• About

Desperado's Outpost

Desperado's Outpost

Tag Archives: Richard Shelby

Senate Passes Two Meaningless Amendments on Financial Regulation

06 Thursday May 2010

Posted by Craig in Congress, economy, financial reform, financial regulation, Politics, too big to fail, Wall Street

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

amendments, Barbara Boxer, financial regulation, liquidation, Richard Shelby, Senate, taxpayer bailouts

Any time I see that the Senate has passed something by a vote of 93–5 or 96–1 I can be sure of one thing—it’s meaningless. It’s the equivalent of a proclamation naming Sunday as the official first day of the week. Such was the case yesterday with 2 amendments to the financial regulatory bill:

“The Senate on Wednesday approved two amendments to the financial regulatory bill that both Democrats and Republicans claimed would end the prospect of taxpayer-financed bailouts for companies deemed “too big to fail.”

[…]

By a vote of 93 to 5, the Senate approved an amendment by Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the Banking Committee [which] eliminated a $50 billion fund that was designed to help bridge financial shortfalls while a failing company was undergoing liquidation. Mr. Shelby said the fund was “a honey pot” that would facilitate “backdoor bailouts.” (Somewhere Frank Luntz is smiling).

[…]

The Shelby amendment also requires the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to oversee the liquidation of a systemically important financial company that is failing, using money provided by a special line of credit with the Treasury.”

And where does the Treasury get its money again?

“The Senate also approved, by a vote of 96 to 1, an amendment by Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, saying that no taxpayer money may be used to keep a ailing financial company alive.”

Wow, earthshaking stuff there too. Wake me up when (or should that be if) they get around to the Brown–Kaufman amendment.

A Crucial Week for Financial Reform

26 Monday Apr 2010

Posted by Craig in bailout, Congress, economy, Financial Crisis, financial reform, financial regulation, Obama, Politics, Republicans, too big to fail, Wall Street

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Blanche Lincoln, Bob Corker, Chris Dodd, claw back, derivative legislation, financial reform, Goldman Sachs, great vampire squid, Harry Reid, letter, Mitch McConnell, Olympia Snowe, President Obama, Richard Shelby, Scott Brown, This Week

In what’s shaping up as a crucial week in the quest for financial reform there are some encouraging signs, some not so encouraging, and a demonstration by the executives at “the great vampire squid” (aka Goldman Sachs) give us an example of why meaningful reform is necessary.

First, the reasons to be hopeful. There appear to be some cracks in the Republican wall of solidarity. Sen. Olympia Snowe endorsed Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s tough stance toward derivative trading passed last week by the Agriculture Committee. (Sen. Grassley, another possible defector, was the lone Republican on the committee who voted for Lincoln’s proposal). In a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid, Snowe wrote:

“I believe that strong derivatives regulation goes to the heart of an effective financial reform bill and that Chairman Lincoln’s legislation is a strong step towards realizing this fundamental component to financial reform……I believe that we should err on the side of caution and finally bring full transparency to these markets once and for all and allow regulators to preemptively identify these damaged firms.

“Accordingly, I believe the Senate should start with a comprehensive, strong derivatives reform proposal and defend attempts to weaken it, not the other way around and the legislation produced by the Senate Agriculture Committee includes the strongest safeguards and most robust transparency provisions on our expansive derivatives market.

I urge the Majority Leader to incorporate these provisions into the regulatory reform bill.”

On Friday, Sen. Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, “agreed to replace his proposed restrictions on derivatives with those of the Senate Agriculture Committee, chaired by Arkansas Democrat Blanche Lincoln.”

On This Week yesterday, Sen. Bob Corker said he intended to propose an amendment containing a “claw back” provision to the legislation “which would take away the personal earnings for the past five years of the corporate officers of failed institutions that fall under the government’s resolution authority.”

Another possible Republican defector might be the newly-elected senator from Massachusetts, Scott Brown. Will someone who was elected as a sort of “man of the people” want to be painted as a defender of Wall Street? Especially when he faces re-election in 2 years? Maybe not.

Also on the positive side, “President Obama and House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank have personally urged Dodd not to cut a deal with Republicans…This is a welcome sign that Obama realizes that public opinion is moving in the direction of tougher banking reform, and that he learned from the health debate that bipartisan compromise on key reform issues is a snare and a delusion.”

