Since the Senate didn't reinstate Glass-Steagal and the President's opposition to audit the Fed

[saracat]

resulted in a very watered down audit sponsored by Sanders, and the Senate voted to allow unlimited CC rates, what is the point of this finacial reform? Isn't this more of just symbolisim? What are we really getting out of this?

[Roland99]

1. We're getting out of this that we need true Progressives and Liberals in the Congress

and the White House.

[saracat]

6. I am really angry. How stupid do they think we are? Rahm genuinely meant what he said about the

left. They think they can tell us anything. They sure learned packaging form the Bush "Clear Skies Initiative". If Glass-Steagal is not reinstated at least as a post amendment, I am beyond done.

[Vincardog]

2. We are going to get the "new Dems" running in the fall and 2012 saying we have to support "Party"

over policy until we kick the RW nutz out of BOTH arms of the Corporate party.

[Lorien]

16. If we have enough challengers out there

I think that we WILL be able to kick them, and kick them hard! Even the MSM isn't able to brainwash the people like it once was-people are seeing the effects of corporate fascism daily, and they have had ENOUGH!

[Vincardog]

25. I hope so. I have been working to make it happen for years. Enough is enough.

[Cant trust em]

3. CFPA still made the bill, didn't it? nt

[laughingliberal]

4. Same thing we get out of most legislation these days...

an entertaining show, a few nice speeches, and a royal screwing which allows the economic royalists to continue business as usual.

[Lorien]

13. +1.

:-(

[leftstreet]

23. +1

[LaydeeBug]

42. +1 nt

[AllentownJake]

43. +1

[branders seine]

5. we're getting a bill name that sounds like something,

which the professional liars can brag falsely about during the upcoming sham elections while they collect bribes and pretend to want our "votes"

[saracat]

7. "Clear Skies Initiative" "Financial Reform"

[branders seine]

54. another "no billionaire left behind scam"

Feingold is right.

[Journeyman]

8. Each group gets same as it ever does: The rich keep getting richer and the poor. . .

keep getting old.

[joeybee12]

9. It's the "let's pass something...anything" mentality so us plebs can be

tricked into thinking something is being done.

[saracat]

12. WINNING is everything. WHAT you WIN doesn't matter.

and the stupid swallow it every time. They accept "this is the BEST we can do". Pathetic, just pathetic. I guess Cantwell and Feingold are just "haters" too!:sarcasm:

[joeybee12]

20. I think a lot of people are catching on...problem is the media hasn't...

the pathetic clueless dolts.

[Donnachaidh]

32. don't kid yourself -- the media know EXACTLY what is going on

WHY should they report on it?

Doing that would get them tossed off the party lists. They ENABLE this nonsense. We stopped having TRUE journalism in this country years ago.

[chill_wind]

27. Harry Reid's impatiently watching the clock.

There's still the War Supplemental Gates wants before recess. He brought that up a week or two ago and proceeded to complain about all the Financial reform bill amendments there were still to get thru. And there's talk of also looking at unemployment extensions (if the country is lucky.)

He wants to move on. Pass something, anything, say we did it, like all the rest, we can always fix it later blah blah.

[rudy23]

10. This is just the way it's gonna be under Obama. Big show---no results. GOP/DLC wins.

To borrow a quote about Max Fischer from Rushmore.

[Dinger]

14. +1

[readmoreoften]

40. +2

[rhett o rick]

51. +7

[Cant trust em]

11. I find it interesting that we tend to highlight one or two things that make us happy...

and then focus solely on those things as being the only things that measure the worth of a bill. If those elements aren't included, then the whole thing must be worthless.

It's probably because I've only learned about a couple of things related to it, since I'm not an issue expert, I don't really know all of the things that are on the table. None of us have enough time to really get that deep, so I can only process a couple of these items.

[laughingliberal]

17. The bill does not stop the worst of the abuses which led to the crisis

Passing a bill which just slows down the screwing we're getting...well...I think the immortal words of Faith Hill are in order here: "That don't impress me much."

[atreides1]

22. Actually

I believe that was Shania Twain, not Faith Hill.:D

[laughingliberal]

28. ah, that'll teach me to take my husband's word for a source. lol

[rhett o rick]

52. Are you a newly wed or just slow? JK. nm

[Cant trust em]

24. Actually CFPA is still a good element.

It also looks like Lincoln's derivatives regulation amendment also made the final cut.

So while the bill isn't as tough as it could be, it's far from worthless.

