Treasury Chief's ultimatum (to Wall Street and compliant Congressman) may advance bank reform.

[Bill USA]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/07/23/delamaide-column-lew-banks/2575071/

Every once in a while, Washington posturing turns into actual policy.

That may have been the case for Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on July 17 when he was forced to deliver an ultimatum of sorts to Wall Street: New regulations already enacted into law need to get implemented by year's end, or else we'll have to consider more drastic options.


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Lew warned his Wall Street audience against "any efforts to delay or dilute" implementation of Dodd-Frank rules.

"If we get to the end of this year and we cannot with an honest straight face say that we have ended too big to fail," said the former budget director and White House chief of staff, "we're going to have to look at other options."

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The senators Lew was referring to were Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and David Vitter, R-La., who have proposed punitive capital ratios for banks above a certain size, and a second bipartisan group — Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; John McCain, R-Ariz.; Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Angus King, I-Maine — [font color="red"]who seek to reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act separating commercial and investment banking[/font].
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[font size="3"] Thought for the day: Contact the Senators interested in making sure Bank Reform becomes a reality by email and even phone - let them know you do not want to let banks engage in another orgy of reckless risk taking by Casino Banks leading to inevitable tax-payer bailouts to preclude the total collapse of the economy.

Reinstating Glass Steagall would be a nice start. Another would be to make the punishment for reckless bank management by the CEOs involve snipping-off certain of their body parts. Maybe that would scare some common sense into them.
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Bank Lobbyists Help in Drafting Financial Bills
(emohasis my own)

WASHINGTON — Bank lobbyists are not leaving it to lawmakers to draft legislation that softens financial regulations. Instead, the lobbyists are helping to write it themselves.

[font color="red"]One bill that sailed through the House Financial Services Committee this month — over the objections of the Treasury Department — was essentially Citigroup’s, according to e-mails reviewed by The New York Times. The bill would exempt broad swathes of trades from new regulation.[/font]

In a sign of Wall Street’s resurgent influence in Washington, Citigroup’s recommendations were reflected in more than 70 lines of the House committee’s 85-line bill. Two crucial paragraphs, prepared by Citigroup in conjunction with other Wall Street banks, were copied nearly word for word. (Lawmakers changed two words to make them plural.)

The lobbying campaign shows how, three years after Congress passed the most comprehensive overhaul of regulation since the Depression, Wall Street is finding Washington a friendlier place.
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