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/11/16/103833/wall-street-quietly-seeks-to-undo.html

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News that Matters! http://activistnews.blogspot.com/

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. did the Tea Party disagree with deregulation?

[Skittles]

3. if their dittomasters disagree, they will too

[No Elephants]

15. Tea Party of 1773 (more or less) or of 2009?

[midnight]

2. Really? Haven't they done enough damage?

[truedelphi]

4. Right now one of the bigger bets that the gamblers are making on Wall Street is

That S 510 passes during the lame duck session.

The Wall Street Gambling Crowd is going to be very happy to see the prices of basic commodities go up tremendously in price as the local and the organic farmers are paper worked out of existence.

And even if various solutions are inserted to amend the bill, they don't do enough.

Say hello to even more food from China, and remember this past year as "The good old days" when people could still go to the store and get somewhat affordable Organic Food.

[No Elephants]

16. Mmmmm. Lead.

[truedelphi]

20. And don't forget the other essential nutrients China brings us

Melanine and cadmium!

Yum!

[EFerrari]

5. And this is why mere regulation won't work. It can be undone

because these people have the most powerful lobby in the nation.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

6. Wait, I thought DU said Obama was a corporate shill who loved Wall Street.

:rofl:

[jotsy]

7. Check out the assessment of benefit before any new modifications.

If you're familiar with 'Capitalism Hits the Fan', then you'll recognize Richard Wolff, economics professor from UMASS.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXbSNs33b48>

This bill as I understand it doesn't really change much; quite like the consumer protection agency that's being built. I absolutely think to put Elizabeth Warren in charge of these matters is the best choice, but I'd much rather see her have the authority she needs to put the power, financial and otherwise back into the people's reach.

For as long as industry lobbyists are allowed to pen the letter of the law, we shouldn't be surprised that the language favors the corporatocracy.

[defendandprotect]

8. K&R

[Selatius]

9. I'm sure the Bankers will win the lobbying war in the end. They have the money. We don't.

We just got voters, and many of them are too fucking stupid to realize what is happening.

[No Elephants]

11. Unless and until Joe and Jane Six Pack hire lobbyists, is there really any lobbying war?

Don't you need more than one side for a war?

AFAIK, so far, all the lobbyists are trying to get government to (a) leave them a clear field to get rich from their customers (us) by any means they choose; (b) give them whatever "incentives" they want to get rich from their customers (us), at whatever cost to the Treasury (also us), American jobs (also us), American health and safety, etc. (also us); and (c) rescue them if, despite having gotten (a) and (b), their businesses buckle under their own insatiable, all-consuming greed (yep, you guessed it, "us" is also the rescue squad).


True, we already pay our government to be on our side, but that hasn't worked out too well, but "us" are still acting as though it were still 1964. "Us" haven't adjusted to the plutonomy, which everyone says is "the new normal." Loosely translated, "new normal" means, "Us" should get used to permanently making the rich even richer while 'us' continue to get even poorer.

Shoot. Nothing new (or normal) about that. It's how the Depression got to be Great. http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/a/aintwegotfun.shtml

Only now, wars just tank our economy further, instead of rescuing it. (Well, unless you own Blackwater, Halliburton, Bechtel, etc.) On top of that, most of our jobs emigrated and don't seem homesick Oh, wait. I just realized: This paragraph describes the "new" part of "new normal!"

Anyhoo, Joe and Jane Six Pack probably won't be part of any lobbying war.

[xchrom]

10. As they always will. Nt

[killbotfactory]

12. Oh, I thought the regulations didn't do squat

you know, according to "progressives", loopholes and stuff...

[w4rma]

13. No they don't do enough. But Wall Street always wants more. Wall Street is greedy. (nt)

[No Elephants]

14. ? Why would you think that? Check

Reply # 17 on this thread
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4503098#4505111

and Reply 45 on this one.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4485107&mesg_id=4485783

[bread_and_roses]

18. They don't have to do "squat." The Banksters oppose the IDEA of regulation

The Banksters will fight even the notion that finance should be regulated. That's what this is about. The regulations passed are largely decorative; that doesn't matter. It's about power.

[lfairban]

19. They probably will, but they shouldn't.

The objection to all regulation of the financial institutions is based on the myth of the rational market. The myth was effectively destroyed by the Great Recession, that left Alan Greenspan, one of the primary proponents, shaking his head in a congressional committee meeting and admitting that he had been wrong for 40 years.

[Hydra]

22. The problem is that despite all evidence to the contrary

The Free Marketeers even here are undaunted.

It isn't because there was too little regulation that we crashed, oh no...it's because there was ANY regulation. According to the true believers, we have to have a totally lawless market in order to have utopia.

[killbotfactory]

24. They are too big to fail so they don't give a shit.

They understand how much power is in their hands, and they abuse it how one would expect them to.

[Hubert Flottz]

17. Obama needs to hang a few of the bastards so they'll get the...

idea that crime don't pay anymore, like it did whe Bush ran the show.

[earth mom]

21. Of course those criminals are working overtime to be able to continue their crime spree.

Not surprised at all! :puke:

[TheWatcher]

23. They are going to loot, rob, and steal until we stop them.

By WHATEVER means necessary.

It's that simple.