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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
Sen. Blanche Lincoln's Derivatives-Spinoff Plan Gains Support in Congress, The Washington Post | June 15, 2010
An effort to force some of the nation's biggest banks to spin off their lucrative derivatives-dealing operations appears to be gaining traction, as members of a House-Senate conference begin finalizing details of far-reaching new financial regulations. read more »
Derivatives Language Picks Up Steam, Politico | June 15, 2010
Consumer Groups Rip Chris Dodd Over Financial Protection Agency Compromise, Huffington Post | March 1, 2010
Consumer advocates are reacting harshly to a compromise Consumer Financial Protection Agency being proposed by Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.). Dodd's proposal puts a variety of obstacles in front of the proposed agency, which would be called the Bureau of Financial Protection and housed in the Treasury Department. read more »
Wall Street Dusts Off 'Help Wanted' Sign, money.cnn.com | February 17, 2010
After shedding more than 30,000 workers over the past two-and-a-half years, is the job market on Wall Street finally turning a corner? It might be the case. Earlier this month, speculation surfaced that Bank of America was looking to boost its network of retail brokers that once made up Merrill Lynch's "thundering herd" following a number of employee defections to rivals. read more »
Wall St. Helped to Mask Debt Fueling Europe’s Crisis, The New York Times | February 17, 2010
Wall Street tactics akin to the ones that fostered subprime mortgages in America have worsened the financial crisis shaking Greece and undermining the euro by enabling European governments to hide their mounting debts. As worries over Greece rattle world markets, records and interviews show that with Wall Street’s help, the nation engaged in a decade-long effort to skirt European debt limits. read more »
