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"It is not a perfect bill, I will be the first to admit that. We don't know ultimately how well the ideas we've incorporated here will achieve the results we desire. It will take the next economic crisis, as certainly it will come, to determine whether or not the provisions of this bill will actually provide this generation or the next generation of regulators with the tools necessary to minimize the effects of that crisis when it happens," Sen. Chris Dodd said Thursday.

What one finds when reading congressional legislation is invariably surprising. Take the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill, for instance, which was created by merging Senate and House bills. When the Senate returns from recess one of its first actions will be to vote on the bill, which passed the House on June 30. I was searching the bill for a provision about derivatives. What did I find but Section 342, which declares that race and gender employment ratios, if not quotas, must be observed by private financial institutions that do business with the government. In a major power grab, the new...

Big changes are in store for the banking system should Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac be revamped or eliminated—both of which are being discussed by housing experts and government officials to deal with the distressed real estate market. As the system works now with the two entities, Fannie and Freddie , banks write the mortgages, but they rarely hold them. The mortgages are sold off into pools, known as mortgage-backed securities (MBS). Fannie and Freddie guarantee the mortgage payments, so that the MBS buyer, be it the Chinese government or an American pension plan, has the security of the US...

Senate and House conferees on Wall Street reform are reconvening Tuesday because of Republican objections to $19 billion in fees that would be placed on big financial firms. The meeting follows Sen. Scott Brown's (R-Mass.) letter to the chairmen of the conference committee on Tuesday, in which he said he would oppose the Wall Street overhaul bill as it stands. In a letter to Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Brown expressed "strong opposition" to the fees that were added in the conference process between House and Senate lawmakers last week. "If the final version of the...

Here is a summary of the The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the long-awaited financial reform overhaul that passed out of conference committee at 5:39 a.m this morning. Both the House and Senate are expected to pass the conference report next week so that it is on President Obama's desk by the July 4th recess. The provisions below are broken into two groups -- those that mainly affect consumers and those that mainly affect financial institutions.

Money grabber caption time!

Accountability: Democrats have finally gotten around to blaming the Bush administration for the Gulf oil disaster. We wonder when this administration will take responsibility for anything. Asked on the "Imus in the Morning" program Tuesday on Fox Business Network if the Obama administration is to blame for the damaging fallout of the spill, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., actually said, "Well, you know, they come into office a year ago with all of this. And so, after the last eight years ... " before being interrupted by a perplexed Imus. We too are perplexed. George W. Bush was blamed for the...

When asked by Don Imus on his morning program if the Obama was to blame for lack of response to the oil spill, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) blamed the Bush administration. "Well, you know, they come into office a year ago with all of this. And so, after the last eight years," he said. At that point, Imus interrupted and asked if he has "lost" his mind for blaming Bush. "The President has been in office for a year and a half and they've been dragging their feet and even people like James Carville said that his behavior 'has been...

Last week's passage of the Dodd finance reform plan dredged up bad symbolism, none of it good. Indeed, the Wall Street Journal front page headline touted legislation that would be the "Biggest Regulatory Overhaul of Wall Street Since Depression". Though most of us didn't suffer the federal government's persecution of the productive back in the ‘30s, basic history tells us that reforms back then did nothing to revive an economy on its back thanks to too much government. In that sense, we perhaps shouldn't pin all of the stock market's recent ill health on problems in a country as economically...

Here's a sampling of reaction to the revelation that Attorney General Richard "Rambo" Blumenthal, the Democratic U.S. senatorial candidate, falsely claims he served in the Vietnam war: "Lame excuses for Semper Lie; Conn. pol admits he's no 'Nam vet" — New York Post headline "What else has he been lying about? — Andrew Breitbart, echoing the thoughts of millions "This Dick Blumenthal even looks a little like Eliot Spitzer. And now it turns out ... even Jane Fonda spent more time in Vietnam than he did." — Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr "Vietnam is apparently not (his) only lie. Last...

The Senate approved new far-reaching financial rules on Thursday aimed at preventing the risky behavior and regulatory failures that brought the economy to the brink of collapse two years ago and cost millions of Americans their jobs and savings. The bill passed by a vote of 59 to 39, with four Republicans joining a majority of Democrats in supporting it. The 1,500-page measure, shepherded through the Senate by Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the banking committee, seeks to reshape both Washington and Wall Street. (snip) They successfully courted Republican Sens. Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins, both of Maine,...

