Diluted provisions a big win for banks

[depakid]

Legislation to overhaul financial regulation will help curb risk-taking and boost capital buffers. What it won't do is fundamentally reshape Wall Street's biggest banks or prevent another crisis, analysts said.

A deal reached by members of a House and Senate conference early Friday diluted provisions from the tougher Senate bill, limiting rather than ending the ability of federally insured banks to trade derivatives and invest in hedge funds or private equity funds.

Banks "dodged a bullet," said Raj Date, executive director for Cambridge Winter Inc.'s center for financial institutions policy and a former Deutsche Bank AG executive. "This has to be a net positive."

The overhaul, which requires approval from the full Congress, won't shrink banks deemed "too big to fail," leaving largely intact a U.S. financial industry dominated by six companies with a combined $9.4 trillion in assets. The changes also does little to solve the danger posed by leveraged companies reliant on fickle markets for funding, which can evaporate in a panic like the one that spread in late 2008.

The legislation is "largely a fig leaf," said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington. "Given where we were when this got started, I'd have to imagine the Wall Street firms are pretty happy."

Banks avoided drastic curbs on their highly profitable derivatives businesses.

More: http://www.northjersey.com/news/97213489_Diluted_provisions_a_big_win_for_banks.html

[ProSense]

1. "Banks 'dodged a bullet'" Evidently,

there were a lot more that one bullet.

[jaxx]

3. It looks like more of a success than a failure.

No way they could dodge all that.

[depakid]

4. They dodged a bunch of them- and watered down half a dozen more!

The real "winner" of course were the ratings agencies. Dems & Franken had their 60 votes- but Barney waved his magic wand at the conference and poof!

"we need two more years of study!"

Them darn conflicts of interest- them's too complicated for us to act on.

[cornermouse]

5. Linking to yourself, linking to a press release.

Pfft.

[saigon68]

2. Time to Rob and Pillage

[cornermouse]

6. Not an indepth analysis

But you might want to take a look at it.

http://www.prwatch.org/node/9202

Title and subtitles below. I'm not sure I agree with the conclusion. I don't think we'll be able to reinstitute a Glass-Steagall type of law.

Derivatives Reform Suffers Midnight Mangling
Taxpayers Still Back Reckless Wall Street Trading
Frank Failed to Protect Localities
Brown Blows Loophole in Volcker Rule

[amborin]

7. systemic risk is alive and well:

http://demopedia.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8640696

[totodeinhere]

8. Yet there are other threads here at DU touting what a great accomplishment this is for Obama.

And if you point out the facts you mention in your OP in one of those threads, you will get flamed for never giving Obama credit for anything.