Lawmakers guide Dodd-Frank bill for Wall Street reform into homestretch

On Friday, 6/25/201, at 5:00 am in the morning, the U.S. Senate passed a 2000 page ‘Economic Reform Bill’.  According to outgoing Senator Christopher Dodd; “We’ll have to wait until it is implemented to see how it will work.”  The lawmakers are touting that this bill will give the government the ability to prevent corporations from getting to the point that they are ‘too big to fail’.  Admittedly, there are humongous private entities whose conglomerations of businesses do not make for good bed partners, but does this bill address that issue?  Does this bill do anything except add another ‘huge’ layer of bureaucracy to an already heavily regulated sector?  Does this bill make it more likely that small and middle sector private businesses and private citizens will be able to secure the capital to take a risk, create a business and thus create jobs?  If the real goal was to break up large nationalized entities who should not be merged, why not re-enact the Glass-Spiegel Act? 
Politically the past 18 month have been a mixture of overwhelming the system and the voters to, in my opinion, pass as much of the ‘Progressive’ (Socialist/Communist/Democrat/Green/Union) agenda that they can before they are swept from office.  By growing the public sector jobs at lightening speed, they create a voter who is likely to keep them in power, to push the ‘Progressive’ agenda down the road and complete the destruction of the ‘Free Markets’.  The Founders created the greatest country in the history of civilization, by insuring that elitists could not prevent the average private citizen from achieving greatness.  For the sake of a promised safety net, they will enslave themselves, their children and their future generations, from any chance of taking a risk to chase their dream and the incentives the ability to do so, creates.
It is this citizen’s determination that any political candidate who wants my vote must have passion and integrity.  They must have the moral fortitude to turn back the past year of political assault and a systematic plan to return the United States, Washington State, Whatcom County and Bellingham, back to the Constitution and our Rule of Law.
Yours in Truth  ;-)  Shelly
(BTW, did anyone else notice that during President Obama's public speech to tout this bill, he was more excitedly animated than I've seen him in months?  Must be a big feather in the Progressive movement's cap if they pull this one off.  Another FYI, Massachusetts newest Senator Scott Brown, gave the Senate the votes they needed to pass this bill.  That is why you must do your homework and elect candidates with the moral integrity and passion to stand up for the Constitution, not the elites.)
By David Cho, Jia Lynn Yang and Brady Dennis
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, June 26, 2010; A01
Nearly two years after tremors on Wall Street set off a historic economic downturn, congressional leaders greenlighted a bill early Friday that would leave the financial industry largely intact but facing a more powerful network of regulators who could impose limits on risky activities.
The final bill took shape after a 20-hour marathon negotiation between House and Senate leaders seeking to reconcile their separate versions. The legislation puts a lot of faith in the watchful eye of regulators to prevent another financial crisis. New agencies would police consumer lending, the invention of financial products and the trading of exotic securities known as derivatives. Bank supervisors would have the power to seize large, troubled financial firms whose collapse could threaten the entire system. The bill calls for banks to hold more money in reserve to weather economic storms but leaves the details to regulators.
But with a few exceptions, the measure avoids dictating to Wall Street what it can and cannot do. The bill does not break up big banks or ban the trading of derivatives. Nor does it significantly streamline the confusing array of financial regulators in Washington.
The House and Senate are set to vote on the legislation next week, and administration officials said President Obama could sign it into law before July 4.
The action capped a surprisingly good week for Wall Street. On Thursday, Democrats failed to pass a separate bill that would have raised taxes on some of the country's wealthiest financiers. On Friday, stocks of financial firms jumped when trading opened in New York. Many analysts said the markets breathed a collective sigh of relief that the regulatory reform talks were over and that the results could have been much worse for the financial industry.
One firm that is likely to face more oversight is Goldman Sachs, which has become emblematic of the excesses of Wall Street. Regulators would more carefully track the firm's riskiest activities. In the coming year, a regulatory council could force the bank to shed its sizable hedge funds and private-equity activities. It also could be banned from making financial trades for its own profit instead of for clients, shaving roughly 10 percent from the firm's revenue. But after those changes, Goldman Sachs and a few other financial titans will still dominate the financial system, the analysts said.
To read the full story click here.

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