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When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; When the government fears the people, there is liberty.  ~ Thomas Jefferson

 

Entries Tagged as 'Finance'

Supercommittee announces failure in effort to tame debt

November 21st, 2011 · Accountability, Congress, Economy, Federal Spending, Finance, Greed, Money Lost, Money Matters, Non-Transparency, Obama Nominees, Obama's Scheme, Politics, Stimulus, Tax Dollars, Terrorism from Within

By Lori Montgomery and Paul Kane, Published: November 21

A special congressional committee created to try to curb the national debt abandoned its work and conceded failure Monday, the latest setback in a long effort by Washington to overcome ideological differences and stem the rising tide of red ink.

In a joint statement issued hours before a midnight deadline, the Democratic and Republican leaders of the panel said that they were “deeply disappointed” by their inability to reach an agreement and that they hope for progress in the months ahead.

supercommittee conceded defeat Monday in its quest to conquer a government debt that stands at a staggering $15 trillion, unable to overcome deep and enduring political divisions over taxes and spending. (Nov. 21)

“Despite our inability to bridge the committee’s significant differences, we end this process united in our belief that the nation’s fiscal crisis must be addressed and that we cannot leave it for the next generation to solve,” said the statement from Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.). “We remain hopeful that Congress can build on this committee’s work and can find a way to tackle this issue in a way that works for the American people and our economy.”

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Public Law Update

July 22nd, 2010 · Finance, Public Law Update

H.R. 4173 / Public Law 111-203
Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
(July 21, 2010; 124 Stat. 1376; 848 pages)

Complete Public Law Lists (Click Here To View Lists and See Documents)

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Obama signs financial overhaul into law: Caution – Reading may cause NAUSEA.

July 21st, 2010 · Corruption, Deception, Democrats, Ethics, Federal Spending, Finance, Government, Government Control, Greed, Money Lost, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Tax Dollars, Taxes, Terrorism from Within, Treason

By Brady Dennis and William Branigin Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, July 21, 2010; 2:19 PM

President Obama on Wednesday signed into law the most ambitious overhaul of financial regulation in generations, saying he was acting to protect consumers and “rein in the abuse and excess” by Wall Street that pushed the U.S. economy to the brink of depression.

The new law, which Obama signed before hundreds of supporters including Vice President Biden and the bill’s two chief sponsors, places broad new authority in the hands of federal watchdogs in an effort to prevent a recurrence of the financial crisis that erupted nearly two years ago.

“For years, our financial sector was governed by antiquated and poorly enforced rules that allowed some to game the system and take risks that endangered the entire economy,” Obama said. “And while the rules left abuse and excess unchecked, they left taxpayers on the hook if a big bank or financial institution ever failed.”

Now, he said, “because of this law, the American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street’s mistakes. There will be no more taxpayer-funded bailouts, period.”

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Democrats HIDE unrelated bill with in Financial Reform Bill.

July 21st, 2010 · Congress, Corruption, Democrats, Economy, Ethics, Finance, Government, Government Control, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Small Business, Technology, Terrorism from Within

U.S. financial reform bill also targets ‘conflict minerals’ from Congo

By Mary Beth Sheridan Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 21, 2010

The financial regulation bill that President Obama will sign into law on Wednesday is supposed to clean up Wall Street. But an obscure passage buried deep in the 2,300-page legislation aims to transform a very different place — eastern Congo, labeled the “rape capital of the world.”

The passage, tucked into the bill’s “Miscellaneous Provisions,” will require thousands of U.S. companies to disclose what steps they are taking to ensure that their products, including laptops, cellphones and medical devices, don’t contain “conflict minerals” from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The sale of such minerals has fueled a nearly 15-year war that has been marked by a horrific epidemic of sexual violence.

The issue of “conflict minerals” was barely mentioned during congressional debate on the Wall Street bill. But it has attracted growing concern from an unlikely alliance of conservatives and liberals — from Sen. Sam Brownback ((R-Kan.) to feminist Eve Ensler, author of “The Vagina Monologues.” Activists hope to ultimately see an international system for curbing the trade, such as the one that has slowed the sale of “blood diamonds” from West Africa.

