Day: December 12, 2013

They Nationalized The Banks!

File this under the heading……Can’t Fix Stupid!

This is the cry from the right wing…..I read a bunch of these pieces of crap on Twitter today…..all were railing that the new “Volcker Rule” will, in essence, nationalize the banks and in turn bring down the whole economic system in the US….

For those with addled brains let me help with the definition of the term…….nationalization……it means the transfer of private assets  into public ownership……see how simple that was and has NOTHING to do with the new “Volcker Rule”………

Let me say here and now…If you believe that this will nationalize the banks then you are sadly mistaken…it will try to prevent the gambling by banks that caused the collapse in 2008…..I am guessing here but NO one wants to revisit the crippling effect that the banksters caused back then…..but do not take my word for it……

(Newser) – The FDIC and Federal Reserve both unanimously approved the long-debated Volcker Rule today, and three other regulatory agencies plan to before the day is out, making it official. The rule, named for and originally proposed by Paul Volcker, aims to ban proprietary trading, “or in plain English,” as the Washington Post puts it, “it removes the parts of banks that gamble and act like hedge funds, because those parts can blow up.” Or at least, that’s what it was supposed to do.

But big banks like JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs have been lobbying against the law for more than three years, Bloomberg points out, and their “lobbying efforts paid off” in easing some provisions. On the other hand, recent weeks have seen a charge from regulators favoring a tougher version, and they’ve scored points, too, the New York Times reports. Here’s what each side won:

The Tough Side:

  • When JPMorgan lost $6 billion on the London Whale trade, it said the position was a “hedge.” The rule still allows hedging, but banks will now have to name a specific, quantifiable risk that each such trade is hedging against.
  • Bonuses and compensation must be structured in a manner that doesn’t encourage “prohibited proprietary trading.”
  • Chief executives will have to personally “attest” every year that the bank has measures in place to comply with the rule.

The Not-So-Tough Side:

  • Banks have until July of 2015 to implement the rule, though they must make a “good faith effort” to do so before that.
  • Banks are still allowed to “make markets,” meaning to act as middle men for clients who want to buy and sell stock. Under this guise, banks could buy and hold a stock, arguing that a client might someday want to buy it. The rule mandates that banks buy only enough to meet the “reasonably expected near-term demands of clients,” but leaves it up to banks to decide what’s reasonable.
  • Banks can still make proprietary trades in bonds issued by governments.
  • Many banks tell the Wall Street Journal that they think they’re already in compliance with the law, while some business groups say they intend to challenge the rule in court. Reform advocates, meanwhile, are starting to call again for a return to Glass-Steagall.

There you have it….this is NO one’s idea of nationalization.  If possibly do then I suggest that you spend less time on World of Warcraft and more time educating yourself on the issues….

Personally, I do not think that this piece of legislation goes far enough to prevent banks from doing the gambling that they have come accustomed to in the past……they are still allowed to gamble and that will cause yet more economic problems in the future…..

The Budget Misdeal: An Agreement That Solves Nothing

The recent budget deal that the Senate and House came up with has been called many things…..some good….others not so much…..but IMHO it stinks of politics….and not in the good way…..this deal was made because an election looms on the horizon and all these people need cover for their respective campaigns……does little to help the middle class and does nothing for the poor among us…….

Read the op-ed and see what you think of this “deal”……

The Budget Misdeal: An Agreement That Solves Nothing.

Thought Of The Day–Budget Deal

Congressional Budget Deal….finally something to write about other than Obamacare or handshakes or selfies or….whatever BS du jour the media has dreamed up……..

The good news is that there seems to be a deal in Congress on the federal budget…..a supposed bi-partisan deal……go figure…..some cheer while others scoff……was there any doubt that they would find a deal in the negotiations?

(Newser) – No shutdown drama this time? House and Senate negotiators have reached a budget deal well ahead of the Jan. 15 deadline, reports USA Today. Republican Paul Ryan of the House and Democrat Patty Murray of the Senate announced the $85 billion package this evening, with votes in both chambers expected by week’s end. As expected, the word “modest” is turning up in most accounts. The deal restores about $63 billion in cuts to military and domestic programs that had been mandated by the sequester, an amount that would be offset by cuts and fees elsewhere.

For example, air travelers can expect to pay $5 more for a round-trip flight thanks to an increased security fee, reports AP. Also, federal workers will have to pay more toward their own pensions. Democrats lost one of their key battles—the extension of long-term unemployment benefits—though they promised to keep pressing the issue. Republicans, on the other hand, didn’t get any changes in Medicare and Social Security, notes the Washington Post, which has a breakdown of what’s in the measure. Despite Ryan’s involvement, conservatives were chafing at the roll-back of sequester cuts, reports the New York Times. “The American people demanded, and were promised, reasonable spending limits,” says the president of Americans for Prosperity. “Politicians choosing to go back on their promise will be held accountable for their actions.” As the Hill notes: “The big question is whether that package will be accepted in the House.”

………but what is behind this new found compromising cooperation?

My thought is….the GOP does not need another government shutdown to contend with….especially with an election coming next year…..they need to focus on Obamacare and not the distraction……of a shutdown.  They need something other than repeall BS that they have been harping on for the last couple of years….

But the GOP has its detractors…..Paul and Crapo…..(for this post)……not everyone is happy with the deal…..and who did not see the Tea Party folk as the detractors?

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) will oppose the bipartisan budget proposal that Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) released last night.

“Sen. Paul will oppose the reported cap busting deal,” Doug Stafford, Paul’s senior adviser, told POLITICO on Wednesday. “He opposes increasing spending and undoing the minimal sequester cuts in current law, which weren’t even close to enough to begin with.”

Meanwhile, Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) said earlier Tuesday he will “likely” oppose the deal, too.

“It doesn’t appear to be something I will likely support,” Crapo said. “It’s pretty light on entitlement reform and the entitlement reform that’s done is not structural. It doesn’t do anything to actually change or fix that. We’re looking now to see if it can pass the Congress.”

I am sure there will be other naysayers with an election around the corner…..

With all that said…..is this deal a good deal?

Newser) – A budget deal agreed upon by the House and Senate has come early, and it may prevent another shutdown—but pundits aren’t exactly cheering about it. Among the responses:

  • At Slate, Matthew Yglesias says the plan will “improve the economy moderately and it achieves the GOP’s goal of reducing spending.” But contrary to what Paul Ryan might like you to believe, it effectively raises taxes in the form of higher “user fees”—on flying, for instance. “If it makes sense for Republicans to do a deal that raises ‘fees’ in exchange for spending cuts, then on what planet does it not make sense to do a deal that raises taxes in exchange for spending cuts?”
  • The Wall Street Journal‘s editors are shrugging, too. The good part of the deal: It “includes no tax increases, no new incentives for not working, and some modest entitlement reforms.” The downside: It breaks planned spending caps “by some $63 billion over the (2014 and 2015 fiscal) years.” And sure, “fees for services aren’t tax increases on income or sales. But that doesn’t mean they won’t be felt by average Americans.”
  • David Dayen, however, calls the deal “demonic” at Salon. Federal worker? “You’ll have to pay more into your pension, an effective wage cut that just adds to the $114 billion … federal employees have already given back to the government in the name of deficit reduction.” Indeed, they haven’t gotten a raise since 2010, and this plan largely does away with a planned 1% pay hike next month.

Some cheer….most will not…..but after all….a deal is a deal….right?

‘Tis the season to be jolly…..right?