Free Republic

Big US banks submit "living wills" to regulatorsBy ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer – 1 hour ago Nine of the largest U.S. banks have submitted plans offering roadmaps for how the government could break up and sell off their assets if they are in danger of failing. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. released summaries of the "living wills" on Tuesday for Bank of America, Barclays, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and UBS. The plans were required under the 2010 financial overhaul, which gave regulators the power to seize and dismantle banks that threaten the...

As the U.S. government’s regulatory bureaucracy has ballooned, one agency has been left behind: the office that oversees the regulators. The number of people working in federal agencies with regulatory authority has doubled to about 292,000 under both Republican and Democratic administrations during the past 30 years. In the same period, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the White House bureau that reviews most major rules, has shrunk to 45 employees from 90, according to data compiled by researchers at George Washington University and Washington University in St. Louis. That means there are fewer people to carry out the...

A Judge has ruled that the ballot will stand as is for the Virginia primary with Ron Paul and Mitt Romney as the only candidates in the presidential primary. In a 22 page ruling the Judge basically said that the Plaintiff’s: Perry,Gingrich,Santorum,Huntsman waited too long to file their request for an injunction. The Judge said: “In essense, they played the game, lost, and then complained that the rules were unfair,” Judge Gibney pulled no punches here: “They knew the rules in Virginia many months ago; the limitations on circulators affected them as soon as they began to circulate petitions. The...

Glenn Reynolds is correct in his weekend post to point to the social theory of the New Class as key to understanding the convulsions in the middle and upper middle class; I’ve written about it myself here at VC and in a 1990s law journal book review essay. The angst is partly income, of course — but it’s also in considerable part, as Glenn notes, “characterized as much by self-importance as by higher income, and is far more eager to keep the proles in their place than, say, [Anne] Applebaum’s small-town dentist. It’s thus not surprising that as its influence...

Today many in the United States are crying out to President Obama and Government to do more and more to fix our social ills. The notion that Big Government has all of the answers and solutions we need in this very chaotic and unstable world is a fairy tale. It is one that is rooted in the mistaken belief that Fallen Man through and by the efforts of Big Government or Socialism can bring security and comfort to its citizens or constituents. There is no man-made ideology or system that can ever usher in a world Utopia of perfection and...

TAMPA - Two years ago in the midterm elections, the Tea Party dominated the conversation -- and the results at the polls. But this time around, with the presidency at stake, the Tea Party is making very little noise. And that's making some people wonder if the Party's over. With Sarah Palin at the helm, and a legion of newly energized voters, the Tea Party wielded enormous clout in 2010, sending favored sons and daughters like Rand Paul of Kentucky and Nikki Haley of South Carolina to Congress. The defeats of Sharon Angle and Christine O'Donnell show that they didn't...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators are launching a broad review into the business practices of failed futures brokerage MF Global Holdings Ltd as their hunt continues for over $600 million in missing customer money. Round-the-clock shifts for examiners have become the norm as they sort through the collapse of the firm headed by former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine. MF Global filed for bankruptcy on Monday after risky bets on European debt scared away clients and investors. "We will look at every aspect of how the firm conducted business," Mary Schapiro, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, told...

To All My Valued Employees: There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this: The economy doesn't pose a threat to your j What does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country. However, let me tell you some little tidbits of fact which might help you decide what is in your best interests. First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against...

A Pack of Nonsense Will GOP 2012ers Get Serious? October 26, 2011 John Podhoretz Memo to the Republican field: You’re running for president. Of the United States. Of America. Start acting like it. Stop proposing nonsense tax plans that won’t work. Stop making ridiculous attention-getting ads that might be minimally acceptable if you were running for county supervisor in Oklahoma. Stop saying you’re going to build a US-Mexico border fence you know perfectly well you’re not going to build. Give the GOP electorate and the American people some credit. This country is in terrible shape. They know it. You know...

(CNSNews.com) – Federal employees at several financial regulatory agencies – including the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) – are earning six-figure salaries and taking home bonuses up to $5,000, according to federal records obtained by Judicial Watch. At least 228 such regulators make $225,000 a year. In comparison, members of Congress make $174,000 a year; the Speaker of the House makes $223,500; and the majority and minority leaders pull in $193,400 a year. The records, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), show the number of employees at five of the six major financial regulatory agencies. In addition...

Occupy Wall Street: The scene on the groundBy Brian Montopoli October 5, 2011 2:55 PM **SNIP** Meanwhile, groggy demonstrators found their way to the makeshift kitchen in the middle of the park, where food donated by sympathizers - much of it vegan - was being given out. After nearly three weeks of the "occupation" -- which began as a relatively small protest in response to a call from anti-consumerist magazine Adbusters -- a semi-functioning society has sprung up. Barred by police from using megaphones, protesters created a structure whereby whoever is speaking says his piece, and then the rest of...

