Reading this recent WaPo article, I am forced to ask a tough question. If Chris Dodd hurriedly and sneakily attached an amendment which guts the bill of the only piece of reform that actually has any chance of addressing the problem, and if the problem is what has led to a true imperilment of our nation, how can we say that Dodd isn't just as guilty of endangering this nation as those would endorse torture or unwarranted wiretaps?
Dodd's amendment, which most Senators did not realize was added thee minutes prior to the vote, allows to continue the utterly insane practice of financial companies selling someone a security that the bank then gambles, for its own profit, will fail. I think it's traitorous. It's clearly what caused the harm, and he's just as clearly conspiring to create the avenue for it's continuance. He is willfully placing Americans in the same peril that caused so much grievous harm.
It's outrageous.
(Oh, and by the way, he's on the banking committee, which only adds to the brazen nature of this move.)
Dodd's amendment, which most Senators did not realize was added thee minutes prior to the vote, allows to continue the utterly insane practice of financial companies selling someone a security that the bank then gambles, for its own profit, will fail. I think it's traitorous. It's clearly what caused the harm, and he's just as clearly conspiring to create the avenue for it's continuance. He is willfully placing Americans in the same peril that caused so much grievous harm.
It's outrageous.
(Oh, and by the way, he's on the banking committee, which only adds to the brazen nature of this move.)
3 comments:
Bear in mind he did not attach the amendment three minutes before a vote on the final bill. He submitted the amendment three minutes before the deadline for submission. If it's going to be attached it will need to be voted upon and passed by the full senate, along with the 300+ other amendments.
There are examples of legislative dirty tricks, but this is not one of them.
And as for the "traitor" element, I admit to being confused by this issue, because Obama and Geithner also don't want the derivative trading restricted. I do not understand why. At least the GOP might fairly be expected to oppose regulation -- they are always anti-regulation. But the Dems? Unless someone can explain it to me, I have to conclude that they are doing the bidding of the banksters, which, if true is a big black mark against all of them.
He submitted the amendment three minutes before the deadline for submission.
Yes, my mistake.
My main objection here is that it is becoming impossible to ignore things like the fact that the head of the banking committee is obviously, and shockingly open about being, willing to gut the only important thing about a bill meant to address something that did enormous damage to most of America.
I guess no one died directly because of the recent recession, but there has been tremendous suffering and Dodd betrayed the country. Being the head of a major committee is a public trust, he's supposed to address the issues in the banking sector that are troublesome to our nation, and he did the *exact* opposite.
I think it's wrong to put the blame solely on Dodd here. If there is blame to be shared, it must also be on Obama, who by all accounts, desperately wants the derivatives regulations removed from the bill. Schumer and Reid also.
The Dems got a little too clever for themselves, by the way. They initially had only tepid derivatives restrictions in the bill, but Blanche Lincoln had a tough primary in AR and she needed to put up some populist cred so she proposed this highly restrictive derivative regulation, which Dodd et all allowed and figured could get pulled out later at some point. Now that it's in the bill it's turned out to be politically difficult to remove -- who wants to be on record going into the election as weak on banksters? So they are stuck in a fix of their own making.
And I think it's a good thing. Again, I do not understand why they want this provision out, but I think it is a good thing that it is there and hope it stays.
Post a Comment