Libertarian ping! To be added or removed freepmail me or post a message here.
Posted on 03/29/2008 7:10:42 AM PDT by JOAT
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is proposing a sweeping overhaul of the way the U.S. financial industry is regulated.
In an effort to deal with the problems highlighted by the current severe credit crisis, the new plan would give major new powers to the Federal Reserve,
SNIP
The plan would shut down the Office of Thrift Supervision, which supervises thrift institutions, and transfer its functions to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates banks. The plan would eliminate the distinction between banks and thrift institutions.
The Fed would become the government's "market stability regulator," given sweeping powers to gather information on a wide range of institutions so that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues could better detect where threats to the system might be hiding.
The proposal is certain to generate intense scrutiny in Congress and within the financial services industry, where past efforts to change how regulation is handled have met with fierce resistance.
Under Paulson's approach, the Fed would serve as the market stability regulator and there would also be a financial regulator that would focus on financial institutions that operate with government guarantees such as deposit insurance for banks.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Because the FED has done such a stellar job so far, let's EXPAND their ability to screw us.
The free market is wonderful when manufacturing is being destroyed...but we must not allow the financial sector to face hard timea-on no. Bail those poor banks/brokers out. Free trade for thee but not for me. There is no such thing as the free market-bunch of hypocrites.
I’m no financial wizard. With that said, there is something very suspicious about giving the government even more power than it already has. My first response is that I don’t like it. It just doesn’t pass the sniff test.
Read this morning short term auction paper in the MMFs is seizing up.
I’ll try to post the article later.
Putting the Fed (Goldman Sachs and the other Fed cronies) in charge of all the financial assets in the US is putting the fox in the henhouse.
This is outrageous.
Here’s the deal:
Bush seeks financial regulation overhaul By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer
7 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is proposing a sweeping overhaul of the way the nation’s financial industry is regulated.
In an effort to deal with the problems highlighted by the current severe credit crisis, the new plan would give major new powers to the Federal Reserve, according to a 22-page executive summary obtained Friday by The Associated Press.
The proposal would designate the Fed as the primary regulator of market stability, greatly expanding the central bank’s ability to examine not just commercial banks but all segments of the financial services industry.
The administration proposal, which is to be formally unveiled in a speech Monday by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, also proposes consolidating the current scheme of bank regulation.
The plan would shut down the Office of Thrift Supervision, which supervises thrift institutions, and transfer its functions to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates banks. The plan would eliminate the distinction between banks and thrift institutions.
The role the Federal Reserve has been playing in efforts to stabilize the financial system after a credit crisis hit last August would be formalized.
The Fed would become the government’s “market stability regulator,” given sweeping powers to gather information on a wide range of institutions so that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues could better detect where threats to the system might be hiding.
The proposal is certain to generate intense scrutiny in Congress and within the financial services industry, where past efforts to change how regulation is handled have met with fierce resistance.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said that he approved of much that Paulson had included in the administration proposal.
“In broad outlines, we agree with large parts of Secretary Paulson’s plan,” Schumer, chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, said in a statement. “He is on the money when he calls for a more unified regulatory structure, although we would prefer a single regulator to the three he proposes.”
Under Paulson’s approach, the Fed would serve as the market stability regulator and there would also be a financial regulator that would focus on financial institutions that operate with government guarantees such as deposit insurance for banks.
The administration plan also proposes a business conduct regulator who would be in charge of overseeing consumer protection issues.
The plan was first reported by The New York Times on its Web site Friday night”
Oh yeah. Fox - Chickens - Henhouse - Goose - Cooked
Did you know that the “Federal Reserve” is not federal? It is a private agency. Likewise, there are no reserves if I remember correctly. Its been 34 years since I took a course on this in college.
Good one!
The horses are out of the barn will someone please close the door.
Are we have been asleep at the financial wheel, lets start finger pointing.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1993620/posts
Its the bankers that will be leading the revolution come Monday...
Surprise! The neo-cons want to give more power to the private publishing company, the Federal Reserve.
Read THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
G. Edward Griffin is to be commended for this splendid work. At first glance The Creature from Jekyll Island is a huge book. While this may be daunting to some, once the book is actually started, it flows smoothly and reads quickly. There are so many fascinating tidbits of information here that the reader won't even be concerned about the size of the book. The title refers to the formation of the Federal Reserve System, which occurred at a secret meeting at Jekyll Island, Georgia in 1910. It was at this meeting, as Griffin relates, that the "Money Trust", composed of the richest and most powerful bankers in the world, along with a U.S. Senator, wrote the proposal to launch the Federal Reserve System (which Griffin calls a banking cartel) to control the financial system so that the bankers will always come out on top.
While Griffin starts with this event, he quickly moves into the present day to detail several financial crises that resulted in a quick government intervention at the behest of the bankers from the Fed, who told all who would listen that if the government (read: taxpayers) didn't bail out the banks that had made bad loans, it could cause the entire system to collapse. Massive loan defaults; bank runs, and a major economic depression would manifest this collapse. Griffin shows how time and time again the taxpayer is bilked so that bankers can make billions in profits off of these financial scares. Griffin also shows how the supposed safeguards against these woes, such as the FSLIC, are scams to reassure the average person that their banks are safe. In actuality, these insurances against bank closures are so inadequate that there isn't enough money to even come close to paying off investors in case of a collapse.
The biggest problem in modern banking, according to Griffin, is and has always been the creation of fiat money. Fiat money is money that is "declared" money by the government. It is not backed by anything but promises and deceit. All societies were sound financially when they used gold or silver to back their currency. When the bankers finally get their way and install fiat money, the result is inflation and boom and bust cycles. Griffin gives numerous examples of this, such as repeated failures by American colonies and European states in using fiat money. The purpose of fiat money is so that the government can spend more then they take in through taxes.
Without writing reams on this book, it is sufficient to say that this is a must read for anyone who is interested in learning how the money system operates. Griffin gives comprehensive accounts of how the Fed creates money, and how this affects everyday life. I would have to say these sections are better than Murray Rothbard's book, The Case Against the Fed, because Griffin gives himself more room for explanation.
Griffin does believe in the conspiratorial view of history, and he believes that the bankers are working in concert with such groups as the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission to bring about a socialist-world system in which an elite composed of intellectuals and bankers will rule over the entire planet. Griffin even spends a chapter outlining how this system could come about, and the consequent results of this socialist system. These chapters are a bit unsettling, but even if you aren't interested in this worldview, you can still learn much about the economy from this book.
Libertarian ping! To be added or removed freepmail me or post a message here.
I follow the Reagan rule; government is not the solution, government is the problem. It’s been right every time I apply it.
Not my words. They come from the editorial staff of Business Week.
I can’t wait to see the new Fed’s new Market Stability color codes.
In 35 years of banking, I’ve only encountered one (1) regulator that understood borrower or project cashflow. That one had a chip on its shoulder and was extremely dangerous.
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