H -°, L 7° | Tomorrow: 
H 17°, L 4°Vice President Joe Biden and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner spoke about Wall Street reforms and the middle class at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Tuesday in an effort to drum up support for President Barack Obama’s financial overhaul legislation.
These speeches came in the midst of negotiations in the U.S. Senate to compose a financial reform bill similar to one that has already been passed in the House of Representatives.
Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Carlos Santiago also spoke.
The House reform bill included provisions for allowing shareholders more say on executive pay packages, strengthening the Securities and Exchange Commission’s oversight of financial firms and creating a consumer protection agency.
Such reforms have been controversial in both the House and the Senate, with many Republicans, including Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, wary that further regulations could hurt business.
“If this bill doesn’t create burdensome new regulations that would make it harder for Americans to dig themselves out of this recession… prove it,” McConnell said in a statement.
Despite such criticism, those speaking were optimistic about Wall Street reform.
Santiago kicked off the talks by mentioning the beneficial effect financial reforms could have on the area, especially students.
“As our country works at reviving its economy, so too do many Midwestern cities, including Milwaukee,” Santiago said.
Barrett also spoke positively about the Obama administration’s effort to assist individuals struggling to support their families, to pay for education or to pay for health care.
Most people recognize that this is a difficult time for the country, especially the middle class, Barrett said.
Moore was critical of the recent actions of Wall Street and the effects risky behaviors have had on many people’s retirement funds, mortgages and college savings accounts.
“Wall Street gambled with our money,” Moore said.
Moore also advocated further transparency and more accountability for financial institutions’ dangerous investment habits.
In the opinion of Geither, though many have been critical of reforms, taking such precautions is necessary to restructure the financial institutions so Americans do not see such problems in the future.
“These reforms won’t satisfy everyone. They won’t solve all our problems, but they will fix what caused this crises… Now we just need Washington to act,” Geither said.
Biden said everyone can agree reforms are needed to shield the average American citizen in the future.
Biden focused on the effect that financial hardships have beyond Wall Street, such as on areas with large blue-collar populations, like Milwaukee.
“When recklessness and greed lead to a financial crisis, every single American suffers the devastating consequences of that” Biden said.
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“Joe Biden promotes financial reforms…..” like a pimp promotes virginity!
These are financial reforms: Cut spending. Cut the bloated federal and state budgets. Slash the federal and state bureaucracies. Repeal Obamacare and Badgercare welfare. Secure the borders. Deport the illegal alien criminals.
Si se puede!
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Sarbanes-Oxley cost billions and did nothing but drive the IPO market out of the USA. Even Sarbanes and Oxley now admit it was a bad idea but that “Congress felt it had to do something”.
This bill may drive the investment banking clear out of the USA.
But it does have this going for it:
The financial-regulatory bill now before the Senate is so filled with special-interest loopholes and exclusions that it makes the health-care “reform” bill, with its “Cornhusker Kickback” and “Louisiana Purchase,” look like a model of rectitude.
The Senate bill, sponsored by Democrat Chris Dodd, claims to subject all “too big to fail” institutions to greater federal supervision, but in fact it only mandates such regulation for bank-holding companies. Regulators would have to make a case-by-case decision on whether to apply it to other financial companies.
That’s no minor oversight, because insurance companies, like AIG, tend to have thrift charters rather than bank charters. So, as the bill stands now, AIG and other insurers that accepted massive bailout funds, such as The Hartford, would not be automatically covered. That’s a head-scratcher only if you forget that most insurance companies reside in Dodd’s home state, Connecticut.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/chrisdoddcarveoutsforcroniesMT1U7GBEPvzX3QXProqC9L#ixzz0mPGO4nV8
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Goldman Sachs owns Obama and his administration. GS gave more than $1,000,000 to Obama’s presidential campaign (2nd largest contributor) and was his largest contributor as a senator. Obama’s ties to Goldman go back to April 2006 when he spoke at the inauguration of the Hamilton Project, funded by Robert Rubin (former head of Goldman and Citigroup) and Goldman Sachs. Obama lauded “my friend Bob [Rubin]” and spoke of the need for cuts in entitlements (social security) and more NAFTA-like agreements. Just a few days ago, Biden spoke at the relaunch of the Hamilton Project and sat next to Rubin. Obama’s administration is infested with Goldies so how can they possibly talk about banking reform? It’s all kabuki just like the rest of Obama. He’s a Trojan Horse for Goldman Sachs.
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Chris Dodd who helped write this bill, has a very obvious history of being one of the top congressional members that cater to Wall Street. If you look at campaign contributions, both Obama and Chris Dodd are at the top of the list for receiving Wall Street contributions. You also tack on the fact that a good chunk of the current Obama administration are former Wall Street insiders and the pundits and partisan obessionists are suprised that people dont trust the government? The financial industry is complex and people want to make it out to be a simple 5-10 word campaign slogan. The truth is out there but people are too wrapped up in blind ideologies to actively seek it.
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