If you could afford the time to pay attention over the past few weeks, you could not help but come to the conclusion that the Dodd-Frank "FinReg" legislation is, at least for the near-term, D.O.A.
Even Elizabeth Warren is beginning to voice concerns (see farther down, below) about delays in setting-up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
For all intents and purposes, IMHO--at least for the foreseeable future, due to crystal clear efforts now underway regarding the implementation of an age-old, status quo strategy frequently invoked behind the scenes on Capitol Hill to quietly eviscerate legislation which doesn't meet with the favor of our country's power elite by (simply) defunding it--the Dodd-Frank "FinReg" legislation has now all but officially morphed into little more than a pathetic joke.
Very regrettably for Main Street, and based upon the self-evident actions of an administration that's now shamelessly cozying-up to Wall Street in public, it would appear that this
is politically acceptable.
Apparently, as "we" are told, there are trillions of dollars available to backstop and bailout Wall Street, but we're now being put on notice that there's no money available to upgrade the regulatory supervision of it. It is, perhaps, the ultimate Catch-22, crock of sh*t in a federal government that is totally controlled by the top 10% of its citizens (the folks that conveniently own 98.5% of all financial securities).
According to D.C., we simply must let Wall Street do what they wish.
The adequate staffing and funding of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)...under direct frontal attack.
The enforcement upgrades to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)...D.O.A.
The increased staffing effort over at the Commodities Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC)...D.O.A.
And, so on and so forth...forevermore. "More" for Wall Street, that is.
From David Dayen ("Dday") over at FDL, yesterday:
Regulators Falling Behind on Implementing Obama Policies
By: David Dayen Wednesday January 19, 2011 10:10 am
...I sense a pattern here. Administration announces policy. One side or the other goes ballistic. Administration backtracks and assures people that policy won't really change much of anything. People who supported initial policy go ballistic. Rinse. Repeat.
--SNIP--
...It's clear that the regulatory agencies don't have the funds or manpower to implement health care and financial reform right now, and as a result the laws will not even reach the modest goals laid out when passed in Congress...
Dday continues on to tell us major funding problems creating massive delays in implementation of various aspects of Dodd-Frank at the SEC and the CFTC.
This isn't about regulators having to "work harder," although Congress did put an enormous burden on them to implement Dodd-Frank and basically write the entire law. The point is that they don't have the funds to hire adequate staff, and because there was no self-execution of funds inside Dodd-Frank, they're relying on appropriations from a Republican House to get the funds necessary to implement a law House Republicans oppose. And it's the same thing with health care.
Adding extreme insult to scores of millions financially devastated and/or injured on Main Street, we're now reading words of advice to Congress from the President's new business ally, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue, as he proposes to "starve to death financially" the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Luckily (maybe not "luckily;" we shall see, since economist Simon Johnson pointed out, just 11 days ago: New White House Chief of Staff Bill "Daley is on the record as opposing strong consumer protection for financial products...") as Dayen notes in his article update...
The CFPB is one of the few agencies whose money is relatively protected -- they get a percentage of the Fed budget ...
Then again, as recently as three weeks ago, even Elizabeth Warren voiced her concerns about problems over at the CFPB, too: "New Consumer Agency Is Frightfully Necessary -- And Late."
I'd agree. I'd even go as far as to say that--when the Federal Reserve is responsible for funding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, while the Fed simultaneously goes all out to undermine the Truth In Lending Act ("TILA")--Elizabeth Warren's concerns about problems at the new CFPB may be even greater than she (or David Dayen) realizes!
# # #
Gjohnsit has an excellent diary on the Rec List right now: "Food Riots and Man-Made Famine 2011." In it, he explains how, in recent days and weeks, food riots and man-made famine have taken hold in countries throughout the globe. Ultimately, he reaches this conclusion...
The people who are pouring money into commodities are indeed speculators, but they are only doing the logical thing in a broken financial system. The real criminals here aren't the speculators. After all, no one complained about speculators when equity and house prices were going up.
The real criminals are the politicians and central bankers who refused to fix the financial system with real reforms after the 2008 crisis.
(Bold type is diarist's emphasis.)
Spot-on gjohnsit. Spot-on!