Sen. Dodd has shown signs of weakening the legislation in order to compromise with Republicans leaders in the Senate, Mitch McConnell and Richard Shelby, who want to use the same tactics Republicans used on health care reform—stall and delay as long as possible. Hopefully, Dodd will be emboldened by support from President Obama and not dilute reform to try and pacify those whose intentions are to maintain the status quo.

Now to the crooks at Goldman. What were they doing as the housing market was collapsing and threatening to take the entire economy with it? Having a party:

“As the U.S. housing market began its epic fall nearly three years ago, top executives at Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs cheered the large financial gains the firm stood to make on certain bets it had placed, according to newly released documents.

The documents show that the firm’s executives were celebrating earlier investments calculated to benefit if housing prices fell, a Senate investigative committee found. In an e-mail sent in the fall of 2007, for example, Goldman executive Donald Mullen predicted a windfall because credit-rating companies had downgraded mortgage-related investments, which caused losses for investors.

“Sounds like we will make some serious money,” Mullen wrote.”

To somewhat defend Goldman, what they were doing, “selling short,” (betting against certain investments) is something that happens on Wall Street every day. But, betting against instruments that they designed to fail, and which were sold to investors as AAA investments allowing Goldman to profit from on both ends, may not be illegal (although it should be) but it certainly shows that the execs at the “great vampire squid” have no interest in what’s best for the country. They have one party’s interests in mind—-their own.

Financial Reform? Don’t Count On It

12 Friday Feb 2010

Posted by Craig in Congress, Democrats, economy, Financial Crisis, lobbyists, Politics, Republicans, special interests, Wall Street

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

campaign contributions, Christopher Dodd, Consumer Watchdog, financial sector, fundraisers, lobbyists, Richard Shelby, Senate Banking Committee

While watching the Senate Banking Committee Kabuki theater on reforming and regulating the financial industry, keep in mind the findings of this study from Consumer Watchdog:

* The financial sector is the largest source of campaign contributions to federal candidates and parties. Members of the Senate Banking committee aretop recipients of that largesse. Senate Banking committee members have received $41.9 million in campaign contributions from PACs and individuals in the financial sector since 2005.

* 24 former Senate Banking committee members or committee staff currently lobby on behalf of the financial sector. The total includes 4 former Senators and 7 former committee staff directors.

* Committee chairman Christopher Dodd (D-CT) raised $9 million from the financial sector, 51% of his fundraising over the five year period. Ranking member Richard Shelby (R-AL) raised $2.5 million, 28% of his total money raised, from the financial sector.

* Last November, Chairman Dodd tasked himself and seven other Banking committee members with re-drafting the major sections of financial reform legislation. These eight senators – Dodd, Shelby, Corker, Crapo, Gregg, Reed, Schumer, and Warner – have received the lion’s share of financial sector contributions to the committee: a total of $26.1 million.

* The financial sector and its lobbyists hosted at least 43 fundraisers for 11 members of the Senate Banking committee in 2009.

But on the bright side, jobs are being created:

* The financial sector hired 2567 lobbyists in 2009 and, in the first three quarters of the year, spent over $336 million lobbying Congress.

The "Gang of Eight" on the Senate Banking Committee

02 Tuesday Feb 2010

Posted by Craig in Congress, Democrats, economy, Obama, Republicans, Uncategorized, Wall Street

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Ben Bernanke, Bob Corker, Chris Dodd, Chuck Schumer, Jack Reed, Judd Gregg, Mark Warner, Michael CrapoJamie Dimon, Obama, openness, Richard Shelby, Senate Banking Committee, Timothy Geithner, transparency

Since the “Gang of Six” in the Senate Finance Committee worked out so well, and produced such outstanding results (sarc) in writing health care reform legislation, why not just repeat the process in the Senate Banking Committee as they tackle reforming the financial industry? More openness and transparency from our elected officials in Washington:

“For two months, four pairs of Senate Banking Committee members — each with one Democrat and one Republican — have been meeting behind closed doors to reach a bipartisan compromise on regulatory reform.”

