Barney Frank and the Planet of the Banks

[depakid]

What planet is Congressman Barney Frank on, anyway? It is the planet of the banks and other financial firms that keep his campaign coffers humming, as their chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

On his extraterrestrial perch, camouflaged by his witty and irreverent observations, he sees the agony of gouged, debt-ridden consumers and homeowners, but his actions do not measure up.

As of this writing before the final set of hearings, Mr. Frank has dropped key provisions from a proposal to establish an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA).

The banks did not want a consumer right of action against companies violating standards for their mortgages, credit and debit cards, or payday and installment loans. Barney said sure!

The banks want a weak oversight panel consisting of their toady regulators, who failed repeatedly and miserably in the past decade to stave off the collapse of Wall Street and its economically lethal consequences for workers and consumers. Barney said sure!

The banks want their buddies in Congress to drop the standard of reasonableness by which the new consumer protection agency can go after wildly gouging fees and deceptive practices, such as the check overdraft racket that rakes in $40 billion for the banks. Barney said, sure, sure!

The American Bankers Association is crowing like a thousand roosters. The five biggest banks--now even bigger after the collapse, their taxpayer bailout and their acquisitions--are crowing the loudest. And why not? They speculated with retirement and other savings of the American people. Trillions of dollars were drained from the accounts and looted from these innocents.

Yet, the banks have every expectation that the Glass-Stegall Act--repealed by Clinton, Citigroup and the Congress in 1999--will not be reinstated to separate retail banking from investment banking and block the conflicts of interest that ravage investors. The Banks will still have their protective Federal Reserve which, though empowered by a 1994 law to crack down on predatory lending, did nothing to stop the subprime mortgage rackets that submarined the housing economy.

Smelling a concessionary Barney Frank, other businesses want exemptions from the new consumer agency's authority, including auto dealers, realtors, merchants, retailers and assorted other players in the fine print game of financial services.

More: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/10/16-6

[Laelth]

1. k&r for exposure. This is enough to make one sick. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[yurbud]

2. no need to ever look at politicians' personal lives--their work is sordid enough

[bertman]

3. How many of our representatives are UNinfected?? Very few apparently. And the ones who

have been there the longest--Frank, Dodd are two that come to mind--seem to be the most compliant.

Rec.

[JoeyT]

4. Sounds about right.

Demand a regulatory body so you can convince the peasants to put down the torches and pitchforks, then make sure no one is actually subject to the authority of that body. You even get the benefit of wringing money out of the groups that want exemption. It's the perfect system. Well, it does kind of suck for the middle class and the poor, but who cares about them? You can't make everyone happy.

[Festivito]

5. Nader losing it? Misspells Steagall, unnecessarily pot shots Clinton.

Clinton was faced with a veto proof majority, so the entire onus is placed on Clinton here? That's not right.

Makes me wonder about the rest of the article.

[Fearless]

7. Indeed.

:tinfoilhat:

[natrat]

6. he's a shitty whore from way back-nothing changes in this country