Sweeping Wall Street Reform Bill Advances Legislation is one of President Barack Obama's top domestic priorities WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democrats nabbed the 60 votes needed on Thursday to advance the biggest overhaul of financial regulation since the 1930s, paving the way for a final vote on passage within days. The legislation is one of President Barack Obama's top domestic priorities. The bill calls for new ways to watch for risks in the financial system and makes it easier to liquidate large financial firms that are failing. It also writes new rules for complex securities blamed for helping precipitate the...

At a ceremony honoring veterans and senior citizens who sent presents to soldiers overseas, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut rose and spoke of an earlier time in his life. “We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam,” Mr. Blumenthal said to the group gathered in Norwalk in March 2008. “And you exemplify it. Whatever we think about the war, whatever we call it — Afghanistan or Iraq — we owe our military men and women unconditional support.” There was one problem: Mr. Blumenthal, a Democrat now running for the United States Senate, never served...

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd warned Thursday that an open-ended amendment process could threaten final passage of Wall Street reform, just hours before a Democratic Caucus meeting in which the party is expected to lay out its final moves on the bill. "We run the risk — I'll say it very blunt, on the record — if we start this process, which I'm fearful will be the case, we run the risk of losing this bill. That's the reality," Dodd said of bringing about 60 outstanding amendments to the floor. "This is not hyperbole." Dodd said "we only have...

WASHINGTON (MNI) – The Senate made modest progress this week in advancing a sweeping financial regulatory reform bill, but critical votes loom next week on regulating over-the-counter derivatives and expanding audits of the Federal Reserve Board. In perhaps the week’s most important vote, Senate Democrats, with the help of two Republicans, defeated a bid by Sen. Richard Shelby, the ranking Republican on the Banking Committee, to sharply limit the powers and scope of the proposed consumer financial protection bureau. Shelby’s amendment was defeated on a 38 to 61 vote. The amendment would have created a new consumer protection entity that...

Senator Chris Dodd (D, Conn.) wants to give unions more power in the boardrooms of our nation’s businesses. In essence, Dodd wants to force corporate boards under the thumb of unions by federal fiat. Carefully hidden in Dodd’s new regulations are provisions that give new powers to board members, powers aimed at giving unions more say in the operations of businesses from the inside through investments of pension funds.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Federal prosecutors are conducting a criminal probe into whether Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) or its employees committed securities fraud in connection with its mortgage trading, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website on Thursday. A spokeswoman for the office of the Manhattan U.S. Attorney said she could "neither confirm nor deny" any Goldman investigation. Goldman was not available to comment.

As I write, our nation is still buzzing about the news flash that finally delivered the truth about why our economy melted down without word one from our crack government regulators. You know what I'm talking about. Yes, it's the great SEC porn scandal. Last week, a new memo surfaced from the Securities and Exchange Commission's inspector general stating it had investigated dozens of agency staffers, including supervisors, for surfing the Web for dirty pictures with their government computers and during work hours. The investigations dated back at least to 2008 and targeted some employees with truly heroic habits —...

Obama and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd have claimed repeatedly that federal bailouts of big banks will not be allowed by Dodd's financial reform bill. President Obama said that suggestions the bill would continue bailouts are "not factually accurate." Yes, they are. The Dodd bill creates a roughly $50 billion Orderly Resolution Fund with assessments on large financial institutions. It would provide a government-financed alternative to bankruptcy. Even if the firm is dissolved, that is a bailout. The firm's debts are paid by taxpayers. But, you say, it's not a tax-funded bailout. Hold on. The bill also allows the...

Financial reform? Not exactly. The bill before Congress does nothing to address the fundamental background causes of the crash of 2008. Wall Street may have been the instrument of the crash. But the crash was made elsewhere: in Washington's failed policies for middle-class families -- and in China's distorted rush for economic growth. The story is not a simple one. But I hope you will pay attention to the details. If you don't, you may find that the pocket that has been picked is your own. As you've heard, the crash begins with the huge excess load of debt built...