House Reform Bill Thread

As you already know if you read the news, the House version of the financial reform bill will probably come to a vote today, and it should have the votes to pass unless the Republicans/conservative Democrats manage to pass a poison pill amendment — like Walt Minnick’s amendment to kill off the CFPA and replace it with a council of regulators. (I’m not making this up.) The bank lobby moderate Democrats did manage to get federal preemption of state laws, which means that states can’t set higher standards than federal regulators and sounds like a bad thing (anyone remember the OTS?), but Mike Konczal says it might not be as bad as it sounds.

To be honest, I’m not sure what’s in this thing at the moment, and who knows how many little loopholes have managed to sneak in, especially when it comes to derivatives regulation. But if it has a meaningful CFPA (which I’m pretty sure it does), it’s a step forward. If it doesn’t break up big banks, it’s not enough.

By James Kwak

17 thoughts on “House Reform Bill Thread”

  3. Really, and how many Republicans can you name that even have the gonads to vote for this watered down version??? Just give us ONE Republican name Nemo.

  4. The Bill passed the House 223-202 with no Republican’s voting for the measure.

    The Senate Bill will be very interesting to watch. The big bankers now have two shots left. The Senate and the Conference bill should the Senate bill pass. The Senate understands they must pass a bill.

    So watered down will be watered down again and in Conference.

  5. Over on The Economic Populist, we’re also trying to figure out what is in the actual bill. While cramdowns are being reported defeated, Frank not only passed a 225 page manager’s amendment, but also passed a bundled group of amendments and which ones they are is unclear.

    One thing is certain the MSM is just reporting the fluff press release, they are not reading the legislative text or the amendments themselves.

    There is this Seeking Alpha piece on the derivatives loopholes and why they are so massive. I can verify one from the legislative text but that doesn’t mean the other 3 are not in the bill, more it’s so massive I just haven’t found the other 3 yet.

  6. An Ode to U.S. Representative and “New Democrat” Melissa Bean of Illinois.

    Melissa Bean sold her soul to the devil so banks wouldn’t have to meet stricter state regulations. No doubt she will be rewarded kindly by the banks for selling her soul and weakening the bank regulations for her dearest banker friends. Maybe later she can get a desk together with former Congressman Phil Gramm at UBS Investment banks, and they can make funny jokes about how they demolished America.

  8. Melissa Bean are you out there??? WE KNOW WHAT YOU DID MELISSA BEAN. AND I WILL MAKE SURE ANYONE WHO VISITS THIS SITE KNOWS WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU DID MELISSA BEAN. How does it feel to do your part to destroy the greatest democracy in the world, to line your own pockets and share chuckles with bankers??? Is it a proud moment for you to sell out your own country, that has given you a grand and free lifestyle???MELISSA BEAN YOUR NAME WILL LIVE IN INFAMY.

  9. If you live in Illinois, make sure to give Melissa Bean a phone call, and ask her what candy and goodies she got from big banks to get stricter state regulations nullified for the big bankers. Ask Representative Melissa Bean how it feels to sell out her own country for a grubstake with bankers.
    In Illinois: 1701 E Woodfield Road, Suite 200, Schaumburg, IL 60173 | (847) 517-2927
    In Washington: 432 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 | (202) 225-3711

  10. Policy makers have it BASS-ACKWARDS!!!!

    If the history of the Soviet Union proved one thing, it is that nothing is “too big to fail (TBTF).” In the recently published “We’re All Screwed,” I argue that structurally flawed one-size-fits-all, SOX-type rule-writing fosters oligopolies not competition. It is disproportionate regulation that is the independent variable with first move advantage for driving Too-Big-To-Fail commercial parameters such as scale not vice versa.

    If Citigroup’s one-size-fits-all financial supermarket did not provide a net benefit, can there be a one-size-fits-all regulatory regime? Recent events have demonstrated that trying to cross-regulate with non-correlative information results in discontinuous governance that is dysfunctional.

    If there is complexity, there is uncertainty. Capital market governance must move beyond risk management to include uncertainty. This requires a “Gaulian Division” by segmenting governance regimes via cash flow into:

    1. Predictable: (GSA) money market (break-the-buck) instruments,
    2. Probable: (33-34 Act) earnings-driven issues and,
    3. Uncertain: (EntEX) event-driven issues (reference: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2751/is_77/ai_n6353167/print ).

    Capital formation is the lifeblood of our free market economy. Economic development is a reflexive proposition between capital and labor. To create jobs requires the preconditions of commercially viable enterprises and related capital formation platforms. Absent a liquidity event that creates multiple returns of value, our economy will become ensnared in a recursive loop of inefficiencies that lead to ineffectiveness.

    Stephen A. Boyko

    Aiken , SC
    n2keco@bellsouth.net

    Author of “We’re All Screwed: How Toxic Regulation Will Crush the Free Market System” and a series of SFO articles on capital market governance.

  11. Oh wow, you have a book to sell also. What was the title again?? Does that come with a ginsu knife after 3 easy payments???

  16. Where’s William Shattner?? you know the guy who murdered ………………………………. Palin takes it now, takes it…..and gives us a lesson in literacy…………….

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