Recently, when the Senate passed the Dodd-Frank rollback Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Bill (S.2155) — thanks to the complicity assistance of seventeen Democratic Senators — it seemed as though the irrational exuberance which propelled the financial markets into the Great Recession was, once again, in full effect. The name of the bill itself should have been a dead giveaway that Wall Street wanted to return to those glory days when, unfettered by the repeal of Glass-Stegal, Too-Big-To-Fail financial institutions went hog wild with all sorts of “investment instruments” that were not even worth the paper they were printed on. And just what did the captains of capitalism do when their paper schemes went up in smoke?
They became socialist. But only to socialize their debts. Profit was to remain privatized. They were Too.Big.To.Fail and Too.Big.To.Jail, but they were not Too.Big.To.Bail(out). Dodd-Frank was enacted to ensure that if they failed again, the only bail would be their payment to the court to get out of jail. Struggling over the ensuing years to eek out meager profits has been such a burden on banks that they have spent untold million$ lobbying Congress for regulatory relief from Dodd-Frank. Hence, S.2155.
As with all major legislation, or any human endeavor, there are always unintended consequences. Dodd-Frank did impact credit unions and community banks negatively. And these institutions really do require regulatory relief if they are to remain viable alternatives to “commercial” banks. But these issues could have been addressed separately without removing relaxing the necessary regulations on the biggies. Yeah, like that was ever going to happen.
But as awful as S,2155 is — and you know it’s awful because the big banks and their lobbyists are backing it to the hilt — it isn’t awful enough for the Conservative Republicans in the House:
Banks and credit unions desperate for regulatory relief are ramping up pressure on House Republicans to quickly pass a bill easing Dodd-Frank banking rules.
The Senate earlier this month cleared a bipartisan bill that would exempt dozens of lenders from stricter federal oversight, sending it to the House.
The measure is a longtime goal of Republicans and the financial services industry. But Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is keeping the bill off the House floor until senators agree to add on a slew of banking reforms that have passed the lower chamber.
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Senators backing [S.2155] warned the House not to tamper with the fragile deal and urged them to send it to President Trump without delay.
Senate Democrats vowed to abandon the bill if House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), a staunch conservative, added any changes.
A day after the Senate bill passed, Hensarling told reporters that Ryan, a close ally, would freeze the bipartisan deal “unless and until they’re willing to negotiate with the House.”
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Hensarling’s efforts to get more changes have rankled bank lobbyists who were already skeptical of his ability to get a Dodd-Frank rollback to Trump’s desk.
As chairman of the Financial Services panel, Hensarling was the architect of the CHOICE Act, the House GOP’s sweeping Dodd-Frank rewrite. The bill passed the House in 2017, but was deemed dead on arrival in the Senate, where any measure to revise the law needed some Democratic support.
Financial industry groups criticized Hensarling for pushing what they considered a GOP wish list over a viable bill.
thehill.com/...
Some say that politics makes for strange bedmates. But the idea that both the Progressive and Freedom Caucuses want to kill the bill, albeit for totally opposite reasons, really gives bipartisanship a totally new meaning.
So please proceed, Messrs. Hensarling and Ryan. Please proceed to turn the awful S.2155 into something so terrible that you will lose the seventeen CorpDems centrist Democratic Senators who voted to let loose the hogs of Wall Street. The incompetence, ineptitude and literal insanity of the Republican Party is once again on full display. Besides tax cuts for those who need them the least, slashing funding for those who need it the most, waging aggressive wars of choice, and appealing to our lesser angels in order to win elections, the GOP really has nothing else to offer.
#EnoughIsEnough! #NeverAgain should the cult that masquerades as the Republican party be allowed anywhere near the levers of power, for any organization that considers compromise to be anathema has left the world of politics for the world of zealotry.
After all, it’s sad enough that we have to put up with Blue Dogs and centrist Democrats. Well, for now...