They own the bastards.
"On Wall Street, relief at overhaul’s limits" by Eric Dash and Nelson D. Schwartz, New York Times | May 24, 2010
NEW YORK — The financial overhaul bill making its way through Congress has Wall Street executives privately relieved that the measure would not do more to fundamentally change how the industry does business.
Despite the outcry from lobbyists and warnings from conservative Republicans that the bill approved by the Senate last week will choke growth, bankers and many analysts say it will reduce Wall Street’s profits but leave its size and power largely intact.
Industry officials are also hopeful several of the most punitive provisions can be softened.
Though there is anger in some quarters, other financial executives seem resigned to the changes....
Donald B. Marron, the former chief executive of PaineWebber and now the head of Lightyear Capital, said, “Despite these new rules, Wall Street will continue to provide the same important business services because the same needs are still there: creating liquidity; financing governments, corporations and individuals; and providing financial advice and products.’’
****************Another reason for relief, several bankers said, is that neither the Senate version of the bill nor the one passed by the House in December includes more populist provisions that have gained a foothold in Europe, like a tax on financial transactions or on individual bonuses.
It is also possible new regulations could benefit Wall Street....
Some specialists suggest that Wall Street, like water overcoming a dam, will easily adapt to the new regulations, or at least exploit what loopholes remain and thrive again.
When Congress split off commercial banking from investment banking in the early 1930s, after the Crash of 1929, there were predictions that Wall Street was hamstrung and businesses would not be able to raise capital, said Charles Geisst, a professor of finance at Manhattan College.
“Almost all of the same arguments that you’re hearing today were made then,’’ Geisst said. “It’s hard to keep them down, they ultimately find a way.’’
Also see: Who REALLY Runs Washington
Looks like someone opened the way.
The business that is likely to change most is the trading of derivatives....
A Senate proposal faces opposition from the both the financial industry and major regulators and is likely to be shelved or watered down.
Wall Street always gets what it wants, and why wouldn't they?
Look who wrote it:
"Some politicians writing financial law have industry links; Spouses also tied to millions in debt, investments" by Sharon Theimer, Associated Press | June 17, 2010
WASHINGTON — Anyone with a bank account or credit card has a stake in the overhaul of financial rules Congress is working on. But the industry ties of some politicians writing the law go far beyond the norm.
One senator’s wife is a director of a securities exchange; another senator and his wife run a multimillion-dollar title company. And a congresswoman’s husband drew salaries from three industry players last year.
Several lawmakers hashing out a House-Senate compromise on the legislation have millions in financial services company investments or owe big mortgage debts to banks lobbying on the legislation, according to an Associated Press review of financial reports released yesterday.
None have stepped away from the deal-making.
Senator Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat and chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, is leading the negotiations for the Senate. Dodd’s wife, Jackie Clegg, serves on the board of CME Group, which has spent at least $2.9 million since January 2009 lobbying on federal issues, including the financial regulation overhaul.
Related: The Healthy and Hearty Voice of the Healthcare Lobbyists
Must be moonlighting there.
CME, formed when the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago Board of Trade, and the New York Mercantile Exchange merged, is the world’s largest futures and options exchange. It has a huge stake in the overhaul.
Exchanges charge a fee for processing trades, and under the legislation, derivatives traders would have to execute over-the-counter swaps through the exchanges. CME has opposed that requirement, putting it at odds with the Senate bill. CME executives have said such a mandate might drive some of their business overseas.
Why not? They can join all the AmeriKan factories that have fled.
Clegg received $153,219 in compensation from CME Group last year, divided between cash payments and stock awards, CME filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show.
Dodd spokeswoman Kirstin Brost said Dodd’s wife does not lobby for CME.
Another panel member, Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, the top Republican on the banking committee, is president of an Alabama-based title company that he and his wife, Annette, cofounded. State corporation records list Annette Shelby as the secretary. The Shelbys’ stake in the Tuscaloosa Title Co. was worth $1 million to $5 million at the end of last year, according to his financial disclosure report covering 2009. The reports typically value assets in ranges rather than exact dollar amounts.
The financial services legislation would put title companies under the oversight of a new consumer protection agency. Shelby voted against the Senate’s version of the bill last month. His spokesman, Jonathan Graffeo, said yesterday that Shelby complies with all ethics rules.
I'm smelling the stink of conflict-of-interest, aren't you?
Another negotiator, Senator Judd Gregg, a New Hampshire Republican, has $1 million to $5 million invested in Bank of America and stock holdings of up to $50,000 each in Commonwealth Bank, JPMorgan, and Capital One and up to $15,000 each in Citicorp and the Mony Group.
And each one has a special pocket in which they keep him.
"Banks make 11th-hour push to outwit overhaul; Brown’s terms would benefit Boston giants" by Eric Dash and Nelson D. Schwartz, New York Times | June 21, 2010
WASHINGTON — As Congress rushes this week to complete the most far-reaching financial overhaul plan in decades, the banking industry is mounting an 11th-hour end run.
Industry lobbyists — and sympathetic members of Congress — are pushing for provisions to undercut a central pillar of the legislation, known as the Volcker Rule, which would forbid banks from using their own money to make risky wagers on the market and would force them to sell off hedge funds and private equity units.
To secure the support needed for their bill, Senate negotiators are leaning toward creating a series of exemptions to the Volcker Rule that would allow banks to continue to operate these businesses as investment funds that hold only client money, according to several congressional aides as well as industry officials and lawyers....
