Kind of a mixed bag (really busy news night if you dig for the stories, IMHO), at least slightly so, this evening...
Last October, at the height (at least to date) of our country's current financial crisis, WaPo staff writers David Cho and Zachary A. Goldfarb told us how "3 Agencies Vie for Oversight of Swaps Market."
3 Agencies Vie for Oversight of Swaps Market
By David Cho and Zachary A. Goldfarb
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, October 21, 2008; D01
The government is moving forward with its first significant effort to bring oversight to a vast, unregulated corner of Wall Street that has severely exacerbated the financial crisis.
Eight months later, tonight (See: "Obama Sought to Enlist a Wide Consensus on Finance Rule"), we learn from the NY Times that the White House is largely stepping back from taking a leadership position when it comes to regulating the hedge fund industry and derivatives dealers markets, and deferring to the judgement of "lawmakers and regulators," instead:
"...Hedge funds and dealers in derivatives sought to minimize the extent to which the government will intrude into their businesses. They partly won; the administration will leave many of the details of that authority to lawmakers and regulators..."
IMHO, effective and strong regulation of the mortgage and credit default swaps/derivatives markets are the two most important areas where the White House really needed to assert strong leadership to prevent Wall Street from just repeating the same mistakes going forward that got us into this mess in the first place.
As we're now learning for the first time, at least in one of those two areas, most efforts to put teeth into regulations regarding oversight of the derivatives/credit default swaps marketplace are being deferred for Congress and regulators to decide, where an intensive effort has been underway since the Fall (not just over the past few weeks as is being reported here, if you read the full story which you'll find "underneath" the first link in this diary) to enable the New York Fed to run the show. And, the New York Fed is owned--literally--by Wall Street, where JPMorgan Chase & Co, Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. happen to control no less than 90% of the entire U.S. OTC derivatives marketplace. So, consider this a very expensive and lengthy way by which it may be succinctly stated that, after all that, very little may change, at least when it comes to the derivatives/credit default swaps industry. I posted a diary about this late last week ("In New Derivatives Crackdown Foxes Still Guard Henhouse."); and, it appears that the end result may very well enable Wall Street to proceed with business as usual when it comes to the most potentially toxic of all investment assets, going forward.
How can we let this happen?
See for yourself. Here's the link to the White House's Financial Regulation Proposal which is being presented to Congress and the public this morning.
Here's the Summary of it. And, this is where you'll find the section on the Obama administration's "non-proposal" on Derivatives Regulations.
READER BONUS 2ND STORY! PROOF POSITIVE RESURFACES THAT NSA EGREGIOUSLY TRAMPLES OUR RIGHT TO PRIVACY...
And, on a completely unrelated note, it appears, from this breaking story in this morning's NY Times, that the extent of the NSA's violations of the public's First Amendment rights are both far more extensive and outrageous than we thought. (The tinfoil hat folks are gonna' love this one.) As for me, I think it's in-freakin'-credible what's happened with regard to the government's trampling of our constitutional rights over the past few years. So, check this out and let me know your thoughts. See: "E-Mail Surveillance Renews Concerns in Congress."
E-Mail Surveillance Renews Concerns in Congress
By JAMES RISEN and ERIC LICHTBLAU
Published: June 16, 2009 In Print: June 17, 2009
WASHINGTON -- The National Security Agency is facing renewed scrutiny over the extent of its domestic surveillance program, with critics in Congress saying its recent intercepts of the private telephone calls and e-mail messages of Americans are broader than previously acknowledged, current and former officials said.
--SNIP--
Since April, when it was disclosed that the intercepts of some private communications of Americans went beyond legal limits in late 2008 and early 2009, several Congressional committees have been investigating. Those inquiries have led to concerns in Congress about the agency's ability to collect and read domestic e-mail messages of Americans on a widespread basis, officials said. Supporting that conclusion is the account of a former N.S.A. analyst who, in a series of interviews, described being trained in 2005 for a program in which the agency routinely examined large volumes of Americans' e-mail messages without court warrants. Two intelligence officials confirmed that the program was still in operation.
Both the former analyst's account and the rising concern among some members of Congress about the N.S.A.'s recent operation are raising fresh questions about the spy agency.
Representative Rush Holt, Democrat of New Jersey and chairman of the House Select Intelligence Oversight Panel, has been investigating the incidents and said he had become increasingly troubled by the agency's handling of domestic communications.
In an interview, Mr. Holt disputed assertions by Justice Department and national security officials that the overcollection was inadvertent.
"Some actions are so flagrant that they can't be accidental," Mr. Holt said.