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Democrats passes financial reform bill before ousted.

July 17th, 2010 · Banking Industry, Congress, Deception, Democrats, Federal Spending, Finance, Government, Government Control, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Tax Dollars, Taxes

By Brady Dennis Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 16, 2010

Congress gave final approval Thursday to the most ambitious overhaul of financial regulation in generations, ending more than a year of wrangling over the shape of the new rules and shifting the government’s focus to the monumental task of implementing them.

The final Senate vote, which came almost two years after the nation’s financial system nearly collapsed, was a significant legislative victory for President Obama, who had pledged to rein in the reckless Wall Street behavior behind the crisis and to right the government regulation that failed to prevent it.

The massive bill establishes an independent consumer bureau within the Federal Reserve to protect borrowers against abuses in mortgage, credit card and some other types of lending. The legislation also gives the government new power to seize and shut down large, troubled financial companies — like the failed investment bank Lehman Brothers — and sets up a council of federal regulators to watch for threats to the financial system.

Under the new rules, the vast market for derivatives, complex financial instruments that helped fuel the crisis, will be subject to government oversight. Shareholders, meanwhile, will gain more say on how corporate executives are paid.

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Senate Democrats yet to lock down votes for financial regulations bill

July 11th, 2010 · Democrats, Finance

By Brady Dennis Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 10, 2010

As he shepherded a far-reaching and ever-expanding bill to remake financial regulations through the Senate during the past year, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd uttered the same warning again and again: Nothing’s finished until everything is finished.

The Connecticut Democrat’s wariness persisted as he tried to maintain the legislation’s core elements despite harsh criticism from Republicans, aggressive lobbying from the financial industry, demands from lawmakers holding key swing votes, defections from Democrats and an all-night negotiation session.

It persists even as the finish line is in sight.

The House last week passed the 2,300-page bill, which among other things would create an independent consumer bureau within the Federal Reserve to protect borrowers from lending abuses, establish oversight of the vast derivatives market and enable the government to wind down large, failing firms.

The Senate could hold a final vote next week. But it won’t be a cakewalk. Democrats need 60 votes to overcome the threat of a GOP filibuster, and getting that could prove difficult, at least in the short term.

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Democratic campaign committees losing big Wall Street donors

July 6th, 2010 · Accountability, Deception, Democrats, Ethics, Federal Spending, Finance, Government, Government Control, Greed, Non-Transparency, Obama Nominees

By T.W. Farnam and Paul Kane Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, July 6, 2010

A revolt among big donors on Wall Street is hurting fundraising for the Democrats’ two congressional campaign committees, with contributions from the world’s financial capital down 65 percent from two years ago.

The drop in support comes from many of the same bankers, hedge fund executives and financial services chief executives who are most upset about the financial regulatory reform bill that House Democrats passed last week with almost no Republican support. The Senate expects to take up the measure this month.

This fundraising free fall from the New York area has left Democrats with diminished resources to defend their House and Senate majorities in November’s midterm elections. Although the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee have seen just a 16 percent drop in overall donations compared with this stage of the 2008 campaign, party leaders are concerned about the loss of big-dollar donors. The two congressional committees have raised $49.5 million this election cycle from people giving $1,000 or more at a time, compared with $81.3 million at this point in the last election.

Almost half of that decline in large-dollar fundraising can be attributed to New York, according to a Washington Post analysis of records filed with the Federal Election Commission. Donors from that area have given $8.7 million this year, compared with $23.9 million at this point in the 2008 cycle, with most of those contributions coming from big contributors in the financial sector. New York donors had given congressional Democrats almost twice as much money at this stage of the 2006 midterm campaigns, when Republicans ruled both chambers and held the White House.

Reasons for the plummeting donations include concern about the economic recovery and the personalities of the campaign committee leaders, Democratic experts say. But the overwhelming factor is the rising anger among financial executives who think they have not been treated well based on their support of Democrats over the past four years, according to lawmakers, party strategists and fundraisers. Several of the party’s biggest New York donors declined through spokesmen to be interviewed. Some Democrats say pushing Wall Street reform is more important than any slippage in political donations.