This isn't reform; this is fakery.
The biggest Wall Street firms would be helped....
Even if they do not succeed in their efforts to dilute the legislation, Wall Street firms are exploring ways around whatever restrictions become law.
UBS has prepared a 20-page “action plan’’ outlining various options, while senior managers at Goldman Sachs have had preliminary discussions on eventually dropping its status as a federally insured bank, allowing it to escape several of the most stringent provisions in the new law.
Un-flipping-real!
“Wall Street has always been very skilled at getting around rules, and this law will be no exception,’’ said Frank Partnoy, a professor of law at the University of San Diego and a former trader at Morgan Stanley. “Once you open up the door just a crack, Wall Street shoves the door open and runs right through it.’’
Don't worry; Congress will close it.
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"Negotiators focus on trading limits for banks, others; Dodd, Frank seek to preserve rules, support" by Jim Kuhnhenn, Associated Press | June 24, 2010
WASHINGTON — Congressional negotiators writing new Wall Street rules are trying to find acceptable limits on some of banks’ most profitable ventures — speculative trading with their own money, managing hedge funds, and private equity investing....
The banks will get back to them on that.
Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, the chairman of the Senate banking committee, is trying to both strengthen and weaken parts of the proposal to win votes from fellow senators for the final product.
House and Senate negotiators were working to blend House and Senate bills overhauling Wall Street rules in time for President Obama’s meeting with the Group of 20 nations this weekend.
But limits on how banks do business remained a significant sticking point. Dodd said he still had to balance the policy of the bill with his need to hold 60 votes in the Senate.
“That’s the job of a chairman here, to try to pull this together and get them lined up so the substance and the politics work,’’ he said. “I’m not there yet.’’
***********
The House and Senate negotiators were preparing a compromise that would exclude mutual funds from the restrictions. Also, bank holding companies could engage in some trades in derivatives, which are complex securities used to protect against market fluctuations, as a hedge against risk but not for speculation.
Under consideration, too, was a plan to let banks invest in hedge funds and private equity funds, within certain limits.
“We have a duty reconciling the need to reduce risk and excessive volatility but also not damaging the business models of entities that were safe and secure,’’ said Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts and chairman of the negotiating committee.
Negotiators were also working to toughen other provisions....
They also would prohibit banks from betting against investments they assemble for clients, a reaction to the Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit against Goldman Sachs.
Related: The Galling Greed of Goldman SachsGoldman Sachs' Rigged Gambling Game
Yeah, that's how they did it.
--more--"
"Struggle continues on finance regulation; 2 sticking points keep work going" by Jim Kuhnhenn, Associated Press | June 25, 2010
WASHINGTON — House and Senate negotiators struggled to meet a self-imposed deadline yesterday to wrap up a massive financial regulation bill, with two major sticking points standing in the way of completing legislation that has been one year in the making.
Senator Chris Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut and chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, huddled with fellow senators to resolve disputes over how far to go in restricting banks from engaging in securities deals.
Aiming to break a deadlock, Dodd proposed....
The House-Senate panel has been working into the evening over the past two weeks to resolve differences....
Yesterday, Dodd was beginning to voice frustration with the difficulty of finding agreement to secure the 60 votes he needs to pass the bill in the Senate.
“At some point people have to let me know whether or not they’re actually going to be there,’’ Dodd said. “I can’t sort of wait and hope they’re going to be there. I’ve got to produce results and I have to produce the votes.’’
After hours of private negotiations, Dodd appeared to have found some common ground....
Dodd’s proposal would permit banks to carry out trades designed to hedge against market fluctuations. The proposal also would bar banks from betting against their clients on certain investments deals.
Bank holding companies also could invest in hedge funds and private equity funds but....
Banks were adamantly opposed to the restrictions and sought the exception for hedge funds and private equity funds....
And they got what they wanted.
--more--"
And that article sure seems like a deke considering what happened today.
"Obama claims victory in financial overhaul deal" by Jim Kuhnhenn, Associated Press Writer | June 25, 2010
WASHINGTON --House and Senate negotiators reached a dawn agreement Friday on legislation that redefines federal oversight of the financial industry and, following the signing of the health care act in March, adds another milestone to mark the Obama presidency.
You mean millstone, don't you?
President Barack Obama declared victory Friday after congressional negotiators reached agreement on a sweeping overhaul of rules overseeing Wall Street.
Lawmakers shook hands on the compromise legislation at 5:39 a.m. after Obama administration officials helped broker a deal that cracked the last impediment to the bill -- a proposal to force banks to spin off their lucrative derivatives trading business. The legislation touches on an exhaustive range of financial transactions, from a debit card swipe at a supermarket to the most complex securities deals cut in downtown Manhattan....
Senate Democrats are now trying to coalesce around the third big-ticket item on Obama's agenda, passage of clean energy legislation....
Meaning a CARBON TAX!
The bill came together in during a time of high unemployment for American workers, huge bonuses for bankers and rising antipathy toward bank bailouts....
Under the agreement banks would only spin off their riskiest derivatives trades. Banks get to keep some of their lucrative business based on trades in derivatives related to interest rates, foreign exchanges, gold and silver. They could even arrange credit default swaps, the notorious instruments blamed for the meltdown....
So nothing has really changed.
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Well, time for breakfast since I'm not going out for a Globe:
Citing packaging, Kellogg recalls 28m boxes of cereal
I'll skip that as well again today, I guess.
