Well….sort of…..it is very very close…..
In the beginning there were these gamblers who made lots of money….but then they held a gun to their own heads and pulled the trigger….too bad it was a squirt gun……then they approached the government and made the case for if they went down the toilet they would take the whole economy with them…there gambling debts were quickly covered and the taxpayer got kicked in the ass…..by then the US Congress was up in arms at the way the people were treated (good political kabuki) with fake concern as make up and the vow that something like this would never happen again and they set off to make legislation of prevention…..they worked and they worked (about 3 days a week for months) until they had the perfect bill on financial regulation…..
Now the rest of the story…….
The Obama administration’s proposal to ban banks from proprietary trading, nicknamed the Volcker rule after former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, was softened by Senate negotiators.
Banks will be allowed to invest in private-equity and hedge funds, though they will be limited to providing no more than 3 percent of the fund’s capital. Banks also can’t invest more than 3 percent of their Tier 1 capital.
The change alters language in a bill the Senate approved in May, which would have barred banks from sponsoring or investing in private-equity and hedge funds. Lawmakers offered the modification to appease Senator Scott Brown, a Massachusetts Republican who was concerned the ban would harm Boston-based State Street Corp. He was one of four Republicans to break party ranks and vote for the Senate bill.
The legislation defines proprietary trading as engaging as a principal for a trading account of a bank or non-bank financial company supervised by the Fed “in any transaction to purchase or sell, or otherwise acquire or dispose of, any security, any derivative, any contract of sale of a commodity for future delivery, any option on any such security, derivative or contract, or any other security or financial instrument” that regulators designate through rule-writing.
Negotiators also agreed to give regulators less say than previously proposed to define a ban on proprietary trading. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, backed a change offered by Democratic Senators Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Carl Levin of Michigan that “more clearly defines the limits on proprietary trading” by writing the ban into the legislation. The earlier Senate bill would have let regulators write it.
Still does not seem to eliminate the Too Big Too Fail, and gambling is still allowed with taxpayer money, just to mention the ones that I personally think were a necessity for any reform bill…..and personally I am sick of the bullsh*t saying that it is not perfect but it is step in the right direction…..I know and you will soon know that that is just political speak….meaning they have done all they WILL do to reform the financial sector…..
So my friends, grab your ass with both hands….this WILL happen again!…..and I will be the first to say “I TOLD YOU SO!”
I have little faith in any legislation working anyway and I think to stop regulators from “interpreting” the rules is a dreadful mistake – another nail in the coffin of common sense!
However, the people CAN do something about it (not that they will)…
1) For a start, if ANY bank promises in writing that it will NOT engage in this sort of trading – period! – then EVERY ordinary Joe should move his or her account to that bank forthwith. Within six months, they’d all be falling over themselves to guarantee that none of them will do it.
2) The people should as far as is humanly possible in today’s world STOP borrowing money and just have a little patience. Buy things when they can actually afford them, then it won’t all go back to the store when they lose thier job, they won’t be paying extortionate interest to rich gamblers and the banks would NO LONGER be too big to fail next time around (which I agree WILL happen) because they wouldn’t own the people lock, stock and bloody barrel.
What I always try to pint out is that in the beginning everyone was pissed and had massive ideas…..after awhile reality sets in and they, meaning politicians, realize they have to pay the piper for all those years of cash donations and any reform is just a bunch of words arranged to sound good while actually doing little….
Nothing new for politicians there then… 😆
Nothing new…….too big too fail is still there…no transparency…….no accountability…..all that work and NOTHING will change
After looking at the bill…it will make bailouts a new institution…..taxpayers lose again….go figure
Like I said… 🙁
So you did…lol