NYT to Senate: Pick Your Side--The Banks or the American People

[flpoljunkie]

March 13, 2010
Editorial

Pick Your Side

After spending months searching for a bipartisan consensus on financial regulatory reform, Senator Christopher Dodd, chairman of the banking committee, is expected to unveil his own bill on Monday, without one Republican supporter.

Consensus on a good bill would have been a refreshing change. Given all of the lobbying money the banks have spent to stymie reform, it was never very likely. From what we hear, Mr. Dodd had just as hard a time with some of the Democrats on his committee.

What Mr. Dodd needs to do is to introduce the toughest and smartest legislation he can to revamp the financial system and protect American consumers. And he and President Obama need to twist the arms of Democratic committee members to bring the strongest possible bill to the Senate floor.

Their rallying cry couldn’t be any clearer: Whose side are you on? The banks or the American people?

The American people need a bill that strictly regulates all derivatives — the complex, and often speculative instruments that caused so much trouble here and abroad. It must establish a mechanism for downsizing too-big-to-fail banks, and create a credible procedure by which the government can seize and dismantle financial firms that pose a threat to the system. It must instruct regulators to impose safeguards, like higher capital requirements and limits on borrowing, to curtail risk-taking before it runs amok.

http://www.nytimes.com//2010/03/13/opinion/13sat1.html

[UpInArms]

1. a phantom pair of balls at the NYT?

a refreshing, if only it were not such an elusive occurrence.