News & Comment
Blogs and Opinion
The GOP's Zombie Dodd-Frank Would Lose the Core Logic of Financial Reform by Mike Konczal, nextnewdeal.net | September 21, 2012
It was just announced that Tim Pawlenty will become the head of the bank lobbying group Financial Services Roundtable. The powerful financial lobbying group, which represents groups like JP Morgan and Bank of America among other big financial sector players, appears to be aligning itself more closely with the Republican Party and betting on the idea that Republicans will control at least part of Congress. But what do they want? Recently, Phil Mattingly had an article at Bloomberg Businessweek about how the GOP and Mitt Romney would approach Dodd-Frank. Mattingly's argument is that it is unlikely that the Republicans will outright repeal Dodd-Frank. "Instead, President Romney would likely try to give the financial industry something it wants more: a diluted financial reform law that would relax restrictions on some of its most profitable—and riskiest—investments but maintain enough government oversight to give the banks cover." So what would the Republicans try to dilute and remove? read more »The Looming Threat That Could Initiate the Next Economic Collapse by Alexander Arapoglou and Jerri-Lynn Scofield, alternet.org | September 20, 2012
Most people now realize big banks aren’t their friends. Only in the fairy tale movie world of It’s a Wonderful Life does banker George Bailey lend a helping hand to friends and neighbors to build a prosperous Bedford Falls. But many people have no idea that the regulated banking system is only one part of a gigantic problem. Lurking behind regulated banks is the shadow banking system. And it’s from out of these shadows that the next big shock to the global financial system, threatening everyone’s nest egg, might come. What is shadow banking? Different writers mean different things when they use the term. But the fact that it’s hard to explain only makes it more difficult to constrain. read more »5 Ways ‘I Wish I Was Mexican’ Mitt Reveals Contempt for Brown and Black People by Adele Stan, alternet.org | September 20, 2012
Up until this point, as I chronicled the race-baiting and bigotry of the Romney campaign, I had seen it all as a cynical strategy deployed simply to appeal to the basest instincts of the Republican base -- and not necessarily reflective of Mitt's own biases. But the video tells a different tale. There, in the well-appointed home of leveraged buyout mogul Marc Leder, Romney seems to be, at last, his authentic self, speaking in a relaxed manner before people of his own social class, giving the subtext of Romney's wish-I-was-a-Mexican remark the feel of a more authentic racial resentment. Here are five examples of ways in which Romney has demonstrated disrespect for brown and black people. read more »The Bain of the 47 Percent. by Terrance Heath, OurFuture.org | September 19, 2012
Tax Wall Street to Restore Main Street by Keith Ellison, OurFuture.org | September 18, 2012
The American public provided hundreds of billions to bailout Wall Street during the global fiscal crisis yet bore the brunt of the crisis with lost jobs and reduced household wealth. This is a phenomenally wealthy nation, yet our tax and regulatory system allowed the financial titans to amass great riches while impoverishing the systems that enable inclusive prosperity. A financial transaction tax protects our financial markets from speculation and provides the revenue needed to invest in the education, health and communities of the American people. read more »Occupy's Protest Is Not Over. It Has Barely Begun by Frances Fox Piven, The Guardian | September 18, 2012
The great protest movements of history lasted not for a moment but for decades. And they did not expand in the shape of a simple rising arc of popular defiance. Rather, they began in a particular place, sputtered and subsided, only to re-emerge elsewhere in perhaps a different form, influenced by local particularities of circumstance and culture. Movements that may appear to us in retrospect as a unified set of events are, in fact, irregular and scattered. Only afterwards do we see the underlying common institutional causes and movement passions that mark these events so we can name them, as the abolitionist movement, for example, or the labor movement or the civil rights movement. I think Occupy is likely to unfold in a similar way. read more »Occupy Is One Year Old. The Critics Are Wrong To Say There's Little To Celebrate. by Aditya Chakrabortty , The Guardian | September 18, 2012
Rarely can a movement have been so hastily obituarized as Occupy Wall Street. The campaign that has done more than any other to thrust inequality on to the political agenda of one of the world's most unequal countries turned one on Sunday – yet already a would-be priesthood is reading its last rites. True, Occupy no longer squats unignorably in the American or British political debate as it did last autumn. But that doesn't justify one of the most interesting political phenomena in years being written off by many of the same folk who never saw it coming in the first place. Indeed, each time they do so, they display a lamentable misunderstanding of Occupy's strengths and weaknesses, an ignorance of how activism ebbs and flows and a complacency about the merits of its arguments. read more »What's A Fair Share? by Digby , OurFuture.org | September 18, 2012
When this issue of the 47% not paying any federal income taxes (who also, apparently are the only ones voting for Barack Obama) came up in the GOP primary, Romney complained that "everyone needs to pay their fair share." Coming from a man who refuses to tell the American people whether he's paid his fair share is pretty rich. Here's a good chart that explains how this breaks down: read more »One Year Later, Occupy Wall Street’s Rallying Cry Still Resonates by Imara Jones, colorlines.com | September 17, 2012
