Yesterday, Financial Service Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus presided over a field hearing that highlighted the role of the National Computer Forensics Institute (NCFI) in Hoover, Alabama in fighting cybercrime. “The National Computer Forensics Institute is providing valuable training to the state and local law enforcement officials who are our first line of defense against crime. They are being equipped with the skills needed to combat the new wave of cybercriminals. Investigations based on information drawn from computers and electronic devices can be highly complex, and the training provi... Read More »
The Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee gathered on Friday, June 24th for a hearing titled, "Oversight of the Mutual Fund Industry: Ensuring Market Stability and Investor Confidence". Subcommittee Chairman Scott Garrett stated the intent of the hearing was to “to focus …on different efforts and proposals meant to provide more certainty to policymakers about the long-term stability of money market funds.” Garrett noted that the hearing was all the more timely due to “attention in the media this week regarding how the Greek debt crisis may affect money market mutua... Read More »
Three national real estate groups voiced support for H.R.940, the U.S. Covered Bond Act, on Tuesday. Introduced by Congressman Scott Garrett, H.R. 940 would create a legislative framework to allow U.S. financial institutions to issue covered bonds. Covered bonds are a form of debt in which specific assets – typically loans – are pooled for the benefit of bondholders. A joint letter from the presidents of the National Multi Housing Council and National Apartment Association states, “Covered bonds may provide the added capital necessary for our nation’s banking system to support the surging dema... Read More »
During the June 14th Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee hearing that examined whether the Dodd-Frank Act really ended “too big to fail” (as some Democrats claim it did), Ranking Member Barney Frank said it is the Republicans’ fault for creating a “false perception” that “too big to fail” lives on: “The only people who are arguing that…if a large financial institution gets in trouble the government will step in and bail it and let it continue are some of the Republican critics of [Dodd-Frank]. They are the ones creating that false perception.” Really? “Instead of breaking u... Read More »
The crushing burden of more and more regulations from Washington (400 new rule-makings due to the Dodd-Frank Act alone) has led one columnist to conclude that if the United States enters another depression, “the likely reason will be new financial rules.” If through ineptitude and inattention the federal government imposes a regulatory structure that crushes our financial system, not only our jobs and prosperity are threatened, but even our national strength and sovereignty. The Dodd-Frank Act passed last year increases government control over the economy to an unprecedented degree, with hund... Read More »
When President Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Act into law last summer, he set in motion the most ambitious changes to financial institution regulation since the Great Depression. The supporters of Dodd-Frank held out the promise that by increasing government control over the economy to an unprecedented degree, the Act would “end too big to fail” and “protect the American taxpayer by ending bailouts.” But is that true? Let’s see what others are saying: Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher warned that Dodd-Frank could have the “perverse outcome” of exacerbating the “too-big-to-fail... Read More »
June 3, 2011 Because we’re from the government and we’re here to help you make the ‘correct’ decisions about your life. “While the academics may suggest giving consumers a ’nudge,’ by the time Washington gets finished, this nudge has become a shove, if not a punch in face.” Read the full story below. By Carter Dougherty June 3 (Bloomberg) -- When the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau officially begins work next month, it will set in motion what will become the largest field test to date of a set of ideas known as behavioral economics. The Harvard University law professor in charge of s... Read More »
Recently, Democrats have claimed in speeches and media interviews that the Dodd-Frank Act ended “too big to fail” and the bailouts. However, the facts show the Dodd-Frank Act sets up a permanent bailout authority that will continue to privatize profits, and socialize losses. The Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) released a report in January 2011 in which he describes an interview with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. During the interview, Secretary Geithner admits to SIGTARP that future bailouts are possible: “In the future we may have to do exceptional ... Read More »
John Solomon, a former Associated Press reporter who is now at the Center for Public Integrity, recently wrote about an issue for the Daily Beast that deserves more attention than it gets: Over the last two years, the Obama administration has approved a whopping $34.4 million in compensation to the top six executives of the financially troubled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage giants, and lacks the necessary protections to ensure such compensation is even warranted. Astounding, isn’t it? The top executives of these failed companies -- bailed out courtesy of American taxpayers -- receive mul... Read More »
“If we create a prohibitively expensive and rigid climate for the use and trading of derivatives in the United States, the market could very well shift overseas, and once markets leave they will not return. Undoubtedly, foreign markets are closely examining how U.S. regulators are implementing Dodd-Frank and stand ready to create a competing non-punitive derivatives marketplace.” Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus May 24, 2011 US derivative regulators claim laws will hand trade to Europe Financial Times headline May 25, 2011 CFTC Member Jill Sommers “warned that the disparat... Read More »
