The Republican Strategy on Financial Reform: Make Democrats Look Like Patsies for the Street

The Republican Strategy on Financial Reform: Make Democrats Look Like Patsies for the Street
Robert Reich

http://robertreich.org/post/519339473/the-republican-strategy-on-financial-reform-make

Senate Republicans today debuted their new strategy for financial reform: Refuse to cooperate with Democrats on grounds that the Dems are too willing to give Wall Street what it wants.

I’m not making this up.

In a Senate floor speech Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Republicans couldn’t support the legislation that emerged from Chris Dodd’s banking committee because it “institutionalizes” future taxpayer bailouts of the Street, giving the Federal Reserve “enhanced emergency lending authority that is far too open to abuse.” Senator Bob Corker, a senior Republican on the committee who had spent many weeks negotiating the bill with Dodd, huffed that Dodd’s final bill provides “the ability to have bailouts.”

(snip)

I have a suggestion for Senate Democrats: Don’t let them get away with it. Smoke the Republicans out. Respond to their criticism that the Dodd bill leaves open the possibility that some future bank will become too big to fail by amending the bill to limit the size of banks to $100 billion of assets — so no bank can become too big, period. Challenge the Republicans to join you in voting for the amendment. If they decline, force them to explain themselves to their local Tea Partiers.

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What say you DUers?

The Democratic Party "IS" a patsy for the street.

But its not a single party problem, its an epidemic in our political structure.

The GOP would be bending over too if they were in charge.

And it just might happen, that the affected corps will allow the repubs to get a candybar from them they wouldnt give dems.

It is what they ALWAYS do.

Tens of millions of people in this country won't look further than their paycheck. Read something? Are you nuts?

The latest stim package is being held up as responsible for having created or saved 2.3 million jobs - and there are
STILL 27 million people unemplyed or under. The same agency says it will be responsible for another 700K jobs by the end
of the year or so - which means about 26.5 million will still be in the weeds.

The only thing those people will know when they go to the polls is that they are not better off than they were, or they
haven't got a job, or...discussions about resposibility won't even be heard over the blare of daytime tv and glen beck.

And you can see it in local elections - lots of repub types getting seats on councils, etc. State governments maybe moving that
way as well.

Senate Democrats should do exactly what you say, but without efforts in the bars and on the streets it won't go much further
than that, while the repub msg is in a huge percentage of schools, bowling alleys, the military, churches, and places where
good, honest, blue-collar workers spend their workdays.

Is a conservative, actually. He's worked at a VW dealership for years. Last year there were thousands of cars clogging the ports and any available parking lot around the city. Dealerships all along Van Nuys were all certain they would be out of business within months. There were some initial layoffs, but the stimulus and cash for clunkers saved them and they were able to hire back the four people let go. He has not forgotten that and actually supports Obama now.

My BIL is traditionally conservative as well, but he also owes continued work to the stimulus package. And knows why he still has work and has escaped unemployment. So delaying tactics and trying to weaken efforts in congress to reign in those seen as wrecking our economy isn't playing well with all conservatives.

I know you are right though there are many that will look at their paycheck and vote accordingly. I wish congress would do more to spur job growth and encourage companies to hire.

oilfield hotshot requests. I have met a few people who do understand how their lives are a little better with the change of 2009, but guys like this fill the time on the road with Glenn Beck, who he considers as reliable, and tells me Rush is just entertainment. Geez. Discriminating tastes among right-wing gasbags.

Anyway, after 4 or 5 racist, or homophobic, or disrepectful of the current administration emails I told him to just break it off, don't even stay in touch anymore. That got his attention, and we got in a conversation about jobs. I sent him a chart showing the lack of job creation in the 2000-2008 period and the current changes.

He doesn't believe it. He won't look it up, he just thinks it's a "lieral" trick.

And for every one of him, I bet there are a thousand just like him. He is hard working, though he left a wife and kid behind. Seemingly nice, yet utter disrepect if your skin color is non-white.

And until we figure out how to keep listening for an opening and staying in touch, the people he listens to for information are going to be on the far right.

sigh...