UPDATE 2-Big bank "break-up" idea gains ground in Congress

[ej510]

* Independent Senator Sanders introduces break-up bill

* Legislation also under consideration in House

* Sanders would give Treasury 90 days to identify firms (Adds Kanjorski, Frank, Miller comments, background, byline)

By Kevin Drawbaugh

WASHINGTON, Nov 6 (Reuters) - An independent U.S. senator on Friday introduced a bill that would give the government the power to identify and break up financial firms that are "too big to fail," an idea that is catching on.

"If an institution is too big to fail, it is too big to exist," said Senator Bernie Sanders in a statement.

"We should break them up so they are no longer in a position to bring down the entire economy," he said.

Sanders is an independent outside the U.S. political mainstream. But he is not the only one looking at break-ups.

Representative Paul Kanjorski, the Democratic chairman of the capital markets subcommittee in the U.S. House of Representatives, is working on a break-up power amendment.

It would give a new government systemic risk council break-up power, with clearance from the president.

"It's the natural action of capital to grow and exceed. Now we're going to contain it," Kanjorski told CNBC television.

He said large banks oppose his amendment because it would threaten them. But, he said, mid-sized and smaller financial institutions would be helped by it because they would be better able to compete if mega-firms were downsized.

"When the people's money is being used to bail out these large companies ... We certainly have to have someone to tell them what to do in order to save them," he said.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said earlier on CNBC that a bill he is working on, which Kanjorski wants to toughen, would let a systemic risk regulator "break up" risky financial firms.

Elsewhere this week, the two largest UK retail banks -- Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) and Lloyds Banking (LLOY.L) -- got more government aid and agreed to sell branches and businesses to appease European Union competition concerns over state aid.

EU regulators are considering measures to force banks across Europe to sell assets and sometimes even to break up to compensate for massive state aid they have received. Continued...

http://www.reuters.com/article/BROKER/idUSN0618960720091106

Thank You Bernie Sanders!

[redqueen]

1. Yes, thank you Senator Sanders!

:bounce:

This is great news.

[ej510]

17. He's the best Senator in the Senate.

A real progressive.

[redqueen]

19. Hands down!

Voters in blue states should all be pushing for more like him. :D

Those of us in red states... well, we do what we can. :P

[RepublicanElephant]

27. amen!!

america's senator.

[ck4829]

2. "Too big to fail" should be "Too big to be around in the first place"

[Kdillard]

3. Great news hopefully Pres. Obama will be signing it soon along with other

Regulatory reform.

[ej510]

4. this the best news I heard in a while. Now we have to get it past the corporacrats.

[AspenRose]

5. K&R!

[xchrom]

6. bernie sanders is not a member of the democratic party. nt

[redqueen]

7. Did this give it away?

" Independent Senator Sanders introduces break-up bill "

[xchrom]

9. no -- just wanted to remind the obama circle jerk squad. nt

[redqueen]

10. Who?

The only person who mentioned Obama besides you was someone who said they hoped he'd sign it.

WTF are you talking about? Just looking for reasons to piss all over good news threads, is that it?

[ej510]

11. How did this become a negative thread? This is good news.

[redqueen]

13. You got me.

Some people seem to be addicted to naysaying.

[Kdillard]

12. The only one jerking anything is you. Way to ruin a good thread with an unnecessary attack.

[ej510]

14. Yay Bernie!

[ej510]

8. That is why he is free to work for the people.

[xchrom]

15. and elected demcratic party representatives can't do the same?

this is EXACTLY the kind of change that should be coming from the Party -- and it's reps in the senate, the white house and the house of reps.

i applaud the good news -- however i decry that it is coming from some one who is not a democrat in light of the last national election.

[redqueen]

16. If only all Americans were more like the voters in VT...

sadly, most of them love war and hate 'socialism' (as the RW propaganda machine has defined it).

[ej510]

18. Church, Klan, and Guns in no particular order.

[redqueen]

20. Oh God yeah... I forgot about God!

:rofl:

Gotta be a churchgoer! Yes indeed! So what if The Family is an evil nasty nefarious organization? It's CHURCHY, goddammit! :crazy:

[ej510]

21. LMFAO!

These people are programmed to hate.

[Armstead]

22. They are...Vermont is not just some hippie utopia. It;s filled with rednecks...and many of them...

love Bernie because they know that when it comes to the bread and butter issues that count he's on their side.

Sanders knows something intuitively that the Democratic Party has forgotten. If you stand up for the common-sense progressive and liberal principles and policies that actually are on the side of working men and women, you can win over a lot of people who might otherwise not call themselves "liberal" or progressive.

[ej510]

23. It is a fact and that theory was proven by Deeds running as a republican instead of a progressive.

[redqueen]

24. I tend to agree, but...

I think that glosses over a whole lot of details, some that might be critical.

I don't have the impression that VT is a hippie utopia... but I expect there are not as many rednecks there as in TX, AL, GA, LA, etc.

[ej510]

25. Yeah Alabama is about as backwards as you could be.

You have to be a member of them to win a seat in that rat hole of a state.

[ej510]

26. He said the reason he is not a democrat, because of the issues with the special interest.

[Vidar]

28. Thank you, Bernie! Recommended.