Financial Reform: Political Will For Change May Be Disappearing

ft.com:

As the world's banking system teetered on the brink of collapse just about a year ago, there were widespread, heartfelt, calls for reform.

Politicians of all stripes on both sides of the Atlantic, spurred on by taxpayers' outrage at the cost of bailing out those who ought to need help least, vowed to get tough. No longer would banks be allowed to become too big to fail, or bankers be rewarded for taking risks that prove the undoing of their institutions.

Read the whole story: ft.com

Comments

[Gernuser]

Congratulations to to Obama for winning the Nobel Peace Prize

If you like finance & econ news you'll like: http://pie.im/af30

Obama needs to carry out actual heath care & financial reform. Needs to get things done instead of just talking and planning.

[MyTalkRadiou]

Obama needs to do actual reform instead of just talk & plan

good articles: http://br.st/tU

~~

[themodernleader]

Joebaggadonuts. Your guess is probably more closer to the confluence of concentrated wealth and plutocracy short term and aristocracy and dynasty long term with inherited civil servants and intelligentsia as the previleged managers of all that rulers dominate. Modern scientific, technological advances have made relatively simple the domination of the entire world by a few individuals and groups.
In our own stricken country scientific advances are being turned against mass democracy for the advances of unwonted wealth. Television is a tool of owner's propaganda. Information is filtered through the value system of plutocracy, dynasty, aristocracy and foreign control. The Constitution is displayed as a relic of a peculiar, unfairly glorified former age. Such a System is taught as no longer practical for our advanced culture and complex governance system.
Such is the nation destroying, poisonous influence of unconstrained wealth and power.

[sposton]

The author states the obvious and then proceeds to give us the solution - help multinational corporations! I am beginning to think that ignorance is not the exclusive property of mal-educated.

[GreenN10]

Goldman and Bank of Amerika run the markets along with Geithner, and beagle boy Ben. There is no free markets, only welfare capitalism and socialism for capitalism.

good articles: http://iamned5.blogspot.com

[Sigger]

Of course there is no political will. Do you cut off your nose to spite your face? Do those in Congress cut off those that feed them with money? Until we have campaign reform or the complete destruction of the middle class into a world with everyone serving hamburgers, the rich will get richer, and Congress will help them in any way they can through legislation that includes tax cuts for the rich, restrictive licensing, and limitations on worker and public safety.

The current health care debate is a perfect example of this. There are some principled progressives working to help the public as a whole to have affordable health insurance, but you have the entire Republican Congress and Senate who care nothing about anything other than to get reelected with the help of some of their big insurance companies.

[leduck]

Politicians have short term memories and can’t see beyond the next election cycle. When the crises is over and the dust settles, they always back to business as usual until the next crises.
It’s one of many of the major flaws in our political system.

[foxisms]

Of course the political will for finance reform is failing. The politicians who directly benefit from the institutions that would be regulated have been leashed. There can be no political will when the will of the legislators has been leveraged with capital from the very people who reform would target. The bulk of Congress is more concerned with gathering money to ensure they get re-elected than they are with genuinely serving the people. Knowing this, what is left to ponder?

[Chubbster]

Oh great, our buffoons are frozen, confused and afraid to act.

[mrjames1]

Been waiting two days for a comments enabled HP biz article on Australia's .25 percent lending raise. Crickets. Guess its not important biz news.

In the good old USA, political will for any reform seems completely dead. Puzzling. Out of 538 or so in the US congress, it seems that at most five, or less than 1%, want any kind of Glass-Steagle re-instituted to help stop the wall street casino madness. I wonder why, it seems an elementary fix.

[PhilipTaylor]

1,000 convictions in S&L mini-CRISIS!

0 convictions in MASSIVE Wall Street Theft of $Trillions!

Shutter the Justice Department!

They are WORTHLESS!

No effort to work on the $TRILLION CR1MES but go after the small stuff that drops in their laps!

OUTRAGEOUS!

[Chubbster]

Theft? Well, yes, those derivative guys knew they were selling garbage. No consequences for the disaster they have wrought. Of course the public with it's consumption American Dream gotta have it debt levels is also responsible. But theft? Oh...theft, what the Treasure and the Fed are doing to the American people.

[Truthahn]

Nothing has been fixed in the financial system, and the political window of opportunity is closing, if it isn't already closed. The seeds of the next bubble are already baked into current policy, and not a thing has been done to reduce the risk or the damage of another bubble imploding. It's disgraceful. We're messing around with health care reform and totally ignoring the root cause of our current economic woes. Talk about taking your eye off the ball. Dems will bear the shame of this when the next financial crisis happens. They blew it.

[MetalCanuck]

THe only political will that is disappearing is the will of the media to cover it and the will of the paid off politicians to do it.

[rollingdivision]

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs."
-- Thomas Jefferson /Letter to the Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin (1802)

[Carolab]

Jack Reed (D, RI) introduced new legislation September 22 -- Comprehensive Derivatives Regulation Act of 2009. He has no co-sponsors. It has gone to Dodd's committee.

http://www.pewfr.org/reform_resources_detail?id=0701

[PhilipTaylor]

Where it will probably D1E!

D0DD is a TOOL for Wall Street as you know!

I am beginning to see Barnie Frank that way as well.

He has shown his true self lately!

[PhilipTaylor]

Not at all surprising! But d!sgusting!

At least there will be competition among th!eves!