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The Dodd-Frank Financial Fiasco

July 1st, 2010 · Banking Industry, Congress, Deception, Democrats, Ethics, Federal Spending, Finance, Government Control, Greed, Money Lost, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Treason, Unemployment

The bill all but guarantees bailouts as far as the eye can see, while failing to address real problems like Fan and Fred and our outdated bankruptcy code.

By JOHN B. TAYLOR

The sheer complexity of the 2,319-page Dodd-Frank financial reform bill is certainly a threat to future economic growth. But if you sift through the many sections and subsections, you find much more than complexity to worry about.

The main problem with the bill is that it is based on a misdiagnosis of the causes of the financial crisis, which is not surprising since the bill was rolled out before the congressionally mandated Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission finished its diagnosis.

The biggest misdiagnosis is the presumption that the government did not have enough power to avoid the crisis. But the Federal Reserve had the power to avoid the monetary excesses that accelerated the housing boom that went bust in 2007. The New York Fed had the power to stop Citigroup’s questionable lending and trading decisions and, with hundreds of regulators on the premises of such large banks, should have had the information to do so. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could have insisted on reasonable liquidity rules to prevent investment banks from relying so much on short-term borrowing through repurchase agreements to fund long-term investments. And the Treasury working with the Fed had the power to intervene with troubled financial firms, and in fact used this power in a highly discretionary way to create an on-again off-again bailout policy that spooked the markets and led to the panic in the fall of 2008.

But instead of trying to make implementation of existing government regulations more effective, the bill vastly increases the power of government in ways that are unrelated to the recent crisis and may even encourage future crises.

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Democrats easily passes new financial regulations in House

June 30th, 2010 · Banking Industry, Congress, Corruption, Deception, Democrats, Ethics, Federal Spending, Finance, Fraud Alert, Government, Government Control, Greed, House, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Tax Dollars, Taxes, Terrorism from Within, Terrorist Attack, Treason, Treasury

By Brady Dennis and Jia Lynn Yang Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 30, 2010; 7:08 PM

The House on Wednesday easily approved far-reaching new financial regulations, but Senate leaders postponed a similar vote on the bill, preventing the landmark legislation from reaching President Obama’s desk until at least mid-July.

House members voted 237-192 just before 7 p.m. to approve the sweeping 2,300-page bill, which among other things would create an independent consumer bureau within the Federal Reserve to protect borrowers from lending abuses, establish oversight of the vast derivatives market and enable the government to wind down large, failing firms.

Republicans continued to insist that the new rules would perpetuates the potential for federal bailouts and hinder access to credit.

“The bad and the ugly far outweigh” the good elements of the bill, said Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala). “In total, this bill is a massive intrusion of the federal government into the lives of every American.”

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Boehner defends criticism of financial overhaul as excessive

June 30th, 2010 · Accountability, Banking Industry, Change of Power, Congress, Deception, Democrats, Ethics, Federal Spending, Finance, Greed, Money Lost, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Tax Dollars, Taxes, Terrorism from Within, Treasury

By Dan Balz Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 30, 2010; 2:30 PM

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) fired back at the White House Wednesday, arguing that “they’re the ones who are out of touch” with the American people while defending his critique of the financial regulatory reform bill as excessive regulation.

Led by President Obama, Democrats pounced on the Republican leader for comments he made to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review earlier in the week, when he likened the pending financial legislation to “killing an ant with a nuclear weapon.”

That brought a quick rebuke from White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Tuesday, and Obama was expected to elevate the dispute on Wednesday by seizing on Boehner’s words during remarks in Racine, Wis.

“If the Republican leader is that out of touch with the struggles facing the American people, he should come here to Racine and ask people if they think the financial crisis was an ant . . . These Americans don’t believe the financial crisis was an ant,” Obama said in prepared remarks that were released by the White House.

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