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Bipartisan
BIPARTISAN....The New York Times writes today about Sen. Chuck Schumer's role over the past decade as the defender of Wall Street. Here's a snippet:
To Christopher Cox, the Republican chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the need for action was obvious in the spring of 2006.
His agency [] had grown deeply concerned about lack of oversight of the nation's largest credit-rating agencies, like Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service...."Without additional legislative authority, the S.E.C. will not be able to regulate in a thoroughgoing way," he told the Senate banking committee at an April 2006 hearing.
....At that time, revenues for the agencies were skyrocketing. The housing market was robust, and Wall Street investment firms were paying the agencies to rate various mortgage-backed securities after first advising the firms — and also collecting fees — on how to package them to get high credit ratings.
It was an obvious conflict of interest, financial experts now say....But Mr. Schumer argued that the companies voluntarily met requirements to eliminate such possible conflicts. He suggested that regulators simply encourage competition and disclosure of agencies' ratings methods.
Schumer has since come around, claiming the rating agencies misled both him and everyone else. But look: when you're arguing in favor of less regulation than Christopher Cox, you should figure that something is wrong. This is not rocket science.
It's also why I haven't been able to work up quite the level of partisan outrage over the fall of Wall Street that some people have. You see, when it comes to environmental regulation, Democrats are mostly on the side of the angels. When it comes to workplace regulation, they're on the side of workers. When it comes to consumer regulation, they're on the side of consumers. But when it comes to financial regulation, they're....um — well, they've been mostly on about the same side as Republicans. It's true that the fanatics are largely on the GOP side, but they've been aided and abetted the entire time by a Democratic Party that went along with their self-regulation agenda with almost nary a complaint. This has truly been a bipartisan train wreck.
When it comes to consumer regulation, they're on the side of consumers. But when it comes to financial regulation, they're....um ? well, they've been mostly on about the same side as Republicans.
I don't get how you can say Democrats are good when it comes to consumer regulation, but they're complicit when it comes to financial regulation. The idea that they can sit idly by while banks rape customers with the credit card regulations that you spoke about just days ago, yet somehow be on the side of the consumer is simply impossible to reconcile. Let's face it -- they suck when it comes to both.
Honestly, I have trouble seeing the Democratic Party as pro-worker, pro-environment or pro-consumer. They're usually better than the GOP, but that's not saying a whole lot. These days, I vote straight ticket Democratic. But I'm really not impressed by most Democrats.
They are mostly ... on the take.
I am curious to see if the new DOJ goes after criminal prosecutions of the financial companies under Sarbanes-Oxley and federal fraud statutes.
When it comes to consumer regulation, they're on the side of consumers. But when it comes to financial regulation, they're....um well, they've been mostly on about the same side as Republicans.
I don't get how you can say Democrats are good when it comes to consumer regulation, but they're complicit when it comes to financial regulation. The idea that they can sit idly by while banks rape customers with the credit card regulations that you spoke about just days ago, yet somehow be on the side of the consumer is simply impossible to reconcile. Let's face it -- they suck when it comes to both.
Schumer isn't The Democrats though. This is like saying Republicans and Democrats are equally culpable for the bankruptcy bill because Biden supported it.
This reminds me of the story of Nell Gwyn, who was one of Charles II's mistresses.
Once an angry crowd attacked her carriage, mistaking it for that of one of Charles' Catholic mistresses.
So she leaned out of the carriage's window and said, "Hey! I'm the Protestant whore!."
I don't know why Illinois is consider the captial of criminal atpoliticians, looking what Chuck Schumer did to keep things the same for AG position under Bush, what about Eliot Spitzer, and Rep. Charles Rangel, and if indeed he could have introduce the military draft, as I'm sure big oil would have paid under the table generously to that crooked jerk.
We all know that Hillary and Bill Clinton love big oil too, and they DID LIE about WMD and pre-emptive war JUST like Bushie did it. The Clintons got a house full of furniture from Marc Rich but never got the Ted Stevens treatment.
So as with the FISA Bill, it doesn't look like Obama will standing up to corrupt corporate American anytime soon, not anymore than Bush did it.
This has truly been a bipartisan train wreck
That is my biggest problem with Barack Obama, that like Bush, we throw taxpayer money at the problem but fail to re-regulate the market (the VP pick of Bidden showed us exactly where Barack really stood in the big talk but actually no do, tough talk he endlessly laments). Obama isn't capable of standing up and doing what is right.
The FISA Bill showed us exactly how Obama will faint and passout when the going gets tough. Picking Hillary shows that Obama doesn't know what the hell he is doing.
You know, all of the right wing whines about the dems causing the crisis because of CRA and Freddy/Fannie is complete crap but it does touch upon a major reason the dems went along. It wasn't just the campaign contributions and simplistic faith in wall street wizards. Even though it was private business spurring massive subprime lending, the effect was that democratic constituents were able to buy houses (still the American dream even if it's misguided). No one wanted to stop this party and many democratic politicians would have run into a lot of trouble in their districts if they tried to tighten available credit or lending standards. It's a slur to say they were more at fault than republicans for these conditions but once those conditions existed, pols had many reasons to clap louder including fear of kool-aid drinking constituents of the middle/lower class variety.
this is simple constituent service: the tri-state senators (NJ, NY, CT) represent Wall Street employers and employees who live in their states. Same as auto bailout situation, betw midwest and South
"It's also why I haven't been able to work up quite the level of partisan outrage over the fall of Wall Street that some people have."
I hope what this sentence means is that you are still outraged - perhaps not as a Democrat, but as an American citizen. Still, I don't see why Democrats shouldn't be outraged, just as Republicans should be outraged when Republican politicians do discraceful things.
This has truly been a bipartisan train wreck.
What's all this "they" stuff? How about we Democrats need to clean up our party, or is that too partisan for you?
This picture of Bill Clinton signing the repeal of Glass-Steagall says it all for me. All that's needed to make it look more old-boys-clubish is some smoke and a few cigars.
Clinton Photo with Friends
It's true that the fanatics are largely on the GOP side, but they've been aided and abetted the entire time by a Democratic Party that went along with their self-regulation agenda with almost nary a complaint.
Of course nobody could have predicted that millions of dollars in campaign contributions from Wall Street every year would lead to something like this.
Very much related: Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer demand that charges against Rick Renzi be dropped, claiming investigations into Congressional corruption violate Speech and Debate clause.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/12/14/20081214renzi1214.html
Of course, this post by Kevin is very rare. Normally, sentiments such as this are met with cries of "Troll!" and "Concern Troll!"
Schumer also thinks that hedge fund managers being taxed at cap-gains rate (instead of income rate) is groovy.
He knows his constituents. However, they aren't people like you and me. They are rich beyond the GDP of some countries.
Pretty sick that folks like Schumer think that it is more important to protect the powerful than actually try to make the USA a land of opportunity and equality.
As for commentor "shoe" above.
Uh, yes, Dems are equally responsible for the bankruptcy bill, at least those like Biden who voted for it. Explain to me where I am wrong on this...
Wasn't Chris Cox your Congressman, Kevin? I remember you mentioning once your bi-annual ritual of casting a symbolic vote for the sacrificial Democratic candidate.
Uh, yes, Dems are equally responsible for the bankruptcy bill, at least those like Biden who voted for it. Explain to me where I am wrong on this...
if a few democrats vote for a bill, that means democrats as a whole supported it? no. it doesn't make sense.
bruce: this is simple constituent service: the tri-state senators (NJ, NY, CT) represent Wall Street employers and employees who live in their states
To the extent that that's true, it's how representative government is supposed to work. As a Long Islander I'm not exactly in the thick of it, but there are lots of commuters around here who work in the financial industry. As a result there's a lot of "what's good for Wall Street is good for the country" thinking, and a NY senator probably should reflect that. Mention the name "Senator Wall Street" around here and plenty of folks will know who you're talking about.
However, there's also the unholy side of it. Like virtually every other senator and representative, Schumer relies on what are euphemistically called "campaign contributions", and what Jimmy Breslin described in plain language as "bribes".
The only answer to this is publicly financed campaigns, ala The People's Republic of Arizona. Unfortunately most Democrats have never been great supporters of this, and Obama's well financed campaign victory probably won't raise their level of enthusiasm for it.
Well, they are not all the same! But, most of them take their cues from Wall Street when it comes to anything financial! . . . Money talks and Wall Street has (had) the cash!
Who did more damage - Gramm, Rubin, Summers, Paulson, Greenspan, Bernanke? It's not the party - it's all about the benjamins!
Sad but true.
Kevin, thanks for the post. That NY Times article on Schumer failed to raise comparable flags on other sites including Political Animal.
And there are of course exceptions to the dems being on side of the environmental angels. Bills can be strong or they can we weak. There is a clear case to be made that many bills have been weakened or killed as a result of close ties between dems and industry as measured by the big dollars in campaign donations. Case in point: Sen. Obama's crafting of legislation to strengthen reporting of radioactive leaks by nuclear plants. What started as a strong bill was weakened and finally killed. Obama has received big campaign bucks from Exelon corporation, a huge nuclear power conglomerate. Did this impact his motivation and energy to persist with his original legislation? Did he cave to industry lobbyists?
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