"Progressives Drive Hard Bargain On Wall Street Bill"

[Clio the Leo]

Progressives Drive Hard Bargain On Wall Street Bill
Brian Beutler | May 11, 2010, 1:27PM

At just about every stage of the Senate financial reform process, the changes to the bill have trended towards the left--and that may well be borne out again if Democrats successfully add provision to the bill that will, among other things, ban big banks from using their own capital to engage in market speculation.

The provision is called the Volcker Rule--named after former Fed Chair Paul Volcker who now heads the President Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Currently, two Democratic senators--Carl Levin (D-MI) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR)--are pushing to add the rule to the Wall Street reform legislation and have built up quite a head of steam. That development was not a sure thing even a few days ago but with the political climate so anti-Wall Street even progressives' failures can turn into successes, which is what sort of happened with the Volcker Rule.

Last week, Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Ted Kauffman (D-DE) pushed hard to get their very progressive 'too big to fail' amendment passed. Even though it failed it helped pave the way to enshrining the Volcker rule in the bill.

"I think we will have had a positive effect on the bill," says a Democratic aide, adding that Brown and Kaufman's efforts to shrink 'too big to fail' institutions built momentum for the Volker proposal.

Unlike the 'too big to fail' proposal, the Volcker rule has the support of the Obama administration, and Senate Banking Committee Chair Chris Dodd, and stands a good chance at passing, particularly if it's held to a majority-vote threshold.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/progressives-drive-hard-bargain-on-wall-street-bill.php?ref=fpa

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfiD3N267ok">Video: 1/21/10 - President Obama urges Congress to Adopt the Volcker Rule.

[maxsolomon]

1. MAN, voelker's tall!

barack's looking WAY up at him!

anyway, i'll believe that the senate can do something good after they do it. till then, they're utterly full of shit.

[Clio the Leo]

3. He was Chewbacca for Halloween....

.... kidding ... I think that's probably Reggie Love ... or what's his name ... the trip director.

[DrToast]

10. Volcker is 6'7"

Obama is about 6'2".

[BootinUp]

2. Excellent. nt

[Lasher]

4. Is Glass–Steagall being restored?

Is Gramm–Leach–Bliley being repealed in its entirety? Will any any one institution be prohibited from acting as any combination of an investment bank, a commercial bank, and an insurance company? No? Then progressives are not driving a hard bargain.

[ProSense]

9. It will

be Glass Steagall 2.0.

[ClarkUSA]

11. This will be Glass-Steagall 2.0.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=295583&mesg_id=295612

[Lasher]

17. No it won't.

Will any any one institution be prohibited from acting as any combination of an investment bank, a commercial bank, and an insurance company?

I would appreciate a 'yes' or 'no' answer here.

[ProSense]

19. dupe. n/t

[ProSense]

20. "I would appreciate a 'yes' or 'no' answer here." Yes

President Obama Calls for New Restrictions on Size and Scope of Financial Institutions to Rein in Excesses and Protect Taxpayers

WASHINGTON, DC- President Obama joined Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve; Bill Donaldson, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission; Congressman Barney Frank, House Financial Services Chairman; Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman of the Banking Committee and the President's economic team to call for new restrictions on the size and scope of banks and other financial institutions to rein in excessive risk taking and to protect taxpayers.

The President’s proposal would strengthen the comprehensive financial reform package that is already moving through Congress.

“While the financial system is far stronger today than it was a year one year ago, it is still operating under the exact same rules that led to its near collapse,” said President Barack Obama. “My resolve to reform the system is only strengthened when I see a return to old practices at some of the very firms fighting reform; and when I see record profits at some of the very firms claiming that they cannot lend more to small business, cannot keep credit card rates low, and cannot refund taxpayers for the bailout. It is exactly this kind of irresponsibility that makes clear reform is necessary.”

The proposal would:

1. Limit the Scope - The President and his economic team will work with Congress to ensure that no bank or financial institution that contains a bank will own, invest in or sponsor a hedge fund or a private equity fund, or proprietary trading operations unrelated to serving customers for its own profit.

