Clinton's plan to break up financial firms if necessary is a joke.

[Skwmom]

It is necessary now.

Per the NY Times, Clinton's plan would give regulators more power to break up financial firms. For all the discussion of whether to break up the too-big-to-fail banks in recent years, the actual legal tools that regulators have to do so are limited. Mrs. Clinton proposes granting regulators more explicit power to demand a firm downsize or break up. A campaign fact sheet adds that Mrs. Clinton “would appoint regulators who would both use these new authorities and the substantial authorities they already have to hold firms accountable.”

What a ludicrous approach. First of all, regulators are government employees and will always be subject to pressure by the bought and paid for politicians to look the other way.

Secondly, monitoring financial firms is a difficult job. By the time a break up would be proposed and agreed upon (if that would ever even occur with our bought and paid for politicians) the regulators would have a mess on their hands. Breaking up a troubled financial firm would be extremely difficult and most likely require some type of bailout. By breaking the banks up now it makes it easier to monitor them and identify problems before they get out of control. Waiting until they are in trouble to break them up is beyond stupid. I call this a blame it on the regulators approach ignoring the fact that they have been given an insurmountable task.

I know Clinton said, yes, yes, yes, she would let the banks fail. However, the taxpayers were told that we had to bail out the banks in 2008 because they were too big to fail (it would have led to an economic collapse). But now that they have gotten even bigger she is going to let them fail? Really? That makes no sense.

And about that fee that will deter risky behavior - It could encourage even riskier behavior with a higher return to cover the cost of the fee. They could also just pass that fee onto their customers.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/09/upshot/how-hillary-clinton-would-regulate-the-too-big-to-fail-banks.html

[Thinkingabout]

1. The financial crisis of 2008 was fed by the CFMA which Sanders voted yea.

Sanders has not presented a plan to break up the bank, restoring Glass Stegall would not have prevented the financial crisis of 2008. He has not presented the tools to break up the banks. Hillary has, enhancing Dodd Frank and invoking the Volcker rule will break up the banks.

[Scuba]

2. You must have missed this ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251978651

[Thinkingabout]

3. He is advocating restoring Glass Stegall, it would not break up the banks

Nor stop the financial crisis. Maybe it is time to give up on Glass Stegall.

[Scuba]

4. He doesn't need G-S to break up the banks, but it should be reinstated anyway.

[JRLeft]

9. Glass Steagall prevents banks from engaging in both commercial and investment banking.

[Thinkingabout]

10. I would think a member of congress for twenty five years

Would have knowledge to amend the Dodd Frank to include restrict this.

[JRLeft]

12. There was no support for it, why lobbying.

[Thinkingabout]

14. This would be the same reason not to elect Sanders, he wants something done, is in

a position to sponsor some amendments and does not and the excuse of there is no support for it, that will be the same answer if Sanders should be elected.

[JRLeft]

15. So elect Hillary, so Wall Street can get its way. LMFAO! Hillary fan logic.

[daybranch]

5. Hillary does not support regulating the very same "shadow banking" she said caused the 2008 crisis.

The 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act supported by Senators Warren and Bernie Sanders would regulate shadow banking as as well as implement the earlier Glass-Steagall reforms. Hillary is said to be so smart, then I have to assume she knows this, therefore is against regulating shadow banking. But whether she supports it or not her moot point that Glass-Steagall would not have prevented the crisis is just obfuscation of her real intent not to accept regulation of shadow banking and trying to make the public believe that the 21st Glass-Steagall Act does not regulate shadow banking. Oh what tangled webs we weave, we try to deceive. Or maybe she just don't know what is in it?

[Thinkingabout]

6. She caused, how did Hillary cause the 2008 crisis, she did not vote yea on the CFMA.

[Thinkingabout]

11. Smart congressional members would amend the Dodd Frank to restrict this.

[thesquanderer]

7. Understanding the CFMA vote

According to the (NOT particularly pro-Sanders) article at

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-wall-street_5617f634e4b0dbb8000e5a58

The version Sanders voted for passed the House 377 to 4 in October of 2000. It did not include the really bad provisions. Those were later added by Phil Gramm in coordination with the Clinton administration. The revised version was made part of a "must pass" bill (the kind of bill that must be passed to avoid shutting down the government).

The legislative text Sanders supported was clearly designed to curtail regulatory oversight.
...
In October 2000, the bill passed the House by a vote of 377 to 4 (51 members didn't vote), and then sat on the shelf for weeks.

But in December, Gramm -- after coordinating with top Clinton administration officials -- added much harder-edged deregulatory language to the bill, then attached the entire package to a must-pass 11,000-page bill funding the entire federal government. After Gramm's workshopping, the legislation included new language saying the federal government "shall not exercise regulatory authority with respect to, a covered swap agreement offered, entered into, or provided by a bank." That ended all government oversight of derivatives purchased or traded by banks. He also created the so-called "Enron Loophole," which barred federal oversight of energy trading on electronic platforms.

This was an era in which voting against funding the federal government was considered a major governance faux pas. The bill sailed through both chambers of Congress

[thereismore]

8. She wants to find out they are too big THE HARD WAY.

By waiting until it's too late and then bail them out.

[Skwmom]

13. We've already found out the hard way.

And we already found out the hard way in Iraq yet they she gave us Libya.

What a genius.