Top Ten Financial Reform Loopholes

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Ezra Klein points us to a White House list of “The 10 Most Wanted Lobbyist Loopholes,” and it’s good reading. Here are my top four from the list:

5. Removing the Derivatives Trading Requirement to Protect Wall Street Profits.

6. Stretching the Derivatives “End-User” Exemption into a Hedge Fund Loophole.

7. Creating an “AIG Loophole.”

9. Letting Firms Make Loans Without Skin in the Game.

Why these four? Because they’re all related to limiting leverage. #5 is related because clearinghouses would require collateral for derivatives trades. #6 because it keeps the clearing requirement robust. (Clearing is a subset of exchange trading, and I assume that it’s the clearing requirement that the White House is really interested in here.) #7 because it would extend capital requirements to at least parts of the shadow banking sector. And #9 because it effectively limits leverage at both the consumer level and the mortgage originator level.

But the whole list is worth reading. Even in its current state the Senate bill is only OK, not great. Holding the lobbyists at bay is the minimum requirement for keeping it even that good.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

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