What you need to know to navigate today’s most critical debates.
Democrats Corral Votes on Bank Bill (NYTimes)
FinReg may come to a final vote this week, but the timing and the whip count are still up in the air.
Question for the Tea Party: Why the Free Ride for Republicans Protecting Bankers? (HuffPo)
Robert Kuttner argues that FinReg is deeply flawed, but it’s the best we’re going to get for now. So why are Republicans getting away with threatening a filibuster?
Volcker Pushes for Reform, Regretting Past Silence (NYTimes)
The former Fed chairman gives FinReg a B, saying it doesn’t do enough to address the long-term health of…
FinReg bill falls short, especially in not ending Too Big to Fail.
The final compromise bill approved by the conference committee on Friday will improve regulation in the financial sector. However, given the severity of the economic crisis caused by past regulatory failures, the public had the right to expect much more extensive reform.
On the positive side, the creation of a strong independent consumer financial products protection bureau stands out as an important accomplishment. Such an agency would have prevented some of the worst lending practices that contributed to the housing bubble. It will be important President Obama choose a strong and…
What you need to know to navigate today’s most critical debates.
Spending Fight at G-20 (WSJ)
Warning of a potential “Hoover moment,” the Obama administration will continue to urge world leaders to avoid harsh austerity measures until the economy has recovered. Let’s hope they’re just as persistent with Congress.
Geithner and Warren Duel Over Banks’ Health (NYTimes)
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner claims TARP succeeded in stabilizing the banking system, but ND20 contributor Elizabeth Warren questions whether banks can really withstand impending real estate losses.
A Moment of Truth (The Nation)
Katrina vanden Heuvel argues that America now faces the same choice as it did in the 1930s: stimulate the…
As Obama’s Fiscal Commission prepares for its June 30 hearing, New Deal 2.0 invited leading thinkers to participate in our Social Security’s Fiscal Fitness series, which examines the soundness of the program, its relationship to the federal deficit, and the vital role it plays in America’s economic future.
Deficit hawks plotting to cut Social Security to reduce the deficit are seriously misguided. The truth is that Social Security contributes not a single penny to the deficit. Indeed, it is the poster child for fiscal responsibility.
Social Security has administrative costs strikingly lower than those of private sector retirement plans. Unlike 401(k) plans, for…
What you need to know to navigate today’s most critical debates.
The Wrong Message on Deficits (NYTimes)
Deficit hawks in the U.S. and Europe are acting as though the financial crisis is already over, but the truth is their policies will only prolong the pain.
Bernanke Warns Congress Not to Cut Spending, Cautions About ‘Fragile’ Recovery (HuffPo)
Though concerned about deficits in the long term, the Fed chairman spoke favorably of the stimulus bill and urged Congress to avoid fiscal retrenchment while the job market is still recovering. Maybe now they’ll take the hint.
Why Financial Reform Hinges on Defusing Derivatives (BNET)
Roosevelt Institute Chief Economist and Senior Fellow…
Marshall Auerback argues that we can’t let the BP crisis go to waste, as we did the financial crash.
Just 35 days after the explosion on BP’s Deep Horizon offshore drilling rig, (and two months after President Obama himself opened up vast swathes of the outer continental shelf to offshore drilling), the federal government has launched a criminal probe into the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said last Tuesday.
All well and good. But it invariably begs the question as to why, some three years after the start of the greatest financial crisis…
It’s time to understand that there is a fundamental difference between Greece and the US.
To paraphrase Shakespeare, things are indeed rotten in the State of Denmark (and Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, and almost everywhere else in the euro zone). An entire continent appears determined to commit collective hara-kiri, while the rest of the world is encouraged to draw the wrong kinds of lessons from Europe’s self-imposed economic meltdown. So-called “serious” policy makers continue to legitimize the continent’s full-fledged embrace of austerity on the allegedly respectable grounds of “fiscal sustainability.”
The latest to pronounce on this matter is the Governor…
“Something incredible happened in Washington today,” says a flabbergasted Chris Hayes, Nation editor and ND20 contributor. Hayes subbed for Rachel Maddow and discussed the passage of the “audit the Fed” amendment, the “single greatest act of bipartisanship since Obama took office.” The amendment passed the Senate 96-0 — which means that all senators present, Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike, voted for it.
So what is an audit of the Fed? When the economy started melting down, the Fed started loaning money to all sorts of people it had never lent money to before. And “most troubling of all,” Chris points out, it wouldn’t say who it gave it to or how much. And if that sounds crazy — “That’s because it is crazy.” Ben Bernanke “just plain wouldn’t tell who the Fed was giving money to.”
The quest for transparency has “given rise to the ultimate strange bedfellows political coalition,” with the likes of Jane Hamsher, Grover Norquist, Congressman Alan Grayson, and Congressman Ron Paul. And now all of the Senators present for the vote.
Guest Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the sponsor of the amendment, joined him to explain further.
Is the Federal Reserve an almighty-like “creature” or rather extremely limited in its essential operations? In an interview with Lars Schall of MMNews, Randall Wray answers questions on the Fed and central banks in general.
LS: Mr. Wray: is it true that the Fed isn’t the almighty-like “creature” as perceived in the view of the general public?
RW: Milton Friedman played the biggest role in promoting the Fed as the all-powerful Wizard of Oz, spinning dials and controlling the money supply which then determines output and employment. However, the Fed is not to be trusted, hence, should be constrained by a constant-rate-of-growth-of-money-supply rule.…
First up, Raj Date has a new paper out, titled: The Killer G’s: Resolution Authority, Financial Stabilization, and Taxpayer Bailouts. It’s definitely worth your time, as it explains how, if the Dodd Bill was in place in January 2008, our response to the Killer G’s - Goldman Sachs, GMAC and GE Capital - would have gone differently. It’s great on the topic, and pulls back to show the three types of bailouts we are worried about and what the bill does well and doesn’t do well. Highly recommended if you want to learn more.
What is the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933?
The Glass-Steagall Act was introduced during the Great Depression by former Treasury Secretary Sen. Carter Glass (D-VA) and Chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee Rep. Henry B. Steagall (D-AL).
What you need to know to navigate today’s most critical debates.
