Posts tagged ‘Congress’
The Washington Post reported today that commercial banks and investment institutions are shifting their political donations towards Republicans. Apparently Democrats were garnering two-thirds of those donations as recently as the beginning of 2009 and now that is shifting to an even split despite the Democratic majority.
This can sarcastically be placed under “shocking news” of the day category but there is something even more cynical at play in this world of no shame.
Back in March we wrote about the report “Sold Out: How Wall Street and Washington Betrayed America,” published by Essential Information and the Consumer Education Foundation. The report stated that $5 billion in political influence purchasing in Washington over the past decade had led to our current economic collapse.
The report was anything but shocking as the influence of big money on public policy is no secret. Many depression era reforms were struck down in the past decade, which allowed among other things the merger of commercial and investment banking and an increase in the amount of leverage financial institutions could utilize.
Blogger Felix Salmon tossed out the subject of whether a PhD in Financial Journalism should be created, apparently in light of the poor job done by the media in covering the credit crisis. Actually he notes that an ex Lehman Bros. executive is trying to create such an education track and Salmon threw it out for public discussion and it has been bandied about by media based chat rooms.
Continue reading ‘More curiosity, less arrogance is what is needed’ »
The Nation recently published an interesting article on the financial crisis of 2008 citing the head of the obscure regulatory body the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), John Dugan, as one of the prime architects of our current economic woes.
I’ve read several lists citing people to blame for last year’s financial turmoil and Mr. Dugan, if cited, certainly wouldn’t be on the list of usual suspects.
As I wrap up some loose ends going into the long holiday weekend, I noticed that we have not commented here yet on last week’s partisan jousting over who is to blame for the financial mess we find ourselves in.
Republican Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas blamed Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for a major role in creating the problem when he was the president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Mr. Geithner shot back, ”What I can’t take responsibility is for the legacy of crises you’ve bequeathed this country.”
It might have been more than a little embarrassing for President Obama that the U.S. dollar was making 15-months lows just as he was visiting China in part to reassure the Chinese that their massive investment in U.S. Treasuries were secure. China is concerned that the massive holdings of dollars will continue to lose value. But threats of disinvestment holds a knife to their own neck as much as it does ours so they will likely continue to buy our debt.
The CME Group’s Global Financial Leadership Conference held in Naples, Florida this week included several impressive speakers who analyzed markets and the economy in lieu of the credit crisis and efforts undertaken to deal with it.
While many issues were discussed and many points of view presented, there was an unmistakable common theme. That theme is that our current deficit spending and debt levels are unsustainable.
Congressional hearings on the Madoff scandal are continuing today and at one point, this is what was reported (New York Times Dealbook):
1:18 p.m. | An “annoyed” congressman: Mr. Kanjorski signals that he doesn’t want to hear that the S.E.C. can’t discuss the ongoing Madoff investigation. He notes that the lack of cooperation by the S.E.C. over the last several weeks is “unacceptable” and he threatens to shut down the agency if they don’t start cooperating. Mr Kanjorski says one of the officials asked to testify said he was exempt, prompting the congressman to call the head of the S.E.C. because he was so “annoyed.” He called the opening statements “oatmeal.”
Surprise! The House of Representatives has signed “Auto Industry Financing and Restructuring Act,” also known in some circles as “The Motor City Shakedown.”
The bill passed in the House of Representatives by roll call vote. The totals were 236 in favor; 170 against; 27 voted present or did not vote. Reportedly the bil is running into resistance in the Senate.
The final version of the bill was not yet available, but here is draft I found last night:
Read the bill
Continue reading ‘Congress passes “Motor City Shake Down”’ »
Our Federal Government has taken unprecedented action in the last two days purportedly with our benefit in mind though in both cases the action defies logic, reason and does not seem to be based on any fundamental evidence.
Yesterday Congress passed an amended version of The Commodity Markets Transparency and Accountability Act of 2008, which aims to prevent manipulation and excessive speculation in energy markets.
They did this despite and exhaustive and comprehensive report from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, released less than a week earlier that disputes the fundamental premise of the bill.
