I am absolutely sick to death of an administration and a government that actually thinks that they can fix the problems they created. The insanity of allowing the District of Criminals to continue proposing legislation that will create even bigger problems than we have now is making my per day Advil intake increase. At what point are we going to be able to chop the federal government down to size? Obama and crew are now proposing limits on the big banks, and before you get ready to throw something at me because I’m not jumping on the “Kill Wall Street” bandwagon, hear me out. I can’t stand Wall Street, but I understand that what has transpired was because of the socialist laws that Congress passed back in the ’90’s, and the resulting drive for profits which the free market is based on. Do you realize the number of ‘little people’ invested in those banks for their retirement and how a congress (because of their economic and capitalist ignorance), sold those peoples’ futures down the river?
Would you agree or disagree that the same people that gave us the housing bubble, namely Congress, should be the ones to create even more legislation (with unintended consequences) to fix the problem? Can anyone explain to me why politicians are creating banking legislation? Other than becoming millionaires while in office, what actual real life experience do they bring to the table? Has Barney Frank been a CEO of a Fortune 500 company? Does he, in his heart of hearts, understand how business actually grows and thrives? No? Then why is the US Government, which is one of the largest corporations in the world being run by total economic morons. Is it okay with you to let them regulate the banks when you understand that they are just people who ran for political office, and are then able to vote to raise the credit card limit on the country anytime they want because the alternative is too frightening to even consider? The current and former congresses have brought America to the brink of financial collapse, and now they want to tell the banks how to ‘act right’ according to liberal left policies?
They brought us the Community Reinvestment Act that was beefed up in the ’90’s which required banks to make quotas on mortgages to low income buyers or suffer hefty fines. Nice 20/20 hindsight of what occurs when leveling the playing field according to socialist standards instead of capitalist standards.
They have added almost $3 Trillion in debt in the last year and are on the verge of adding $2 TRILLION more just to get through to 2011. AYFKM? The American Public told Bush, Obama, and Congress not to bail out the banks because we saw what was coming; us lowly simpletons. Now we are mired in a total clusterf*** with an administration that wants to abolish capitalism but can’t quite figure out how to kill it because 76% of the American People are CAPITALISTS!
Capitalism is not the enemy; socialist driven Congresses are. Small and large businesses are trying to survive the regulations being placed on them by the government by shipping jobs to other countries because of union legacy costs, insanely high taxes, expensive manufacturing, etc., etc., etc.!
Now, the socialists economic imbeciles are attempting to cage the beast again using socialist ideas, and the beast will just flow around the bars because capitalism isn’t against the law…yet.
Big banks have already begun poking the holes in Obama’s new rules—holes they expect their banks to pass through basically unchanged.
The president promised this morning to work with Congress to ensure that no bank or financial institution that contains a bank will own, invest in or sponsor a hedge fund or a private equity fund, or proprietary trading operations unrelated to serving customers for its own profit.
But sources at three banks tell us that they are already finding ways to own, investment in and sponsor hedge funds and private equity funds. Even prop trading seems safe.
A person familiar with the operations of one big Wall Street bank said it expects that new regulation will affect less than 1% of its overall business.
The key phrase is “operations unrelated to serving customers.” The banks plan to claim that much of the business in which it engages is related in one way or another to serving customers. Even proprietary trading, for instance, can become related to customer service if it is done through internal hedge funds in which some outside clients are permitted to invest.
One insider at a bank pointed to JP Morgan Chase’s ownership of the hedge fund Highbridge Capital. It is thought that under a strict “no hedge funds” rule, Highbridge would have to be sold off. But under the rule proposed by the Obama administration, Highbridge can be retained by JP Morgan because outside clients are permitted to invest in it.
A still more devious way is to have a banks own employees be the customers who are invested in the internal hedge funds. That way trading operations can remain closed to outsiders while the regulatory requirement of relating the trading to customer service is met. Goldman Sachs is rumored to be considering this approach. (Goldman isn’t commenting on the regs right now.)
Why don’t we ask a bazillionaire (i.e. capitalist) what he would do with the big banks, and “too big to fail”? Warren Buffet, 1.21.2010
Adds another 200 “regulators” to the government payroll, pension plan, and health care plan at the taxpayer’s expense, plus buildings, office supplies, vehicles, travel expenses, insurance policies, and so forth – yet the banks have already figured a way around it before ink even hits paper.
Wow. This is some efficient administration.
I think Buffet’s idea of CEO’s being the chief risk takers is spot on, but it should be extended inside the Beltway. If the budget isn’t balanced, the pResident leaves office with no net worth. If the debt limit is increased, Congress members leave office (mandatory – their job goals were not met) with no net worth.
I am absolutely sick to death of an administration and a government that actually thinks that they can fix the problems they created. The insanity of allowing the District of Criminals to continue proposing legislation that will create even bigger problems than we have now is making my per day Advil intake increase. At what point are we going to be able to chop the federal government down to size? Obama and crew are now proposing limits on the big banks, and before you get ready to throw something at me because I’m not jumping on the “Kill Wall Street” bandwagon, hear me out. I can’t stand Wall Street, but I understand that what has transpired was because of the socialist laws that Congress passed back in the ’90’s, and the resulting drive for profits which the free market is based on. Do you realize the number of ‘little people’ invested in those banks for their retirement and how a congress (because of their economic and capitalist ignorance), sold those peoples’ futures down the river?
Adds another 200 “regulators” to the government payroll, pension plan, and health care plan at the taxpayer’s expense, plus buildings, office supplies, vehicles, travel expenses, insurance policies, and so forth – yet the banks have already figured a way around it before ink even hits paper.
Wow. This is some efficient administration.
I think Buffet’s idea of CEO’s being the chief risk takers is spot on, but it should be extended inside the Beltway. If the budget isn’t balanced, the pResident leaves office with no net worth. If the debt limit is increased, Congress members leave office (mandatory – their job goals were not met) with no net worth.
Works for me.
That definitely works for me too GG. Can we just start with the bennies for life thang right now?