Why Wall Street Reforms Have Stalled

New York Times:

One year ago next week, Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, Merrill Lynch was sold and A.I.G. was rescued by a huge federal bailout. In the wake of the global financial crisis, Congress and regulators vowed to end Wall Street's profligate risk-taking and the compensation structures that rewarded that behavior. Yet looking back, experts say not a lot has changed in that culture, and efforts to control risk and reform executive pay have stalled.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[MyLIbealUser]

I'm getting tired of Obama doing nothing. He promised us Wall street reform, Heathcare reform, and more jobs and we got NOTHING except more debt.

hat tip to http://www.iamned.com

the economy is rigged against middle class, anyway

[outnow]

Corruption has been institutionalized on Wall Street. Clinton made it worse. Bush's intention was to promote crony capitalism. Obama will not change anything.

Capitalism only works when their is integrity. That is missing from more and more American institutions. In fact, the corruption goes to the heart of Wall Street and Washington­.Without prosecutions of Wall Street insiders and the corrupt politicians who aid them, I see no hope. Obama is a hope-killer to me. Nice speechs to the untrained observer mean little. What specifics has he ever articulated. he is just a place-holder until then next Rethuglican. Why didn't Obama have his health care plan all written out years ago? Why did he waste the entire summer allowing Rethugs to attack his character?

Obama fiddles while Rome burns. He doesn't get that 26 million are medically uninsured, 40 million are unemployed, that the too big to fail will bring us all down without real reform, and that moving more troops to Afghanistan is absurd while Rome itself burns. A true Nero complex.

[CaptainHowdy2]

Wall Street reforms have stalled because both of the dominant political parties are completely corrupt and out of control.

Anyway, the system is so broken that it's running on fumes right now. The end of the line is very, very near.

[outnow]

The fix is in to loot the country. Both parties want to be in on the big profits.

[BlaineNelson]

Who will benefit most from the Obama administration's proposed financial regulations?

Wall Street
Main Street

http://www.youpolls.com/details.asp?pid=6135.

[David2]

Why fix what they don't think is broken? They still get their checks, and that's all that they ever care about.

[changeself]

instead, wall street conquered washington and reformed the few who used to have a modicum of integrity.

the end.

[FreedomCorpse]

They, the wall street lobbyists and their craven politicians, reformed the monetary and financial system for 30 years straight..­..this is what they reformed it into. But of course, they've done such horrific damage and maintain their arrogant stance by doing 'incremental' change ...the only solution is the system is wiped out and put into insolvency­...which the fed and most of those 'in the know' know but they still want to extract what they can out of it before the last kick off the cliff...th­e wealth production was already moved to other countries.

[changeself]

what little gap between wall street and washington has been closed, and

it's all legal now to exploit the de facto slaves called the people for private profit.

no need to move anything to any other country.

[hellboundtrain]

President Obama:
Please, by executive order, rescind the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and the Commodity Modernization Act.

A Citizen Patriot

[PhilipTaylor]

The LONGER THEY STALL THE LONGER MOST OF US WILL NOT INVEST!

Why trust a CR00KED SYSTEM with CR00KED PLAYERS like G0LDMAN and JPM?

[jojony]

I am sure theyre concerned YOUR not investing. Not sure if youve seen the Dow but Wall Street isnt worried about people like you.

Keep you cash under your mattress and you'll end up being the dumbest man in the room.

[changeself]

ever heard of wall street insiders selling their stocks like there's no tomorrow?

i can almost hear dummies like you scream bloody murder when you find out you've lost what little you're worth in gambling called stock exchange.

[WIpatriot]

Likewise, I'm certain they're not concerned that you are.

[PhilipTaylor]

The LONGER THEY STALL THE LONGER UNTIL MOST OF US WILL NOT INVEST!

Why trust a CR00KED SYSTEM with CR00KED PLAYERS like G0LDMAN and JPM?

[hellboundtrain]

How many people have much of a nest-egg remaining to invest?
Who now trusts the system that has cost so many, so much?

[NevaforLeadership]

Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face!

Mortgage backed securities collapsed the system.

Now let's figure check out the "crooked players."

Clinton who was responsible for the legislation merging commercial and investment banking?

"Greedy" Main Streeters, who bought homes they could not afford and signed mortgages they did not understand? Had they waited and understood, there would have been no sub-prime mortgages to package.

Real estate firms that sold the homes and the mortgage brokers who found the financing? But they are not part of your "crooked" banking industry.