Here are the 8 senators involved, along with the amounts each has taken from financial industry PACs:

Chris Dodd, (D-CT) $3,124,237
Richard Shelby (R-AL) $2,171,369
Mark Warner (D-VA) $330,800
Bob Corker (R-TN) $426,750
Jack Reed (D-RI) $1,554,449
Judd Gregg (R-NH) $709,941
Chuck Schumer (D-NY) $1,629,295
Micheal Crapo (R-ID) $1,237,955

That’s a grand total of $11,184,796. And these are the people who are going to reform the financial system? That’ll be the day. But as good as things are for this new “Gang of Eight.” they’re about to get better:

“…the president’s new proposals have already provoked a sharp increase in the volume and energy of the lobbying on regulatory reform, with more chief executives stepping over their government relations staff to request personal meetings with lawmakers. The big banks, the lobbyists say, have become increasingly alarmed that the legislative process may move in unexpected directions outside their control.”

Well, we certainly have to put a stop to that. Can’t have anything going on that the banksters can’t “control,” can we? Speaking of banksters:

“...Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase had lunch with Mr. Obama last Tuesday, and then met separately on Friday with the Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and the Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner.”

No doubt to discuss who they like in Sunday’s Super Bowl.

A Public Option Will Destroy Competition? What Competition?

30 Tuesday Jun 2009

Posted by Craig in Obama, Politics, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

health insurance, Joe Lieberman, John Cornyn, Obama, public option, Richard Shelby

The next time you hear one of our elected officials in Washington rail against President Obama’s proposed public option on health insurance by saying it will “destroy the marketplace” (Richard Shelby) or that there’s “plenty of competition in the private insurance market” (Joe Lieberman) remember this report from Heath Care for America Now (HCAN).

The only thing in danger of being destroyed is the monopoly the large insurance companies presently hold, and which they are willing to make any amount of campaign contributions (aka bribes) to continue.

Consider the following:

“In the past 13 years, more than 400 corporate mergers have involved health insurers, and a small number of companies now dominate local markets but haven’t delivered on promises of increased efficiency. According to the American Medical Association, 94 percent of insurance markets in the United States are now highly concentrated.”

“Highly concentrated,” according to the U.S. Justice Department means that one company holds more than a 42 % share of the market, a level reached in 31 states.

“In Hawaii, Rhode Island, Alaska, Vermont, Maine, Montana, Wyoming, Arkansas, and Iowa, the two largest health insurers control at least 80% of the statewide market.”

In Senator Shelby’s own state of Alabama, Blue Cross Blue Shield controls 83% of the statewide market, the highest rate in the nation for a single company. Is this what he is intent on preserving? Apparently so.

Right here in Texas, two companies, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Aetna, control 59% of the market. Our own Senator John Cornyn was one of 9 GOP senators who sent a letter to President Obama which said “a federal government takeover of our healthcare system would take decisions out of the hands of doctors and patients and place them in the hands of a Washington bureaucracy.” I suppose placing those decisions in the hands of an insurance company “bureaucracy” is acceptable.

But having a monopoly can be a very profitable enterprise:

“Profits at 10 of the country’s largest publicly traded health insurance companies rose 428 percent from 2000 to 2007. In 2007 alone, the chief executive officers at these companies collected combined total compensation of $118.6 million—an average of $11.9 million each.

That is 468 times more than the $25,434 an average American worker made that year. Moreover, the health insurance industry invests more in buying back its own stock and rewarding its shareholders than in improving system operations, reducing premiums, or in developing ways to pay doctors and hospitals fairly.”

For those of us who pay premiums however, it’s not such a sweetheart deal. They have risen more than 87%, on average, over the past 6 years. From 1999-2007, while the average U. S. wage growth was 29%, the average premium growth was 120%.

This is the status quo that Shelby, Lieberman, Cornyn, the big insurance companies, and their lobbyists want to maintain. It’s up to us to let them know that another 15 years of business as usual is unacceptable.

Recent Posts

  • Turn Out the Lights, the Revolution’s Over
  • Climbing Aboard the Hillary Train
  • You Say You Want a Revolution…
  • Proud to be a War Criminal
  • Drug Testing Welfare Applicants Struck Down in Florida

Archives

  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • April 2014
  • January 2014
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008

Blogroll

  • Bankster USA
  • Down With Tyranny
  • Firedoglake
  • Memeorandum
  • naked capitalism
  • Newshoggers
  • Obsidian Wings
  • Taylor Marsh
  • The Market Ticker
  • Tom Dispatch
  • Zero Hedge

Categories

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 7 other followers

  • RSS - Posts
  • RSS - Comments

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Desperado's Outpost
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Desperado's Outpost
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar