MUST-VIEW Sen. Franken: 'I really don't know how to make this ANY CLEARER to my colleagues...'

Hissyspit

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Mon Apr-26-10 09:54 PM
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MUST-VIEW Sen. Franken: 'I really don't know how to make this ANY CLEARER to my colleagues...'

Edited on Mon Apr-26-10 10:40 PM by Hissyspit

Run time: 10:02
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34dgqtxTesE

Posted on YouTube: April 27, 2010
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Posted on DU: April 27, 2010
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MSNBC C-Span2 - April 26, 2010: Sen. Franken schools the Repubs on Financial Regulations/Wall Street Reform. I often hesitate to use "Must-View" as a subject line descriptive, because it can have the effect of raising expectations too high, but everyone should see Sen. Franken tell it like it is.

FRANKEN: "Today, as we debate Wall Street reform, we continue that fight to end the stanglehold that big banks have on our economy, and by extension, on the everyday life of the American people.

Over the past year and a half, we have seen in stark relief the devastating impact that Wall Street can have on our economy, when it is left to its own devices. Fueled by unbridled greed, a love of risk, well, the love of risking other people's money, and an obsession with profit at all costs, banks bought up toxic mortgages by the thousands, driving the sub-prime lending market in the process.

Credit rating agencies, conveniently funded by the same institutions they were rating - THAT'S a BAD idea - they gave the resulting securities their highest Triple-A rating, and the initial ingredients of the financial crisis were born.

And, incidentally, today, Paul Krugman wrote in the New York Times that 93 percent of these Triple A-rated subprime mortgage-backed securities have since been downgraded to junk status.

That's hard to do, on anything!

Several bank failures and a $700 billion-plus bailout later, the American people were left paying the price. By October 2009, unemployment had jumped to 10.1 percent, and even today it remains at 9.7 percent. By contrast, just ten years ago, in October of 2000, the unemployment rate was 3.9 percent. Americans have lost $11.7 trillion - TRILLION - 11.7 trillion dollars in personal wealth since the financial crisis. And housing values have fallen 15 percent just in the past year. We've seen our retirement accounts shrink, and our plans for the future delayed, sometimes indefinitely.

And all because of Wall Street's incessant need to rack up enormous profits.

Over the past few decades, Wall Street's profits have gone through the roof. In 1987, the financial industry represented only 19 percent of all domestic corporate profits. By 2009, that number was almost 32 percent. Thirty-two percent of all the nation's corporate profits went to the financial industry.

Now, the dramatic growth of the financial services industry would be fine if Wall Street were actually adding value, helping to invest in our economy in constructive ways, and to create jobs.

But instead, they had been making bets on bets on bets on bets. Now, it's one thing to have a commodities future market that provides the resources for farmers to put crops in the ground. But it's another thing altogether when Wall Street is just gambling in areas where they have no real productive interest. Let's put Wall Street back to work investing in America, not gambling with its future.

The bill we are discussing tonight would insure that Wall Street can never again bilk the American people in the same way. It would create a consumer financial protection bureau, a true cornerstone of this bill. The bureau would be an independent watchdog for consumers, housed inside the Federal Reserve. The bureau would force big banks and credit card companies to offer clear terms to families on credit cards, student loans, on retirement financial products.

And just as importantly, it would make sure that mortgage companies can't sell misleading loans and mortgages to consumers, so that we avoid the kinds of problems that led to this crisis in the first place.

- snip -

This bill also includes a tough section on derivatives to insure greater transparency and tighten their regulation. And it ends taxpayer-bailouts by forcing banks to pony up $50 billion to pay for their own funeral if they fail.

This is not a taxpayer-funded bailout. And let me tell you why.

First, it's not a bailout.

The bank would get liquidated.

Secondly, it's not taxpayer-funded. Because taxpayers don't fund it. The banks do.

I really don't know how to make this ANY clearer to my colleagues across the aisle.

And yet, tonight, we find ourselves where we are.

Let me be clear, we cannot afford not to pass this bill. Americans are demanding that we act to hold Wall Street accountable. Without further protections, it would be easy to have another crisis like the one that we've just been through.

And yet tonight, despite the urgency and importance of this bill, my colleagues across the aisle are filibustering our attempt to reform Wall Street. And not just the bill itself - they've blocked us from even starting debate on the bill, by filibustering the motion to proceed. They've done this, despite the fact that many of them actually agree with portions of the bill...

They're doing this because they want to stop government from actually being able to accomplish anything.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. This is a perversion of the filibuster. And a perversion of the Senate.

Let's us turn our attention back to legislating, which is the reason voters put us here in this august body in the first place...

I urge my colleagues to support the Wall Street reform bill. We often talk on the Senate floor about wanting to make sure American families are protected. Now we have a chance to actually do something about it. American can't afford another financial crisis. That's now in our hands in this body, and it's one of our greatest responsibilities.