If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The Blog
First, let your greed overcome all regard for the stability of the global market, and overcome your aversion to illegal activities.
(From the author of the book 13 Bankers, out tomorrow) Some people at the top of the administration begin to understand that it makes both economic ...
Whatever the reasons, the Geithner Treasury Department has suddenly come out swinging. They're pugilists in pinstripes now. But while the rhetoric's encouraging, Geithner's record is cloudy at best.
There's a big problem with relying on subtle regulators. Over the past thirty years, almost all our regulators have become either sleepy or captured by those they are meant to watch over.
Paul Volcker is still pressing hard for the Senate to adopt some version of both "Volcker Rules." It's an uphill struggle, so expect a firm yet polite diplomatic offensive from his side.
Instead of having politicians do their horsetrading in private and leaving the public vote until the end, let's have a public show of hands on the vital economic issues of our time.
Obama called for innovation and that's what it will take to fix this broken system, so where are the big new ideas about building a financial sector that can support real job and wealth creation rather than the phantom growth?
Volcker is no radical. He is the former Fed chairman. He has a tightwad's view of monetary policy, even in a severe recession. But he has been around long enough to know that Wall Street speculators are capable of terrible mischief when regulations are dismantled. If Obama is serious about financial reform, he needs to fight for it -- against corporate Democrats as well as Republicans, and against his chums on Wall Street. Paul Volcker deserves better than intermittent gestures. So do the American people.
Brookings economist Robert Litan put out a lengthy paper defending the major financial innovations of the last four decades. He makes some good points, but he presents a very incomplete picture.
The Volcker Rule must be expanded to significantly help reduce systemic danger. Most important is to expand restrictions to investment banks, as well as to the "shadow" banking and financial world.
Taxpayer subsidized cheap funding and looser accounting standards have allowed our largest banks to keep their Dorian Gray financial pictures behind a curtain and out of public sight.
For all the talk about Obama's grassroots fundraising prowess, it may have been Wall Street funds that gave him the edge in 2008. There are now signs that those funds may not be there for him in 2012.
How can these bankers justify awarding themselves bonuses that rival the budgets of some small countries? It's shocking, and more than a slap in the face to those millions of unemployed Americans.
The Volcker rule could be far-reaching. But it is disturbing that the Obama administration announced it before they had done enough homework to tell us how it would work.
Paul Volcker appeared before the Senate Banking Committee to pump up his eponymous "Volcker Rule," which aims to limit the scope of banking activities. I'm left with a sinking feeling that we're watching a slow death of regulatory reform.
Obama's endorsement of what he calls the "Volcker Rule" for once puts him squarely on the side of ordinary Americans as opposed to the banking bandits who have so thoroughly fleeced the public.