[laughingliberal]

29. If the Volcker rule and Lincoln's amendment (unwatered down) make it in,...

... it could be a decent bill. We will have to see how it shakes out.

[SpartanDem]

15. The CFPA for one

Lincoln's deriviative reform is intact, Durbin's amendment limiting credit/debit fees and Franken's amendment that ends the conflict for rating agencies made it in so the thing is far from worthless.

[Cant trust em]

19. Wait...hold on a minute...could it be...

An answer?

I know that the OP's question was rhetorical, but there actually are some good portions to the bill.

[laughingliberal]

33. I don't think anyone would say there's no good parts to the bill

The problem is if you have a disease which requires several treatments to cure, it's really not helpful if you don't take the full course. It's like only taking antibiotics for 1/2 the time prescribed. You will feel better for the time being but the next time you're confronted with that infection it will not respond well to the treatment. Short term feel good with long term problem looming.

[Cant trust em]

38. I think that we're pretty much in agreement here.

I stick by my original response to the OP, where we learn about 1 or 2 things and if we don't get those, there's a tendency to think that the whole bill a failure.

There are some nice features to this bill, but a lot of places where it could have been stronger. I posted earlier today that I would have liked for cloture to not have been invoked yet. Let those other amendments be voted on.

[laughingliberal]

39. Looks as if Volcker rule will get a vote. That's one positive.

Remaining issues:
The two issues still to be decided are a proposed ban on commercial banks carrying out speculative trades with their own money and an exemption for auto dealers acting as finance companies from oversight of the new consumer protection bureau.
President Obama, last week, came out with determined opposition to the auto dealer exemption.

http://www.examiner.com/x-5968-DC-Public-Policy-Examine...

So, good news/bad news. The Volcker rule can still make it into the bill but if so, it will be attached to the auto dealer exemption. I, frankly, can live with that. The Volcker rule is a big step in the right direction.

[Cant trust em]

44. The auto dealer exemption does stink, but it's small peanuts compared the the Volcker rule.

It would be really great to get that enacted.

[Cant trust em]

50. Good article on Cantwell's unvoted amendment here

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=05&year=2010&base_name=cantwells_objection

[PA Democrat]

31. According to the Washington Post Chris Dodd stuck in a two year delay on

Blanche Lincoln's derivative amendment at the last minute. That is horrible news and has me fuming. There is very little to cheer about in this bill.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/18/AR2010051804100.html

<snip?

Without announcement or fanfare, the Connecticut Democrat -- chairman of the Senate banking committee and chief architect of the pending legislation -- was quietly trying to resolve one of the few remaining disputes that could impede the passage of the landmark bill: a disagreement over financial instruments called derivatives that has sent shudders through Wall Street.

At issue was a single section a third of the way through the massive 1,400-page bill that could force a handful of the nation's biggest banks to spin off their billion-dollar businesses in trading derivatives.

Dodd offered a clever Washington solution aimed to appease both friends and foes of the provision. His amendment preserves the tough language -- but it postpones any action for two years so it can be studied. And it assigns that study to a new council of regulators, headed by Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, whose members have serious reservations about such a dramatic measure and may very well kill it in the end.

Problem is, the idea didn't sit so well with Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), chief advocate of the derivatives ban, who was in Arkansas on Tuesday fighting for her Senate seat in a primary election. (Her bid to secure the nomination fell short, setting up a June 8 runoff election.) When contacted about Dodd's proposal, staff members seemed unaware of it. They later sent out a statement on Lincoln's behalf.

[SpartanDem]

34. No he tried to it didn't happen

A far-reaching proposal to regulate derivative trading will not be scaled back in Wall Street reform legislation, at least for now, multiple Senate aides confirm. The development comes as welcome news to an unusual mix of progressives, financial officials, and at least one conservative Democrat: Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR).

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/dodd-drops-plan-to-scale-back-derivative-regulation.php

[girl gone mad]

36. It will be watered down in regulation.

There's really no getting around that.

[PA Democrat]

37. And there is still no effective enforcement of derivatives trading in this bill.

There are too many loopholes. There is nothing to prevent swaps rejected by the clearinghouse from being made outside of the clearinghouse. Furthermore, the numbers involved are STAGGERING and you still have the assets of just five banks five banks representing 60% of the US GDP.

http://www.investingcontrarian.com/financial-news-network/major-loophole-in-senate-financial-reform-bill-derivatives-reform-may-be-illusory/

Estimates vary as to how much of the market will be impacted by the proposed derivative rules. The Bank of International Settlements estimates that if all open OTC derivatives contracts were closed out at prevailing market prices, they’d be worth about $21.6 trillion as of last December, or 50 percent more than the nation’s total output last year. The CFTC roughly estimates that as much as 90 percent of the market will have to go through a clearinghouse.

