Barney Frank Reconsiders Derivatives Rules: "There May Be A Problem Here"

boston.com:

WASHINGTON -- House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank, under fire from some fellow Democrats and consumer groups for carving out what they call loopholes in legislation designed to prevent another economic meltdown, said in a letter released tonight that "there may be a problem here'' and that he wants to reconsider.

The Globe reported on Saturday that an array of Democrats, consumer groups, and the chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission were concerned that legislation pushed through the committee by Frank was not strict enough on the trading of derivatives.

Read the whole story: boston.com

Comments

[Hysterian68]

Barney Frank's career in the House hangs in the balance. He has a savy constituency in Boston and if the voters think Barney's lost touch, he's history.

[Steve Gilmore]

They were warned derivatives were risky and dangerous;

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warning/

"In The Warning, FRONTLINE producer Michael Kirk unearths the hidden history of the nation's worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. At the center of it all he finds Brooksley Born, who speaks for the first time on television about her failed campaign to regulate the secretive, multitrill­ion-dollar derivatives market whose crash helped trigger the financial collapse in the fall of 2008."

They were warned there was a false "market";
http://stvglmr.newsvine.com/_news/2008/09/27/1921509-deregulation-and-lack-of-media-attention-cause-bailout

However, even though they allowed and created the last banking bailout just 20 years ago due to their negligence and deregulation, they cared so little for the welfare of this country and every American citizen, they allowed the bankers and Wall Street to bankrupt the entire country.

Simply put, how does the real estate market triple (home prices went from $80K to $230K) when American income rose a meager 6% during the same time frame? What drove the "market" to such an extreme? How did they think it would sustain itself if income didn't rise with it?

They cannot be that stupid, so it means they are that corrupt, therefore they are a danger to national security and should be treated as such.

The same problems that caused the "largest taxpayer bailout in history" 20 years ago caused the worse bankruptcy of America in history.

[Annette Donovan]

Barney: We are in trouble in this country and all you can do is Deliverance rules. Why do you always look like you are going to sleep. Too many late nights?

[toinfinityandbeyond]

Golly gee Barney, you finally woke up after most of you in Congress looked the other way while the country was going down the drain?

People are defaulting on their credit cards!
Americans are losing their homes!
The jobs are gone!
Corruption is rampant!
Congress has sold out to the lobbyists!
The Nation is broke and in debt!
The commercial real estate market is starting to crumble!
America is losing the war in Afghanistan!
The dollar is in serious trouble!
GS is the new government!
Gold is reaching new levels!
Corporate media tells nothing but lies!
Crime is rising!
China now owns the USA!
The Constitution has been violated by the Patriot Act!
Taxes are rising!
The jobless recovery has been a failure!

[Troubledwawa]

"The derivatives measure has already passed through Frank's committee. Frank said in his letter that he would try to amend the legislation when it reaches the House floor. "

Translation: He isn't changing anything.

[gorgol]

Who in the heck is monitoring this site...two submission­s.....noth­ing nasty in either...o­ne posted then removed...­makes me wonder who works at HP and why.

[Chernynkaya]

Sometimes it is suspicious, sometimes just outrageously arbitrary. Most times I imagine a low paid workforce of the young and clueless.

[wheatsavage]

Barney Frank needs to go. He's sleazy, incompetent, and has has outlived his usefullness.
We need regulators, not sleazballs like Franks in government!

[Nuyorican21]

I guess if they would actally fix the problems, what would they campaign about??? Most of us have to build substantive resumes, politicians build 'faith-based' support.

[hopefull252]

Each time I watch one of his hearings it gets me angry that he is in this position. he does everything he can to stop investigations and reforms in the financial system, by cutting people short not allowing questions and terminating hearings when he does not like the questions.

The Fed and Treasury hearings are the worst in these blatant efforts of Frank to manipulate the hearings.

Why is the committee not replacing Frank? I'm sure each member have got a ear full of discontent from there voters.

There are a couple of bills on the hill that he is stopping from a vote, because they actually would investigate the Federal Reserve and corruption in the system.

Any reform blessed by Frank will in the end hurt the people.

[Hysterian68]

You don't like Barney's circus? He's the ringmaster and he's got most of the Democrats on it jumping through firey hoops. The Republicans, with a couple of exceptions, are hopelessly stupid and uninformed about any of the facts of life.

Barney was funny and entertaining at first, but even some of his strongest admirers think he's overstayed his visit in Congress. He clearly thought he was indispensable to the running of the commitee , but Frank is gradually becoming a poster boy for what its like when you've been in politics too long--arrogance and removable from the concerns of average people become your personal hallmark. In a liberal district, that is the kiss of death.

[dezzertguy]

Frank should really remove himself from all discussions given that he was a major player in the mortgage mess. I was wastching V last night and I wonder if he is an alien. They have been trying to disrupt our financial systems and heaven knows, Frank as done that. I do not trust a think he says.

[JohnSawyer]

Yes, that's right, Barney Frank is an alien who eats gerbils whole.

[Mildmannered]

Paul Volcker wants the nation’s banks to be prohibited from owning and trading risky securities, which is the very practice that got the biggest ones into deep trouble in 2008

[jrutle]

Absolutely remarkable that these flaws have to be pointed out to Frank. Reform is in bad hands I'm afraid.

[breakingpoint]

who owns Barny?
fraud is fraud and it's your job to stop it
http://jischinger.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/wanted

[rissole]

The public is instructed to disregard his remarks.

[iceage7]

Rememeber folks even if congress passes anything still has to go through the senate. Now our politics is bought. Our system is broken. law makers take bribes from cooporations. Coporations own congress

[JohnSawyer]

You mean, "even if the House passes anything, it still has to go through the Senate." Congress is the term for the combined House and Senate.

[basenji]

Frank you should also consider retirement. Those of you who were, imo intentionally, asleep at the wheel for the last decade need to accept the fact that we know you are guilty and we won't tolerate it.

[VikingQuest]

He's a career politician . . .

They never retire.