One-year on from its beginning, progressives owe Occupy Wall Street a debt of gratitude. The movement’s clarion call “We are the 99 percent” has shifted the discourse on economic justice in the United States and around the world. Altered language is the first and essential step to political and policy change. When this fundamental change might happen, no one knows. But almost everyone, except perhaps those in the 1 percent, understand that it’s coming. This is in no small part to OWS’ ability, with a succinctly brilliant phrase, to highlight how and why things were so critically off course. read more »Occupy Wall Street -- Where Are They Now? by Josh Harkinson, Mother Jones | September 17, 2012
It was one year ago today that the pioneers of Occupy Wall Street first unrolled their sleeping bags in Zuccotti Park. Though the movement is long gone from the headlines, it can be credited for calling BS on our money-driven political system and launching a national conversation about class and economic inequality—one that still looms large in the presidential campaign. I showed up at the Zuccotti Park encampment in its second week for what I thought would be just a day, but I ended up reporting on the movement from New York City all through the fall and beyond. What most fascinated me were the occupiers themselves, people alternately principled and unrealistic, brave and foolhardy, idealistic and naive. For the anniversary, I decided to track down five of the folks I met in Zuccotti—from a key movement organizer to a heroin addict—to see where they're at now. These are their stories. read more »
The Latest
Curbing Wall Street: The Next Stage, netrootsnation.org | July 22, 2010
The financial reform bill was but a first step. It created a consumer financial protection bureau, but left the big banks more concentrated than ever, with the financial casino open for gambling. The bankers are getting million dollar bonuses, but foreclosures continue at record levels, small businesses can't get loans, payday lenders are still gouging workers. read more »
The 2010 Elections: Channeling the Power of Jobs, Populism and the Angry Voter, netrootsnation.org | July 22, 2010
The rising tide of populist anger in the face of Wall Street bailouts and continued high unemployment threatens to take an ugly reactionary turn unless it is channeled to more progressive policies of job growth. This panel will address current public attitudes and ideas for steering opinion and action more progressively.
Senate Democrats’ Plan to Aid Small Businesses Hits G.O.P. Resistance, The New York Times | July 22, 2010
Perhaps the last best hope of Democrats to pass legislation aimed at creating jobs before the November elections seemed to be crumbling in the Senate on Wednesday as Republicans signaled that they would block a bill to expand government lending programs and grant an array of tax breaks to small businesses. read more »
Battle Brews Over Director for New Consumer Financial Protection Bureau , Los Angeles Times | July 22, 2010
President Obama reversed decades of lax oversight of the financial industry Wednesday by signing a landmark overhaul of regulations, but he still faces a major task — appointing a director for the powerful new agency charged with protecting consumers from unscrupulous deals. read more »
Fight Over Consumer Agency Looms as Overhaul Is Signed , The Wall Street Journal | July 22, 2010
President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed into law the most sweeping financial overhaul since the Depression, putting the country on a course toward a more muscular regulatory framework. read more »
10 Ways New Wall Street Reform Law Will Help You , Huffington Post | July 22, 2010
Today, President Obama signed into law the Restoring American Financial Stability Act - the most important regulatory overhaul of our nation's financial system since the reforms that led to 60 years of sustained growth after the Great Depression. read more »
Goldman Settles Its Battle With SEC , The Wall Street Journal | July 16, 2010
In one of the largest penalties in Wall Street history, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. agreed to pay $550 million to settle civil charges that it duped clients by selling mortgage securities that were secretly designed by a hedge-fund firm to cash in on the housing market's collapse. read more »
Public Unfamiliar with Wall Street Bill, Reuters | July 16, 2010
A big majority of Americans are unfamiliar with the sweeping overhaul of financial rules that was headed to final approval in Congress on Thursday, according to an Ipsos Public Affairs online poll. read more »
Zombie K Street Project: The GOP Turns To Lobbyists To Draft Policy Agenda, tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com | July 9, 2010
John Boehner twisted himself into a pretzel this week when he told the Washington Post he had "no idea" whether Republicans would once again attempt to privatize Social Security if they retake the House in November. He couldn't just say "no" -- he followed up with the explanation that he couldn't say because he didn't want to prejudge the outcome of the GOP's voter survey. read more »
Goldman Sachs 'Most Aggressive' In Demanding Cash From AIG, Huffington Post | July 9, 2010
Goldman Sachs was the "most aggressive" financial firm to demand cash from AIG on what it viewed as souring deals during the financial crisis, the head of a federal investigative panel said Wednesday. read more »