Of the 1,030 U.S. commercial banks reporting derivatives activity in December, just five — JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo — dominated the market. Those five, which also are the five largest banks in the country by total assets, represented 97 percent of the total activity in the U.S. banking system, according to national bank regulator the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. As of March 31, those five giants collectively held $8.6 trillion in total assets, according to Federal Reserve data. That’s equivalent to 60 percent of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) last year.

[laughingliberal]

48. Cynic that I am...

I believe if Lincoln had won her primary this would have flown. With a runoff looming, she opposed it. The TPM article notes the following:

it met swift opposition from progressives, who are demanding stronger regulation; certain Wall Street officials, who hate the Lincoln plan itself, but prefer it for its predictability; and Lincoln herself, who continues to face a primary challenge, and has been guarding her left flank by running on her anti-Wall Street proposal.

It also faced a raft of negative press. But as soon as the trial balloon took flight, Lincoln's opponent's pounced, characterizing the populist proposal as an election-time ruse meant to dupe voters, and which was always going to be cast aside after primary season. And maybe it would have, if Lincoln's election Tuesday night hadn't ended in a draw, forcing a runoff between her and Arkansas Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/dodd-drops-plan-to-scale-back-derivative-regulation.php

We really need to watch that Senate/House conference as noted here:

But just because Dodd's plan is gone, it may not be forgotten. Though Dodd's decision to drop it likely means financial regulatory reform will pass the Senate leaving Lincoln's plan untouched, Democratic leaders will get one more bite at the apple when the House and Senate meet to iron out the differences between their two bills. The House's derivatives title is significantly weaker than the Senate's and, with the White House's backing, party principals could meet in the middle, scrapping or punting on the spin-off provision as part of a convenient compromise.

But that would still buy Lincoln time (her runoff is on June 8) and would force top Democrats to explain why they scrapped the tough-on-Wall-Street plan behind closed doors.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/dodd-drops-plan-to-scale-back-derivative-regulation.php

[Roland99]

18. Sounds like at least the Volcker language made it into the bill.

[xchrom]

21. All I know is that just like HRC - it isn't innocent,

It isn't all we can get, it isn't the perfect being the
enemy of the good.

It's the corrupt crafting corrupt legislation and depending
on the masses to buy the afore mentioned lies
and defend it as Truth.

[Individualist]

26. What we're getting is another dog and pony show.

[Donnachaidh]

30. Bread and Circuses -- they get to claim they *did something* in political ads

THEY continue to get contributions from the banks and the public gets screwed.

CHANGE we can believe in! Ka-ching! Catch the coins tossed out the limo window...

[girl gone mad]

35. We get complete loss of faith in our financial markets..

with Asia poised to leave us in the dust.

But at least our fat cat bankers won't be held accountable, and they get to go on like before, trying to squeeze more blood out of the little turnips and creating imaginary wealth for themselves.

[ProSense]

41. What about Franken's amendment?

Durbin's? Boxer's? What about the few that have yet to be voted on?

[laughingliberal]

45. Here:

Further debate limited:
The cloture vote limits the time available for additional debate to 30 hours. No single Senator may speak for more than one hour. No new amendments may be filed. <snip>

<snip> Remaining issues:
The two issues still to be decided are a proposed ban on commercial banks carrying out speculative trades with their own money and an exemption for auto dealers acting as finance companies from oversight of the new consumer protection bureau.

http://www.examiner.com/x-5968-DC-Public-Policy-Examiner~y2010m5d20-Senate-invokes-cloture--30-debate-hours-remain--financial-reform-act-will-pass

[ProSense]

46. The amendments listed were passed.

"No new amendments may be filed."

Correct, but existing amendments can still be considered.

This is no different from when the health care bill went to the floor.

[TheKentuckian]

55. That bodes well.....for TPTB

[gleaner]

47. A chance to force opponents who oppose true financial ...

reform to stand up and identify themselves before November and subsequent elections. Then maybe we can replace them with representatives who will actually vote for meaningful financial reform. This is winding up to be Health Care Reduex, and I'm sick of it. I want to see who is trying to screw us this time.

[Roland99]

49. Anyone else sickened by Enzi's snarky talk about losing "freedoms"?

[BrklynLiberal]

53. nada