2. Limit the Size - The President also announced a new proposal to limit the consolidation of our financial sector. The President’s proposal will place broader limits on the excessive growth of the market share of liabilities at the largest financial firms, to supplement existing caps on the market share of deposits.

In the coming weeks, the President will continue to work closely with Chairman Dodd and others to craft a strong, comprehensive financial reform bill that puts in place common sense rules of the road and robust safeguards for the benefit of consumers, closes loopholes, and ends the mentality of “Too Big to Fail.” Chairman Barney Frank’s financial reform legislation, which passed the House in December, laid the groundwork for this policy by authorizing regulators to restrict or prohibit large firms from engaging in excessively risky activities.

As part of the previously announced reform program, the proposals announced today will help put an end to the risky practices that contributed significantly to the financial crisis.

The fact is that this bill will be significant reform of a system that no one envisioned decades ago. It is the modern version of Glass Steagall.

[Lasher]

21. You are working way too hard to see what you want to see.

You have presented no language to show what you claim to be.

[flpoljunkie]

5. They have their work cut out for them. The lobbyists are swarming, spending billions to get bill

banks want.

Robert L. BorosagePresident of the Institute for America’s Future

Posted: May 11, 2010 02:06 PM

The Big Bank Lobby: Too Big to Bear?

240 former legislators, bank committee staffers, and Treasury officials deployed to lobby. $600 million spent in lobbying, trade association activity and political contributions since March 2008. And that is just from the six biggest banks. The entire financial industry is spending an estimated $1.4 million a day, hiring 70 former members of Congress to make their case.

These figures, drawn from a new report released by the Campaign for America's Future (which I co-direct), would be shocking if they weren't so sad and predictable. As the Senate moves towards passing financial reform legislation, it is worth focusing on how the lobby works.

Bailed out by taxpayers, the big banks -- Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Well Fargo -- are emerging from the financial crisis larger and more concentrated than ever. Their very size offends market competition. Entities that are too big to fail cannot be disciplined by the market.

Worse, as former IMF economist Simon Johnson has emphasized, their size and wealth also undermine democratic accountability. As the report shows, they exercise immense political power which they use not only to fend off reforms that might curb their excesses, but to sculpt laws and regulations that consolidate their privilege and profits. So despite popular anger at the banks, the Senate last week voted down the Kaufman-Brown amendment that would have put a lid on the size of banks, forcing the break-up of the big six.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-l-borosage/the-big-bank-lobby-too-bi_b_571973.html

[ClarkUSA]

8. I told you so.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=274236&mesg_id=275857

:smoke:

[vaberella]

13. Clark did this pass? n/t

[ClarkUSA]

16. Not yet, but its chance of passage looks good. As per the OP source:

"... the Volcker rule has the support of the Obama administration, and Senate Banking Committee Chair Chris Dodd, and stands a good chance at passing, particularly if it's held to a majority-vote threshold."

[Cali_Democrat]

12. No kidding

This is gonna be one hell of a battle.

[Cha]

6. Gotta love the Progressives who

actually work towards getting something done.

[ClarkUSA]

7. Many naysayers insisted that Pres. Obama's determination to have real financial reform was a sham.

Looks like they were wrong. Again. :rofl:



Nice to Congress took to heart President Obama's demand that they not water down the bill and that they include the Volcker Rule in the bill.

[vaberella]

14. Did this pass oris it up for a vote? n/t

[SpartanDem]

15. It still needs to be voted on

[Hekate]

18. But I know from DU that the POTUS is just another dweadful corporatist....

NOT! :rofl:

[ClarkUSA]

22. Oh noes!!!!

:rofl:

[TheKentuckian]

23. He fought hard to water this down and stood against breaking up these behemoths

Not to mention scuttling re-importation for pharma and delivering tens of millions of forced sheep to the slaughter for big insurance. Also, ain't been too quick and in a hurry to re-regulate after bush strip mined oversight. Nor can we forget that two years in a row he wag his finger and cried crocodile tears but ended up running out the clock on Wall St. bonuses.

Perhaps he is more of a pleasant, witty, and affable corporatist than the garden dreadful variety.