Commercial banks that, in the interest of their customers, immediately sold risky mortgages to investment firms for packaging?

The investors who purchased the MBS's without checking the underlying assets or, like the homeowners, not understanding what they were buying?

Or was it the lawmakers (Dems and Reps) that did not ensure sufficient banking reserves to cushion the risk?

....just a few of the players. Some misguided, some greedy, some opportunist, but crooked? A few, such as Madoff, but their ponzi schemes didn't cause the credit collapse.

Ever purchased a mortgage backed security? No. Then your investment options remain the same. From your post, you are not interested in greater risk for greater return, but you are missing out on the safe, steady returns of government and other blue-chip investments. Your cash sitting in a bank account could be at more risk than many sound investments.

Don't cry wolf when you find yourself short of income.

[Oxonian2001]

I agree with most of your post--except for the part about "Greedy" Main Streeters. Although it was their responsibility to know what they were signing, the fact is that they were misled by so many: why were so many lenders and banks not verifying income? Requiring only a minimum down payment?

The Main Streeters are the least of it. The bulk of the blame belongs to the professionals who SHOULD have known what they were doing with their education and training!

[balancedsolution]

No Political Will considering all Politicians get paid by these companies.

So Sad our Country is slipping down the drain.....­right now before our eyes.

[hellboundtrain]

The only political will is corporate-serving because the politicians on both sides of the aisle have forsaken the electorate. With the greatest majority of the politicians owned by the corporate paymasters they work for the corporate interests to keep their money rolling in.

We are invited to vote these clown into office, but there is no representation for the people for the reason stated.

No taxation without representation.

[JackRusselTerrier]

Greed_ on Wall ST

Posted by Jim Hightower
Welcome to the insanity_ of Wall Street. Having fostered a corrupting_ culture of banker greed by basing the lavish pay of top executives on their ability to score short-term profits (whether by hook or crook) the reckless financial titans crashed their own banks and our economy. So, barely a year after the crash, what's the response of the banks? "Hey," they're shouting, "that was fun – let's do it again!"

James Reda, an executive pay consultant, studied the changes that 191 of America's largest banks and corporations have made this year in the way they reward top managers. With the public outraged_ by executive excess and congress considering pay limits, Reda presumed that most bosses would have cut back on the short-term, grab-all-you-can pay incentives and shifted to a rational system that rewards executives for long-term performance.

Wrong. It seems that corporate culture is at war_ with sanity_. Reda found that companies did change their pay policies – but by increasing short-term incentives and actually reducing incentives for sound, long-term performance! Reda found that these big outfits are even retaining such ridiculous_ perks as "tax gross-ups," which mean that executives don't even have to shell out for the taxes they owe on their exorbitant pay – instead, shareholders pick up their tax tabs. http://www.jimhightower.com/node/6924

[Harrier]

There has been no attempt to institute reform in any way..This is a non story

[CologneCitizen]

Our German chancellor Merkel and French Premier Sarkozy tried to get an international regulation procedure for worldwide finance. Guess who stopped them? The USA and Britain had absolutely no interest in any form of overseeing regulation. Obama may be able to install as many czars as he wants, yet he will not get one inch ahead when it comes to controlling Wall Street.

[jojony]

Because we have a weak President in office. Period.

[4TJefferson]

Oh please. Like BushCo tried to reform Fall Street? Weak.

[jojony]

Whats is your point?

I certainly did NOT expect "BushCo" to reform Wall Street. Is that a reason Obama shouldnt?

What the h$ll did you vote for. Not for Bush. Change, or at least I thought I did.

If your only defense is "BushCo" didnt do it, we're going to get nowhere and your missing the boat completely. What a terrific defense.

[Sundialsvc4]

"Reform" will not happen until the ugly words, "crime" and "high crime," finally enter the public vernacular with sufficient force that they will never again be dislodged from it.

Today, the ancient crimes of usury, bank fraud, swindling, bribery, and extortion combine to siphon (literally) billions of dollars a day from our collective pockets, and to pay out millions of dollars in bribes. These criminals are now matter-of-factly working to get their peculiar version of "$peech" to be declared "constitutionally protected" (never mind that Article 2, Section 4 lists "bribery" side-by-side with "treason").

This is the new face of Organized Crime. They don't use tommy-guns anymore.

When we are finally ready to address the issue as our own Constitution does, AND to insist that it really IS "the supreme law of this land," THEN real progress can be made.

Until then, we have simply given them the keys to our National Treasure ... and they are casting lots for our clothing.