TAMPA, FL -- The morning after a sometimes-rocky appearance in front of a Tea Party debate audience, Gov. Rick Perry said he was "taken aback" by cheers from some crowd members on a hypothetical question of whether a young man who decides not to buy health insurance should be refused care if he develops a life-threatening illness and be left to die. "I was a bit taken aback by that myself," Perry told NBC News and the Miami Herald after appearing at a breakfast fundraiser in Tampa. "We're the party of life. We ought to be coming up with ways...

You wouldn't think that Erie County, Pa., epitomizes the least visible yet most insidious aspect of the nation's pension crisis. With just 280,566 residents, the county is better known for its once-grand status as being the hub between the Rust Belt metropolises of Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Buffalo, for the sandy Presque Island State Park, and for being the site of one of the few battles won by the Americans in the War of 1812. But these days, Erie County taxpayers are learning plenty about the high cost of pension and retiree healthcare deals struck over the past five decades by...

More than a dozen trade unions are planning to sit out the 2012 Democratic convention because they are angry it will be held in a right-to-work state. The unions say they are disappointed that labor wasn't consulted before Democrats settled on North Carolina, a state that is considered one of the least union-friendly in the nation. They are also frustrated that job creation hasn't been a higher priority for Democratic lawmakers. The unions include the Laborers, Painters and Electrical Workers. The move would deprive the party of millions of dollars spent on sky boxes and other sponsorships that usually help...

Stop the presses. Barely did we have time to report that European regulators failed to impose a coordinated short selling ban, that Bloomberg reports that the countries most impact by the market plunge are about to impose standalone short-selling bans. These are Belgium, Italy, Spain and France. In other words, it really is on and the 2008 Lehman PTSD flashbacks may now resume. Until we get a headline that says it isn't. The rescue of the Borsa Italian is now more schizophrenic than that of Greece. As a reminder, in the previous post the FT quoted Abraham Lioui, a professor...

CNN anchor Fredricka Whitfield apparently thinks some Republican players in the debt ceiling debate are concerned that President Obama is conceding too much. During the 12 p.m. EDT hour Friday, Whitfield alleged that many important players from both parties think Obama may be "caving" to Republicans. "You know, there are a lot of players who are very concerned – Democrats and Republicans who are concerned – and particularly Democrats are concerned that the president may be giving up too much in order to come about a deal," Whitfield remarked while stumbling over her words. [Video below the break.] Whitfield explained...

John Boehner and the Republican caucus in the House passed the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act as promised on a near-party-line vote tonight, 234-190. The move puts the onus back on the White House to propose an alternative or assume responsibility for killing the debt-ceiling hike it contains: Defying a veto threat, the Republican-controlled House passed legislation Tuesday night to slice federal spending by $6 trillion and require a constitutional balanced budget amendment to be sent to the states in exchange for averting a threatened government default.The 234-190 vote marked the power of deeply conservative first-term Republicans, and stood in...

And so as the sun is setting today, I learn from multiple Hill sources and now media reports that after McConnell sent out notice that he was signing on to Cut, Cap, and Balance, he began making door to door visits throughout the Senate lining up support for the Pontius Pilate Pass the Buck Act of 2011 — his plan to allow Barack Obama to raise the debt limit by $2 trillion. What’s more, McConnell has enlisted the help of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to line up Democrat votes for the plan. Meanwhile, Speaker Boehner is saying the McConnell...

John Boehner: New debt option ‘may be worthy' By: David Rogers July 14, 2011 09:12 PM EDT With White House debt talks at a make-or-break stage, Speaker John Boehner signaled Thursday that he’s open to new options to avert a default next month, including a novel Senate plan that would surrender much of Congress’s power over Treasury’s borrowing to the president. It would be a remarkable shift for House Republicans — something like telling Pickett’s charge to go around Cemetery Ridge and not up it. And Boehner’s remarks may be a ploy as he keeps throwing out options to his...

The hot news of the night comes from S&P, which has warned that there's a 50% chance that the US will lose its AAA rating over the next 90 days. Obviously the debt ceiling fight as a lot to do with this, but there's more! It seems S&P specifically wants to see $4 trillion in deficit reductions, and if this debt deal doesn't produce that, then the US might still lose its AAA. There's virtually no chance of a $4 trillion deficit reduction without severe cuts to spending or tax hikes, either of which could be very negative to the...